An easy fall quinoa salad with roasted vegetables, flavored with pumpkin pie spice vinaigrette! This roasted pumpkin quinoa salad tastes delicious both ways: serve it warm as a classic fall salad or chill and eat it as a cold summer salad.
Rinse and drain quinoa using a fine-mesh strainer. Add stock to quinoa in a microwave-safe bowl. (Use 2 cups of stock for white quinoa.)
1 cup quinoa, 2¼ cup vegetable or chicken stock
Close with a lid. Cook in the microwave on high power for 10 minutes. Remove from the microwave and give it a stir. There would be some water left at the bottom.
Cover and cook for 10 more minutes. Let it sit for a couple of minutes. Remove from the microwave and fluff up the quinoa with a spatula or fork. Let it cool while you prepare the other ingredients.
How to roast vegetables
Preheat the oven to 220°C/428°F.
Peel the pumpkin and dice it into 1-inch cubes. Dice the bell pepper. Peel and quarter the onions.
½ pumpkin, ½ bell pepper, 2 onions
In a small bowl, mix the dry ingredients listed under pumpkin spice vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon ginger powder, 1 teaspoon chili flakes, ½ teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Add half of the spice mix to the diced vegetables and toss. Drizzle oil and toss again until all the pieces are coated.
1 tablespoon olive oil
Line a sheet pan or baking tray with parchment paper. Spread out the vegetables on the tray in a single layer.
Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until the vegetables are browned.
How to make roasted pumpkin salad dressing
Take the other half of the spice mix in a jar. Add extra virgin olive oil, honey, and lemon juice. Close and shake the jar until everything comes together.
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 2 teaspoons honey, 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Add a couple of spoons of the vinaigrette when the quinoa is warm, and add the rest after adding all the mix-ins.
How to easily toast pumpkin seeds
Turn off the oven after you take out the roasted vegetables.Spread out pumpkin seeds on a baking tray. Place the tray in the warm oven. The pumpkin seeds would be browned and crisp in 10 to 12 minutes.
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
Quinoa pumpkin salad
Add the roasted vegetables, parsley and dressing to the quinoa and toss. Sprinkle toasted pumpkin seeds on the salad.
¼ cup chopped parsley
Let it sit for 5 minutes for the flavors to be absorbed. Serve right away or chill if you want to use it later.
Video
Notes
Type of quinoa: I’ve used tricolor quinoa here. Any quinoa, white, red, or black works too.
Cooking time for quinoa: The timing mentioned above (10 + 10 minutes) is for tricolor/red/black quinoa. If you’re using white quinoa, cook for 10 minutes first, then 8 minutes.
How to know if quinoa is cooked: The quinoa should be soft and fluffy and not crunchy. It shouldn’t be mushy either. Perfectly cooked quinoa will be tender with a tiny white “tail” separating and curling around each grain, which is the germ of the kernel.
Stock: Vegetable stock or chicken stock can be used. If you don’t have either, use water with ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
Consistency of vinaigrette: The dressing may look thick since I wanted to limit the amount of oil. It works out just fine once you toss everything together. Feel free to taste and add more lemon juice or honey according to your taste.
Dicing onions: If the onions are small, quarter them. For large onions, dice into 6 or 8. Keep the petals intact as much as possible.