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Close up of a serving sized bowl of salad with serving salad servers next to it and another bowl in the background.

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Quinoa and Feta

Introducing one of my favourite quinoa salads. It has great flavour and sweetness from roasted vegetables (baby carrots, beetroot, pumpkin and onion) with a hit of saltiness from creamy feta cheese and texture from 'al-dente' quinoa, toasted pine-nuts and crispy kale. A fresh orange dressing completes this hearty salad that can be served as a main meal or a side-dish. A cafe quality salad that you can make at home for family, or for entertaining. Oh, and it’s gluten-free too. The recipe may seem long, but once you've roasted the vegetables, the rest is completed in under 20 minutes.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Main Course, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine: Australian
Keyword: gluten-free, gluten-free salad, quinoa salad, quinoa, roast vegetable and feta salad, roast beetroot salad, roast carrot salad, roasted vegetable salad, roasted vegetable salad with quinoa and feta, salad
Servings: 12
Calories: 241kcal
Author: Katrina | Katy's Food Finds

Equipment

  • oven trays
  • medium saucepan
  • Frying pan
  • small bowl, jug or jar

Ingredients

Salad

  • 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin, for roasting vegetables (approx)
  • 1.5 tsp sea salt to season vegetables (approx)
  • 16 baby carrots or heirloom, (2 bunches), peeled, trimmed and larger carrots cut in half lengthways
  • 12 baby beetroot peeled, trimmed and cut into halves (larger into quarters)
  • 1/4 small kent pumpkin (approx 350gm piece) skin and seeds removed and cut into 2-3cm bite-sized pieces
  • 2 red onions peeled, halved and each half cut into 6 wedges
  • 200 g kale I use tuscan kale - washed and dried, thick middle stem removed and leaves cut into 2cm bite-sized pieces
  • 1 c quinoa tri-colour or white
  • 1 3/4 c water or stock (chicken or vegetable stock)
  • 4 tbsp pine-nuts toasted until golden
  • 150 g feta marinated in oil, drained

Dressing

  • 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
  • 2 tbsp white wine vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
  • 1.5 tbsp orange juice freshly squeezed
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 1 tsp wholegrain mustard or dijon
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Kale:

  • Preheat the oven to 150°C (fan forced). Line an oven tray with baking paper.
  • To make the kale chips for the salad: Wash and dry the kale leaves thoroughly. Remove the tough central stem and chop the green leaves into 2-3cm bite-sized pieces. Place them on the oven tray and drizzle over a small amount of olive oil to just coat the leaves. Season with a small amount of salt and massage the oil and salt into the leaves. Spread the leaves out in one layer and cook for 10-15 minutes until crispy. In my oven this took 12 minutes. Please keep an eye on them in the last few minutes as they can go from crispy to burnt very quickly. Remove from the oven and place in a bowl. Once cooled, cover and set aside.

Roasting the vegetables: see notes

  • Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan forced) or 190°C. Line 2-3 oven trays with baking paper. The vegetables may have to be cooked in 2 batches, depending on how many oven trays you have and whether you have a fan forced option on your oven. If you don’t have a fan forced option, the vegetables will need to be cooked one tray at a time.
    Place the prepared carrots on an oven tray and the pumpkin and onions on a second oven tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt (only put a small amount of olive oil on the pumpkin or use olive oil spray for them, as they can become soft if too much oil is used). Rub the oil into the carrots so they are well coated and spread them out. Spread out the pumpkin so they are all flat on the tray. Cook the carrots for 35-40 minutes (turning half-way through) or until cooked and tender. Cook the pumpkin and onions for 25-30 minutes or until pumpkin and onions are nicely caramelised and cooked. Give the onions a bit of a stir halfway through cooking time.Once the vegetables are cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool on the trays. Remove to a plate or platter and set aside.
    Place the beetroot on a piece of aluminium foil that is lined with baking paper. The pieces should be large enough to enable the beetroot pieces to be in one layer. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt, and cover the beetroot with another sheet of baking paper and aluminium foil over the top. Fold up/scrunch up the edges of the foil to form a parcel to enable the beetroot to steam. Place the parcel onto an oven tray and cook for 45-50 minutes or until the beetroot are soft. Remove the cover of the parcel carefully to expose the beetroot and place back in the oven for a further 15-20 minutes until slightly caramelised. Remove from the oven and place in a bowl. Note: If you have a third oven tray, the beetroot can be cooked at the same time as the other vegetables, but for a longer time.
    Once all the vegetables are roasted and cooled, they can be left out at room temperature, covered, until ready to assemble. I often put them all on a large platter ready to be tossed. While the vegetables are cooking, you can prepare the quinoa and other ingredients.

To Cook Quinoa:

  • Rinse the quinoa thoroughly under running water (I do this in a fine mesh sieve), rubbing the seeds with your fingers for 20-30 seconds. Drain and place the quinoa into a medium sized saucepan. Add the stock or water and set aside to soak for 15 minutes. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and cook with the lid on for 10-15 minutes or until the liquid has just evaporated. Fluff the quinoa with a fork, replace the lid and set aside for 15 minutes. Remove to a bowl or platter until required.

Pine-nuts:

  • To toast the pine-nuts, preheat a frying pan over medium heat and add the pine-nuts. Stir them frequently until golden (approx 3 minutes). Set aside in a bowl to cool.

Orange Dressing:

  • Place all the dressing ingredients - olive oil, honey, orange juice, mustard and vinegar into a small jar or bowl. Put the lid on the jar and shake or whisk in the bowl until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To Assemble the Salad:

  • All the ingredients (except the feta) will now be at room temperature.
    To assemble the salad: Place the cooked quinoa, roasted vegetables (carrots, beetroot, pumpkin and onions), toasted pine-nuts and some of the kale onto a large platter. Drizzle over 3/4 of the dressing and toss gently. Grind over black pepper and season with salt if required. Take the feta and crumble over the top of the salad. Drizzle over the remaining dressing, then sprinkle over more of the kale chips (you may not use all the kale chips) and serve.

Notes

Roasting Vegetables:
Keep an eye on the vegetables as they are cooking. Some carrots may be ready sooner than others, even though they are of similar size as some parts of our ovens are hotter than others. Remove any that cook sooner (place them on a plate), and let the rest caramelise more until they are ready. Getting a nice caramelisation on the vegetables adds more depth of flavour and brings out their sweetness.

Nutrition

Calories: 241kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 570mg | Potassium: 754mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 4363IU | Vitamin C: 34mg | Calcium: 132mg | Iron: 2mg
Have you cooked one of my recipes? I’d love you to tag me @katysfoodfinds or #katysfoodfinds!