Whoever said eating a salad was boring clearly hasn't done much more than shred up lettuce and chuck some tomatoes and onions in! This delicious grain salad is one that, no matter the time of the year, day of the week or how much my stomach is grumbling, ticks every box! Trust me when I say - take note of this recipe 😉
Why I Love This Salad
As mentioned above - it just ticks all the boxes. If it's hot BBQ weather, colder nights in front of the fire, or you have a group of friends over for wine and a chat. This delicious grain salad has you covered.
- full of flavour
- packed with healthy ingredients
- fun to make
- can be made in advance + keeps well in the fridge
- tasty alone but great with any protein too
Ingredients Needed
To make a delicious grain salad, you do need a number of ingredients, but the beauty of that is every bite is a little different with texture from crisp peaches, peppery notes from the rocket, creamy avocado, charred sweetness from the corn and a delicious dressing too. I'll go through a few substitutions below, too, if you can't access any or if they aren't in season.
Another thing to mention about this delicious quinoa salad is all the ingredients are readily available in any grocery store, so no need to stress about hitting multiple shops to get dinner cooked!
- quinoa - this is the grain element of the salad, so best not to skip this one! I used tricolour quinoa, but you can use any that's accessible to you!
- avocado - look for ones that aren't too soft or firm, so they have a little bite still
- corn - buy it in the cob if possible so you can grill them to bring out a little sweetness and add a smokey char flavour to the dish too
- onion - I used thinly sliced red onion but shallots or spring onions work too
- tomatoes - your choice, whatever is well priced and you like to eat!
- lettuce - I used rocket for its pepper flavour, but any green leaf will work
- peaches - when I first made this dish, peaches were in season, and they add a lovely sweetness to the dish, but you can use thinly sliced pear, segmented orange or even thin slices of pineapple would work too
- herbs - I used coriander as I am a lover of it, but parsley, dill, or chives would work too
How To Make Easy Grain Salad
Right, you have read through the list of ingredients, and yes, you may think it's a heck of a lot to use but trust me - every component works together in harmony!
I always advise getting all your ingredients ready/prepped first - especially when making something for the first time. Yeah, it may take a few mins longer to make this delicious grain salad, but you better get it right the first time, and then you can learn to take shortcuts the second time around.
- Cook the quinoa - this is prob the bit that takes the longest, and you also want it to cool slightly, too so get this going, and you can prepare the rest of the ingredients. The packet will have good instructions, but rinse the quinoa and then 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Approx 10-12mins and it should be done
- Char the corn! I used my gas BBQ for this one, but you can use a charcoal BBQ, grill pan, or even a blowtorch. It won't provide the same flavour, but it'll give you that nice charred look 😉
- Prepare the remaining ingredients. Simply - slice the onions thinly, chop the tomatoes & peaches into segments, and at the last minute, slice the avo thinly. We do the avo at the end so that it doesn't brown
- If using herbs then you can roughly chop it and add all the ingredients to the cooked quinoa along with some salt too
Salad Dressing
For this, I used a combo of wholegrain mustard, honey, oil and salt. Shake, stir, whisk or blend it up. Once ready to serve, drizzle over some of the dressing and toss to combine. I like to leave extra on the side for people to add their own accordingly!
What To Serve With A Grain Salad
So - you are putting together the most delicious grain salad for your mates to enjoy and need some ideas on what to serve with it. Beer or wine goes great, in my opinion, but let's look at a protein for those meat fans!
I went with some delicious Inglewood Farm honey soy chicken nibbles when I did this the other day. Aside from all the work being done with them being pre-marinated, they are also super easy to cook. But one of my favourite things, when I have mates over for a BBQ, is to get stuck in with my hands too! These nibbles are readily available throughout Australia, are easy on the wallet and are bloody delicious too!
If you want other ideas, then try these out
- chicken - breast or thigh works great
- beef - who doesn't love a medium rare steak? Ribeye, striploin or my favourite a bit of bavette
- pork - chops, loin or some thinly sliced belly down on the grill
Honestly, you can serve anything with this salad and the results will be killer!
Alternative Salad Recipes
So.... you are in the mood for some tasty and healthy salads and have already fallen in love with my delicious grain salad? Well, lucky for you, I have a few others up my sleeve! Check out these recipes below and get cooking!
There are plenty more options to choose from on my site so just search "salad" and enjoy!
Happy Cooking & Happy Eating Friends!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup quinoa
- 2 ears corn
- 2 peaches
- 1 avocado
- ½ small red onion
- 3 tomatoes
- 150 g lettuce
- 1 handful coriander
Dressing
- 150 ml oil
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 2 tbsp honey
- salt
Essential Tools
- Chef Knives
- Chopping board
- saucepan
- large mixing bowl
- Small mixing bowl & whisk or jam jar
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to the packet
- Thinly slice red onion, cut tomatoes into wedges, peel and thinly slice avo, cut peaches into wedges, char corn and remove from the husk and finely chop the coriander
- Once quinoa is cooked and cooled slightly add all the remaining ingredients and toss to combine
- Whisk or shake the dressing ingredients in a jar and add ½ to the quinoa salad. Taste and add more dressing as required.
Notes
Tips/Tricks
- you can prepare the majority of ingredients in advance and then toss to combine closer to serving. Leave cutting the avo until you serve the salad
- I cut my tomatoes & peaches into 8 wedges per piece but feel free to dice or cut thinner/thicker
- this salad will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge, so make a little extra and take it to work 😉
sherry
this looks so good Gavin. I do love a hearty salad like this one. Perfect for this time of year too.