This vegetarian artichoke salad features quinoa, chickpeas, and an herby Greek yogurt dressing. It's filled with fresh and zesty spring flavors and takes only about 10 minutes of active time to assemble.
Marinated artichokes are a pretty underrated food, but they find a perfect home in this quinoa artichoke salad alongside feta, almonds, chickpeas, and an herby yogurt dressing.
I love adding marinated artichokes to pasta salads because they are flavorful, have a hearty texture, and they are quite nutritious.
This is a balanced salad that's perfect for lunch meal prep, but it also works well as a side salad served with your favorite protein. I think this would go well with panko tofu if you're looking to make the salad extra filling.
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Recipe features
- Nutritious: This artichoke salad is jam-packed with nutritious ingredients like quinoa, chickpeas, and cucumber. It features a balance of healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, fiber, and plant-based protein.
- Quick & easy: The salad takes only about 10 minutes of active time to assemble, plus the quinoa cook time. It's best served chilled, so I recommend assembling it ahead of time.
- Herby dressing: The yogurt dressing adds a pop of green and a touch of creaminess. It's zesty, herby, and refreshing.
Ingredients
- Marinated quartered artichokes: This is a ready-to-eat product, we aren't marinating the artichokes ourselves! I typically use Delallo or Reese brand. Use leftover artichokes in this marinated balsamic pasta salad.
- Yogurt dressing: This uses one 5-ounce container of plain Greek yogurt, fresh herbs, a clove of garlic, and white wine vinegar. Dill, green onion, and parsley are my go-to's (similar to my avocado green goddess dressing.)
- Quinoa: An equal amount of farro or rice also works.
- Chickpeas: Adds protein. White beans are another good option.
- Sliced almonds: These are sold as sliced almonds. If sliced almonds aren't available, just buy regular almonds and roughly chop them, as hand-slicing takes a long time.
- Feta: I prefer the flavor of cow's feta to sheep's feta, but feel free to use either.
- Cucumber: Thinly sliced into half moons.
- Red onion: A little goes a long way. I typically use just ¼ of a large red onion and slice it as thinly as possible.
Step-by-step instructions
Make the dressing: In a blender or food processor (I use this bullet blender), blend together the dressing ingredients and only 1 tablespoon of water, until smooth. Adjust flavors to taste and add additional water to reach a smooth, pourable consistency.
Add the salad ingredients to a large serving bowl.
Top with half of the dressing. Toss to combine. Add additional yogurt dressing if eating immediately, otherwise, cover and chill for at least an hour before serving.
Add the remaining dressing just before serving. Adding dressing just before serving instead of all at once keeps it nice and fresh.
Top tips
- Make sure to drain the quinoa and artichokes well to avoid making a soggy salad. Pat the chickpeas dry with a towel to remove excess moisture.
- I add the quartered artichokes straight out of the jar. If you prefer smaller artichoke pieces, just roughly chop them into smaller pieces.
- To make dairy-free, use an equal amount of vegan feta (such as Follow Your Heart brand) and plain coconut yogurt. Vegan mayonnaise also works but tends to be sweeter than plain yogurt, so I recommend adding honey to taste.
- Another good dairy-free dressing option is using this lemon shallot vinaigrette in place of the yogurt dressing.
- If you don't have time to chill the salad but still want it to be cold, I recommend rinsing the cooked quinoa in a fine mesh strainer under cool, running water to quickly cool it down.
Storage tips
- Make in advance: The dressing can be made up to 24-72 hours in advance. Note that it thickens up as it chills. Just give it a few stirs and it should return to a pourable consistency. If not, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time to thin.
- The quinoa can also be cooked in advance. Keep refrigerated in a closed container for 48-72 hours before assembling the salad.
- Storage: Best within 3-4 days. If preparing the salad in advance, I recommend adding half of the dressing before refrigerating and half just before serving.
- I don't recommend freezing the salad as cucumber does not freeze well.
More vegetarian salads
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Quinoa Artichoke Salad with Herby Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa *or cook the quinoa based on your desired method
- 2 cups water or vegetable broth *or cook the quinoa based on your desired method
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt adjust to taste
- 12 ounce jar marinated quartered artichoke hearts
- 1 medium cucumber
- ¼ large red onion
- 1 medium lemon
- 15 ounce can chickpeas drained, rinsed, and patted dry
- 1 cup crumbled feta
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
Herby Yogurt Dressing
- 5 ounce container plain Greek yogurt ~heaping ½ cup
- 3-4 sprigs fresh parsley roughly ¼ cup
- 2 sprigs fresh dill
- 1 stalk green onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1-2 teaspoons honey adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1-4 tablespoons water as needed
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Typically, this is done by combining the 1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a medium sauce pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high to high heat. Reduce to a gentle simmer and cover. The quinoa is ready when the liquid is fully absorbed, about 15-20 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Drain excess liquid as needed.
- Meanwhile, drain the artichoke hearts. If you prefer smaller pieces of artichoke, roughly chop the artichokes now. Slice the cucumber into thin half-moons. Thinly slice ¼ of a large red onion. Set aside.
- To make the dressing, combine the yogurt, parsley, dill, green onion, garlic, white wine vinegar, olive oil, 1 teaspoon honey, and salt in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time to thin to a smooth, pourable consistency. I typically use 2 tablespoons of water.
- Transfer the cooked quinoa to a large serving bowl. Add the juice and zest of the lemon, the drained artichoke hearts, cucumber, red onion, drained chickpeas, feta, almonds, and half the dressing. Toss to combine.
- Transfer to the fridge to chill for at least an hour. Just before serving, add the remaining dressing. The salad can be eaten immediately but I think it's best chilled. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Also works well with rice, farro, or couscous in place of quinoa.
- To make dairy-free, use an equal amount of vegan feta (such as Follow Your Heart brand) and plain coconut yogurt. Vegan mayonnaise also works but tends to be sweeter than plain yogurt, so I recommend adding honey to taste.
- Make in advance: The dressing can be made up to 24-72 hours in advance. Note that it thickens up as it chills. Just give it a few stirs and it should return to a pourable consistency. If not, add 1 tablespoon water at a time to thin.
- The quinoa can also be cooked in advance. Keep refrigerated in a closed container for 48-72 hours before assembling the salad.
- Storage: Best within 3-4 days. If preparing the salad in advance, I recommend adding half of the dressing before refrigerating and half just before serving.
Ingrid says
I have been searching FORVER for recipes that use artichokes! They are such a beautiful food and I was so excited to see this recipe. AMAZING flavors! Definitely one of my new favorites!