Moroccan Chicken Quinoa Salad

If you’re looking for a quick and easy recipe for the summer, where you don’t have to stand in front of the oven for an hour or more then you are going to love this Moroccan Chicken Quinoa Salad.

It’s light, it’s bright, it’s oh so tasty!

moroccan chicken quinoa salad recipe

Chicken Quinoa Salad

Disclosure: I am participating in the Chicken Farmers of Canada campaign managed by SJ Consulting. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.

A few years ago I was visiting my husband while he was working in the next town over. While we were waiting for him to finish work, my son and I went to the grocery store beside the hotel to grab some lunch.

Quinoa chicken salad bowl

I half-heartedly grabbed a quinoa salad and head for the till. I was annoyed there wasn’t much selection at the deli (and I was super hangry). When I got back to the hotel and took a bite I was super surprised: the quinoa salad was amazing.

I actually forgot about it until I was trying to think of a recipe to create for this month. I wanted to do something similar to this Moroccan Carrot Salad but make it a main course, or a delicious and healthy lunch.

Simplified Summer Eating

It’s hard for me to cook (let alone be productive) during the summer months. My routine is thrown off a bit with my son being home and life can be a bit chaotic.

Moroccan Kale Salad Bowl with kale, carrots, and peppers.

I like to simplify during the summer. Here are some simplifying summer eats:

  • Meal Plan: We all know how much I love to meal plan (find out more about learning how to meal plan here).
  • Meal prep: I highly recommend meal prepping to have a lot of your ingredients ready. Even just chopping up vegetables and cooking quinoa/rice/chicken, etc ahead of time so you can toss things together last minute helps big time.
  • Use the Chicken App to get organized for shopping: With all the kids in tow, you are going to want to get in and out of the grocery store fast. The Chicken App keeps your grocery list organized and even gives you some recipe ideas. Tip: Make sure your partner has the app too so they can sync to your list and give you a hand.
  • Grill. We grill everything during the summer. It’s quick and it allows my house to stay cool.

Is Quinoa Salad Healthy?

It depends. It can be. There are a few factors to consider.

If you add a balance of healthy carbohydrates, fats, and proteins to make it a complete meal – absolutely.

Kale carrot salad bowl dressed with a moroccan vinaigrette.

It also depends on what you dress it with. A thick dressing, or too much can turn a healthy recipe into unhealthy fast.

Something else to consider is your serving size. Too much of anything can be unhealthy, so keep that in mind. This particular recipe for Moroccan Quinoa Salad serves 8, which makes it a perfect lunch at 334 calories.

21 Day Fix Containers

I’ll be slowly adding in container counts for Ultimate Portion Fix after popular demand.

The full recipe has 6 greens, 8 reds, 5 yellows, 1 blue (optional), and 8 orange.

Per serving the counts are: 3/4 green, 1 red, 2/3 yellow, 1 orange.

Moroccan Quinoa Salad Add-Ins

Moroccan Chickpea Salad Recipe

My husband is dairy free, so I didn’t put cheese in to the main dish (as you can see in the photos).

That being said if you want to up this quinoa chicken salad game, add some feta.

I don’t think adding feta makes this dish “Moroccan” by any means but it works so well with the flavors and I am obsessed with this pairing.

How to Make Moroccan Chicken Quinoa Salad

Shredded carrots, kale, chicken, chickpeas, peppers in a moroccan salad bowl

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Chicken Chickpea Bowl

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moroccan chicken quinoa salad recipe
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4.29 from 7 votes

Moroccan Chicken Quinoa Salad

Refreshing, light, yet filling this chicken quinoa salad the perfect dish to serve during hot summer months.
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Keyword moroccan, quinoa, summer
Prep Time 25 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Calories 334kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breasts cooked and cubed
  • 2 cups quinoa cooked
  • 1 cup kale chopped
  • 1 bell peppers chopped
  • 8 medium carrots grated or spiralized
  • 1/2 cup chickpeas if canned, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup parsley chopped

Vinaigrette

  • 6 tbsps lemon juice
  • 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Optional

  • 1/2 cup feta cheese

Instructions

Make Vinaigrette

  • Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, and seasonings. Set aside.

Putting it together

  • Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl. Drizzle vinaigrette over. Serve right away or cover and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavours to come together.

Notes

Calories include optional feta cheese
If you have your quinoa and chicken prepped beforehand this recipe comes together in minutes, if not the time listed in the recipe card is correct.

21 Day Fix Containers

I’ll be slowly adding in container counts for Ultimate Portion Fix after popular demand.
The full recipe has 6 greens, 8 reds, 5 yellows, 1 blue (optional), and 8 orange.
Per serving the counts are: 3/4 green, 1 red, 2/3 yellow, 1 orange.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 334kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 368mg | Potassium: 784mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 11985IU | Vitamin C: 42.8mg | Calcium: 116mg | Iron: 3.2mg
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16 comments on “Moroccan Chicken Quinoa Salad”

  1. 5 stars
    Healthy and tasty? Sold! I love the quinoa, and the flavors sound so good.

  2. This looks absolutely delicious! I had never even thought to put quinoa in a salad before.

  3. I’ve become interested in how to cook with quinoa, something I didn’t ever eat growing up. Thanks for this recipe!

  4. That looks like an amazing salad. I will have to give this one a try soon. I can’t wait to try it out. It sounds so good!

  5. The perfect salad for me for this salad! Looks so tasty and so easy to make! It’s on my menu for next week!

  6. Extra quinoa for me! It looks so good and colorful!

  7. This looks so yummy and packed full of flavor goodness! I love quinoa!

  8. This is definitely my type of salad. Love the chickpeas and quinoa but I would make this without chicken.

  9. Hi Randa.
    In the vinaigrette ingredients you have 1/2 tsp powder (above the cumin). Could you tell me what kind of powder you mean, please? This is definitely a salad I’d like to try – it looks very appetizing! Thanks in advance.

  10. This is very simple to prepare which makes it more appealing to me. There must be great mix of flavors in here. My friend will love this.

  11. Wow this looks like a great recipe! Can’t wait to gie it a try!

  12. OMG this look so good! Wow – I would love to try to make it

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