Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad

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Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad with spinach, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and a simple maple mustard dressing is the perfect salad for fall. It goes great with any meal. 

Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad with spinach, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and a simple maple mustard dressing is the perfect salad for fall. #salad #glutenfree

I have been baking up all of my favorite fall recipes…pumpkin cinnamon cookies, apple slab piepumpkin cream cheese muffins, and salted caramel apple crumb bars. Our kitchen has been smelling so good and I have been enjoying every bite, but my jeans have been feeling a little tight…ha! I decided it was time to take a break from fall baking and make a healthy fall salad. I am all about balance:) I made this easy Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad and it is fall perfection!

Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad is the perfect side dish for fall and Thanksgiving!

I eat apples every single day, no matter what time of year it is, but I usually eat more than one apple a day during the fall because they are SO good. I HAD to put them in this salad because I can’t get enough. I love apple season.

This easy salad recipe has all of my favorite ingredients:

  • spinach
  • quinoa
  • apples
  • walnuts
  • dried cranberries
  • goat cheese

The quinoa salad is finished with a maple mustard dressing that pulls all of the fall flavors together. Don’t skip the dressing, I promise it is easy to make. You can whisk it up in just a few minutes.

Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad with maple mustard dressing is an easy side dish for the holidays!

This loaded salad is filling enough to be a meal, I love eating it for lunch, or it can be served as a side dish to any meal. You will love all of the textures and flavors… protein-packed quinoa, leafy green spinach, crisp apples, sweet dried cranberries, crunchy walnuts, creamy goat cheese, and that amazing maple mustard dressing.

This easy Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad would make a great side dish to your Thanksgiving meal too. I know it will be making an appearance at our holiday meal, but I can’t wait that long to enjoy it again so it will be lunch today! I love this salad and I hope you do too!

Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad with spinach, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and a simple maple mustard dressing is the perfect salad for fall.

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Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad

This is the perfect salad for fall! Enjoy it for lunch, dinner, or serve it as a side dish for Thanksgiving.
4.85 from 79 votes

Ingredients
  

For the maple mustard dressing:

For the quinoa salad:

  • 3 cups fresh spinach leaves
  • 2 cups cooked quinoa
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped apples (Honeycrisp, Gala, or Fuji are my favorite)
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese (can use feta cheese)
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions
 

  • First, make the maple mustard dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, add the spinach, cooked quinoa, apples, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and walnuts. Toss until salad is combined. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste.
  • Drizzle with dressing and toss again. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 330kcal, Carbohydrates: 28g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 22g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 6mg, Sodium: 83mg, Potassium: 274mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 11g, Vitamin A: 1554IU, Vitamin C: 7mg, Calcium: 58mg, Iron: 2mg
Keywords gluten free

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Maria

I'm Maria and my husband is Josh. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We love sitting around the table with good food, good conversation, and good friends and family! Our kitchen is always open!
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  1. 5 stars
    I made this for lunch and it’s incredible! I’m trying to eat healthier and this is the perfect delicious and filling salad for the fall.

  2. 4 stars
    I made this recipe using blue cheese crumbles because that seems to be what my husband comes home with whenever I have feta on the shopping list. I also substituted blueberries for the cranberries because that’s what I had on hand. All very good. Basically any combination of sweet autumnal fruits will work well in this recipe. It’s the lovely maple dressing that carries the day.

  3. 5 stars
    Used feta because our grocery was out of goat cheese, but it was still so good! My 7 year old asked to try it and ate a whole bowl – her first time eating raw spinach!

  4. I just tried this even the dressing tried to modified it to a lower fat and sugar content but still turned out really good and very healthy too. Thank you for this recipe. I just want to suggest to please include the nutrition facts of your recipe

    1. With everyone’s modifications, it’s probably better for people to enter their own food for nutritional information.

  5. 5 stars
    I wish I could rate this 10 stars!! SO. GOOD!! I had some kale to use up and no spinach, so kale it was! This truly a new favorite. Thank you.

  6. 5 stars
    LOVED! Super easy, great to make ahead of time and delicious, bright flavors with lots of color and pizazz.

  7. 5 stars
    This salad is delicious! I used mixed greens instead of spinach. I brought it to a picnic at the beach and everyone loved it; I even got asked for the recipe. This salad is so easy to make, with ingredients I always have on hand. I will be making it again and again.

  8. This salad is wonderful. So much good flavor. I take it to parties and everyone loves it. I use feta
    cheese because most people love that.
    Thanks for a great recipe.
    I did not wait til fall to make it.
    LOL

  9. 5 stars
    The dressing is fabulous! Added dried apricots and blue cheese crumbles bc it’s all I had on hand. Definitely a keeper.

  10. 5 stars
    Love, love, love this recipe. It comes together very quickly and the dressing is sooo good. I have also added rotisserie chicken to it.

    1. Yes! You can make the dressing and quinoa ahead of time and keep them in the fridge for 4 days. Assemble the salad when you are ready!

  11. 5 stars
    Delicious!! Our first time cooking quinoa and we may need to work on perfecting that a bit but everything comes together perfectly in this recipe.

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