Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad
Updated October 13, 2019
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.
I have been baking up all of my favorite fall recipes…pumpkin cinnamon cookies, apple slab pie, pumpkin 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!
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.
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
Ingredients
For the maple mustard dressing:
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
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
Have you tried this recipe?
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Look so delicious!!! I want to eat all of this at the first moment when I see them.Thank you for sharing these food.
I just made this for lunch (sized it down for one). It was so delicious!! I will definitely be making it again.
This is my kind of salad! I could eat it every day!
I am obsessed!
Do you have macros for your recipes?
No, sorry!
Looks SO yummy!!
About how many servings is this if Iโm using it as the main dish?
I made this last night for dinner and it was fantastic!! Great fall recipe that isn’t a soup, it’s been super hot and humid this week! The dressing was great too, I added a little more mustard and apple cider vinegar for some extra punch. Great combination of flavors!
It’s healthy, easy to make. thanks so much!
these are all my favs! perfect for a Fall lunch!
First quinoa usage ever. Just made it–absolutely delicious–definitely a keeper!
Glad you enjoyed your first experience with quinoa! We have a lot of other quinoa recipes on our site too!
SUPER FRESH LOOKING AND SOUNDS AMAZING!
I love salads with quinoa, such a special flavor! I’m thinking of adding just a wee bit of sliced onion…think it’d give a nice touch (since I love onion).
Another amazing salad from you! Brought it to a team lunch and everyone loved it!ย
How do you think feta would do instead of goat cheese?
Feta is great too! Enjoy!
Made this salad tonight,itโs so good canโt stop eating .Iโve been ย making yours salad and Iโm never disappointed.
How long will this keep? I like to make lunch for the week on Sunday and need it to hold up. Any tips/suggestions are welcome. TIA
If you want it to last longer you can always wait to add the dressing until you are ready to serve it.
How far ahead of serving can I add the dressing? Need to hold it for a big buffet dinner spread this evening
You can toss the dressing in right before serving. I enjoy the leftovers the next day and the salad is still good, but if you are serving it to guests, I would wait to toss right before.
Would like to see nutritional values for recipes. Thank you
This is so great! I served it at our potluck Christmas and everybody loved it.
The best grain salad ever! Iโve subbed farro for quinoa for a bit heartier salad; Iโve also used different greens. The combo of ingredients and the dressing makes this fabulous!
Could like to know the calories?ย
In one word: Phenomenal! The combination of savoury and sweet flavours is superb! This will be my go-to quinoa salad recipe!
Approximately how may cups of dry quinoa will make 2 cups of cooked quinoa?
many*
1 cup
Dry quinoa triples, so just divide by three. Two thirds cup dry quinoa, one and one third cups water or broth. (Twice as much liquid as quinoa)
how many people does this salad serve?
Sounds delicious. What is the calories per portion?
Excellent flavor!
Hi Maria,
If I wanted to use 3 cups of cooked quinoa should I make a little more dressing? 1 cup dried gives you 3 cups cooked, 1/2 cup yields 11/2 cups cooked so I am in a quandary…LOL
Thanks!
Kristen
Ooops, just read your answer a few comments above! Thank you!
Probably a silly question, but is the quinoa cold or hot in the salad? Thank you
You can serve it either way. I usually do cold.
Iโm thinking of serving this as a side for Thanksgiving….how many people would this recipe serve?
we loved the salad, amazing thank you
We had this for lunch today. We used Spring Mix greens and Granny Smith apples. It turned out delicious! Thanks!
You are welcome!
A favorite! Add a simple protein and voila!
Very refreshing and delicious.
All the comments about this salad raved about how delicious it is. So we made this tonight for dinner. It was so very good. Great combination of ingredients. I think the homemade citrus vinegarette dressing puts it over the top.
Can you add bacon to this recipe?
Sure, go for it!
The flavors in this salad are so delicious not to mention colorful. The only thing I would do differently is to tear the spinach into smaller pieces. Since I planned this for lunch over the course of two days for my husband and myself, I added apple to each plate rather than the whole salad.
This salad was so good! I enjoyed the combination of flavors. Since there are 2 of us, I made the whole recipe, but only assembled enough for 2, and have left overs for a few more days. Actually, I was so obsessed with this salad that in the middle of the night I decided I was going to have another one for breakfast with a fried egg on top – it made for a great breakfast!
I just had to to comment because Iโve been making this salad regularly for around a year now and this dressing is literally life changing, I never used to be able to eat salad every day until now! I switch the toppings up, right now Iโm doing quinoa, strawberries and blueberries, homemade granola and goat cheese and it is DEEEEELISHHHHH! thank you <3
You are welcome!
Made this for dinner tonight it was delicious will definitely make again.
I tried it with our home grown apples, and it was delightful!
We really enjoyed this recipe. I really enjoyed the ingredients and the salad dressing. A good complement with other proteins or by itself. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks for another winner, Maria.
I am glad you loved it!
This was delicious and so easy to make!!
Glad you enjoyed the salad!!
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.
One of my favorite fall lunches! Glad you loved it too!
Could I swap romaine for spinach? Will it still be as good?
Yes! You can use any lettuce or greens!
This is a regular in our household. So good any time of year!
I made this yesterday and I believe it is my new favorite!! It is absolutely delicious, just yummy!
Do you usually toast the walnuts before adding to salad or just leave as is? Thanks..
You can do either, whatever you prefer. I think toasting them brings out a nice flavor.
What’s a good substitute for quinoa? My stomach does not like it.
Farro, couscous, or orzo!
Love this salad!!
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.
This is THE BEST salad. I used mixed greens because that’s what I had on hand. Sooooo yummy!
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!
This is wonderful!
Absolutely delicious! Even left over!
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
With everyoneโs modifications, itโs probably better for people to enter their own food for nutritional information.
A great recipe to try if you like quinoa bowls. I loved it!
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.
I really love this salad, its tastes amazing and is a meal on its own โค
LOVED! Super easy, great to make ahead of time and delicious, bright flavors with lots of color and pizazz.
So delicious!
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.
Yay! We make it all of the time too!
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
You are welcome.
I made this tonight and it was amazing!
Yay!
The dressing is fabulous! Added dried apricots and blue cheese crumbles bc it’s all I had on hand. Definitely a keeper.
YUM!
Love, love, love this recipe. It comes together very quickly and the dressing is sooo good. I have also added rotisserie chicken to it.
Nice! Glad you love it.
Can this be made ahead of time?
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!
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.
I love this hearty salad. Glad you loved it too!
Husband and I are obsessed with this salad. It’s also become our go-to salad when hosting.
It’s so good!
I love the combination of this salad. Thanks for sharing. Is there any chance you know the nutrition/calorie count without the dressing?
I have made this a couple times and it has been a big hit! The combination of ingredients is so good.
Thank you for reporting back!
What substitution would you suggest for the apples? My husband is allergic to them. I want to try it and donโt want to leave out that ingredient.
Peaches or pears!
This salad is truly amazing! Made it for a lunch get-together and people loved it!