Tomato Chickpea and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

I am super lucky that one of my best friends has a daughter my daughter’s age. Better yet? They are best buddies and love to hang out with each other. Even better? Because our kids like each other so much, we see each other a lot. And the icing on this cake? This friend is my food soul mate. Seriously, she is one of those people that matches my mood for things be it a light salad or a trip to the ice cream store.

So what does this have to do with this tomato, chickpea, and quinoa salad?

Well, it was a hot Monday early in the summer. My little Goose was thrilled because we were going to the pool with my friend and her daughter and son. She couldn’t wait to see them. Since my friend has two kids and it is tough to move our crowd of kiddos from place to place (no kidding- it’s like herding very small elephants that insist on doing everything themselves), we planned to meet early in the afternoon and stay at the pool through dinner.

Only catch? Neither of us had the makings of a full dinner. I had chickpeas and tomatoes and garlic. She had quinoa, lemons, and basil. Separately, it was all pieces of a dinner. Together though? A great salad was born. Via text message, while my daughter bounced off the wall waiting for us to go meet our friends.

I do mean bounced off the wall in the literal sense of the word. Seriously, have you ever seen a two year old get excited? They do, indeed, bounce. A LOT.

So, via text, through kids being crazy and throwing fits, we decided. She’d bring quinoa, lemon juice, and basil. I was responsible for halving the cherry tomatoes and tossing them with chickpeas. As I rummaged through my kitchen, I’d find things like fresh garlic, that I thought would go nicely in the salad and shoot her a text asking for her thoughts. Every time one of us would suggest something, the other would respond with an enthusiastic yes.

And if she didn’t have quinoa, it would have been so easy to make Instant Pot quinoa.

In the end, this salad turned out to be super delicious. Perfect summer picnic food. Nice and light with it’s lemony freshness. Sweet from the fresh cherry tomatoes. A bit of salty from the ricotta salata cheese. (No ricotta salata? No worries, feta would work so well in this salad.) Perfect. Even our husbands and kiddos liked it.

Other Chickpea Recipes

• Easy Italian Pasta with Chickpeas (Pasta e Ceci)
• Easy Garlic Roasted Chickpeas with Parmesan
• Sweet Garlic Chili Chickpea Salad with Roasted Broccoli
• Caprese Zoodle Bowls with Chickpeas
• Easy Thai Chickpea Curry
• Thai Pumpkin Curry with Butternut and Chickpeas

Other Light Grain Salads

• The Best Crunchy Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad
• Greek Orzo Salad
• Winter Citrus Salad with Roasted Broccoli and Quinoa
• Mexican Quinoa Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

Tomato Chickpea and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

Tomato, Chickpea, and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette makes the perfect summer meal

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Servings: 4 -6 servings

Author: Seasoned Sprinkles

Ingredients

• 1 cup of uncooked quinoa
• 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes quartered
• 4 ounces of ricotta salata or feta crumbled
• salt and pepper to taste

For the dressing

• the juice of 2 lemons
• 1/3 cup of good extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup of basil loosely packed

Instructions

• Cook the quinoa according to directions and let cool. While the quinoa is cooking, quarter the cherry tomatoes. Toss the cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, quinoa, and cheese together. Set aside.
• Add the ingredients for the dressing to a food processor and pulse together until combined. Pour over the salad and toss together.
• Enjoy!

Notes

Feel free to sub out feta for ricotta salata.

Nutrition

Serving: 4-6 servings

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