Healthy Black Bean and Feta Quinoa Salad

Summer is quickly approaching and what better way to accompany your BBQ than with this healthy black bean and feta quinoa salad.  This salad is so easy to put together and should be served cold.

What makes this salad so great is the feta cheese.  I do love feta cheese and I think it really compliments this dish.  When I was thinking about an easy summer side dish, I knew that I had to make it include feta.  

My love affair of feta cheese is pretty evident on the blog.  Think:  this strawberry summer quinoa salad with feta is a perfect example.  While that salad was on the sweet side, this one is savory.

I came up with this salad for Memorial Day (my family is great for being guinea pigs), and my mom loved it.  I’m hoping she wasn’t just saying that she loved it because she gave birth to me…I hope she really and truly meant it.  

Besides the feta cheese, this dish has green and red peppers as well as black beans in it.  The explosion of  flavors really popped from the peppers and beans together.  The cheese just added that little bit extra zip that it needed.

If you like cold salads as a side dish, you should also try this easy orzo and feta salad with tomatoes.

Fun note:  These pictures were the first ones taken for the blog at the new house.  I’m sorry they are so sparce (they will get better…I promise).  I just couldn’t find anything I needed to dress them up and wanted to shoot these that day before we ate all the salad.

I love that you can combine so many things in quinoa to dress it up.  Plain quinoa isn’t really my favorite…I like to add veggies or fruits to it to add in the delicious flavors and really make it pop.

To make this Healthy Black Bean and Feta Quinoa Salad:

Cook the Quinoa

Heat 2 cups of water to a rolling boil.  Add 1 cup of uncooked quinoa to the pot.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Turn off the burner and let the quinoa stand, covered for 5 minutes.

Assemble the Salad

Once the quinoa is cooked, transfer it to a large bowl.  Add in the black beans, peppers and feta.  Stir to combine.  Serve immediately.  If you want to serve this cold, let the quinoa cool off before you add the veggies and feta.  

You can do that by taking it out of the pot and put it into a bowl.  This will help it cool faster.  You could also place it in the refrigerator to cool as well.

What are your go to appetizer/side recipes?

Healthy Black Bean and Feta Quinoa Salad

This recipe is 3 Freestyle points per serving, 1 cup.

3.35 from 43 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Healthy Black Bean and Feta Quinoa Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 10 servings

Calories: 64kcal

Author: Dash of Herbs

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 red pepper chopped
• 1 green pepper chopped
• 1/2 cup feta crumbled

Instructions

Cook the Quinoa

• Heat 2 cups of water to a rolling boil. Add the 1 cup of uncooked quinoa. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Turn off the burner and let stand, covered for 5 minutes.

Assemble the Salad

• Once the quinoa is cooked, transfer it to a large bowl. Add in the black beans, peppers and feta. Stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Notes

This salad can be served warm or cold. If you want to serve it cold, cook the quinoa as instructed and just let it cool. Once it's cooled, you can add in the veggies and cheese.

Tried this recipe?Mention @dashofherbs or tag #dashofherbsrecipes!

Nutrition

Calories: 64kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 247mg | Potassium: 181mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 9% | Vitamin C: 31.4% | Calcium: 5.3% | Iron: 5.3%