Chicken Quinoa Salad

5 from 2 votes

This chicken quinoa salad with pomegranate and avocado is drizzled with a golden roasted garlic turmeric dressing. It's quick and simple to make and full of goodness.

Prep Time20

Cook Time25

Total Time45

Course: Lunch, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: Fusion, Middle Eastern

Servings:

Calories: 592kcal

Author: Sasha Hooper

Equipment

Baking Sheet

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon rapeseed or olive oil plus extra to dress the salad
zest of 1 lemon + juice of ½
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon sumac (optional)
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup frozen edamame
1 pomegranate
1-2 avocados
2 cups cooked quinoa

Turmeric Tahini Sauce

2-3 cloves garlic
¾ teaspoon ground turmeric
juice of a lemon
2 tablespoons tahini
½ cup Greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon maple syrup
2 tablespoons water (plus more to thin as desired)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
Toss the chicken breasts with the oil, lemon zest, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and sumac, if using. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until cooked through.
2 chicken breasts, 1 tablespoon rapeseed or olive oil, zest of 1 lemon + juice of ½, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ¼ teaspoon sumac
Wrap the garlic cloves for the sauce in foil and place in the oven to roast along with the chicken. They'll need about 25 minutes too.
2-3 cloves garlic
Meanwhile, finely chop the broccoli. You don't need to be too precious about this, you're just aiming for small bite-sized pieces. Cook the frozen edamame in boiling salted water for a couple of minutes. Remove the arils from your pomegranate and dice the avocado.
2 cups broccoli florets, 1 cup frozen edamame, 1 pomegranate, 1-2 avocados
Place the salad ingredients in a large bowl with the cooked quinoa. Toss with the juice of half a lemon, a drizzle of oil and some salt and pepper.
2 cups cooked quinoa, juice of a lemon
Cut the chicken into ½ inch cubes and add to the salad. Serve the salad and drizzle with the sauce. Enjoy!

Turmeric Tahini Sauce

Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves (see above) into a small bowl and add a pinch of flaky sea salt. Crush using the back of a spoon until you have a paste.
2-3 cloves garlic
Add the turmeric, lemon juice and tahini and mix well. Stir in the yoghurt, maple syrup and enough water to thin to your liking. Season, adding salt, black pepper and more maple syrup to taste.
¾ teaspoon ground turmeric, juice of a lemon, 2 tablespoons tahini, ½ cup Greek yoghurt, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, 2 tablespoons water

Notes

Pomegranate - you can make it easier for yourself by buying a pot of pre prepared pomegranate arils and there is no shame in this. It’s easier. However if you want to prepare a pomegranate the easiest way is to slice off the very top of the fruit and then score vertically down the sides 4-6 times with a knife. Break open the wedges to remove the arils without spraying yourself with red juice!

Roasted garlic - the dressing requires roasted garlic. Often this is done as a whole head of garlic. You can do this if you wish, but it will take a lot longer to roast in a foil packet. To do it a lot quicker you can break the garlic head into its individual cloves, drizzle them with oil and wrap in a foil packet, this increases the surface area to speed up the roasting. Just snip off the tip with a pair of scissors when roasted and squeeze out the jammy garlic.

Change protein - you can easily change the protein of this salad, if you wish. Try it with seared steak, flaked roasted or hot smoked salmon, wild game or even tofu if you wish.

Change veggies - Use what is in season. Switch up with cauliflower, asparagus, broad beans, kale, fine beans or whatever you please, just keep roughly to the volume ratios stated.

Vegan? - If you choose to veganise this, just switch out the protein for something like tofu or chickpeas and use a dairy free yoghurt in the dressing.

Nutrition