This Honey Mustard Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad recipe is a perfect meatless main dish or side dish! It’s flavorful, loaded with veggies & protein and is a great meal prep recipe.
Are there meals that you could eat everyday and never get tired of?
I'm a creature of habit. When I find something I like I tend to stick with it for a while (or forever). I do this because sometimes it takes more brainpower than I can muster to decide what to cook for dinner (or breakfast, or lunch...).
So, when I find recipes that I love, like this Honey Mustard Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad, I make them on repeat until my tastes or the season change.
This is the best warm quinoa salad recipe, and it makes a perfect meatless main dish or yummy side!
It's also a great meal prep recipe. I often make it on Monday and eat it all week long! You can serve it in a green salad, tacos, etc. There's really no wrong way to enjoy this Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad.
How to make Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad
Since I've made this recipe more times than I care to admit, I have it down to a science! Here are a few tips for you:
Pre-cook the sweet potatoes. The first step in this recipe is to roast the vegetables. However peppers & edamame cook faster than potatoes. So you will need to cook the potatoes for a little while before adding the other veggies.
Using the microwave speeds up the process, but the recipe gives directions if you'd prefer to only use the oven. If you don't cook the sweet potatoes first you run the risk of ending up with burnt veggies and undercooked sweet potatoes.
Save 2 TBS of sauce! Add 2 TBS of honey mustard sauce to the cooked quinoa, then toss the rest with the roasted vegetables. This gives the quinoa a little flavor boost!
Add the honey mustard during the last 10 minutes of baking. Be sure all the vegetables and potatoes are nice and browned before adding the sauce. The goal is to cook the veggies with the sauce just until it starts to stick to them and coat them well!
Serve
You can serve this recipe warm or cold. I prefer it warm with avocado. Here are some dishes that pair well with this roasted vegetable quinoa salad:
- I like serving it on top of leafy greens like this kale salad, brussels sprouts salad or burrata salad.
- Add in some cinnamon sugar pecans, candied almonds, or roasted chickpeas for some crunch.
- Serve it as a side to this pot roast or this baked chicken!
Store/freeze
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-7 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad: Substitutions
This recipe is fairly versatile. Here are a few potential substitutions:
- Vegetables. I have used just about every veggie under the sun in this recipe and it's always delicious. Just remember to account for the roasting times of each vegetable.
- Mustard. I have used many different mustard varieties in this recipe, all with great results! My favorite is dijon and honey mustard is a close second!
- Honey. For a vegan variety substitute pure maple syrup for the honey.
- Olive oil. Any neutral oil can be used such as avocado oil, canola oil, etc.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! I recommend rinsing quinoa before cooking it! Quinoa has a natural coating called saponin that, if not rinsed off, can cause the final cooked quinoa to taste bitter!
Yes! Here are a few facts about the nutritional benefits of quinoa
Quinoa is a complete protein. This is one of my absolute favorite qualities of quinoa! If you're like me and prefer to get most of your protein from plant-based sources, then quinoa is a great choice!
Quinoa is gluten-free. So for those of you who have to say no to pasta salads because of the gluten, quinoa salads are a perfectly delicious alternative!
Quinoa is lower in carbohydrates and calories than rice. If you watch your intake of carbs and calories, then quinoa is a great alternative to rice!
Quinoa is high in fiber. I'm always trying to find ways to get more fiber into our diet. Quinoa is a great way to do that!
It's high in other nutrients. Including but not limited to: iron, magnesium, phosphorous, zinc, calcium, and potassium!
This Quinoa Salad can last for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator (if you don't eat it all much faster)!
If you make something from JoyFoodSunshine I would love to see your creations! Don't forget to rate this recipe and leave a comment below! Also, follow along with me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter for more recipe inspiration and a glimpse into our everyday life!
Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Quinoa:
- ¾ cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 ½ cups water
- ¼ tsp salt
Vegetables
- 6 cups sweet potatoes cubed (about 2 medium)
- 1 red pepper cut into 1” square pieces
- 1 green pepper cut into 1” square pieces
- 1 cup shelled edamame
- 3 TBS olive oil divided
- 1 ¼ tsp garlic salt divided
- ¼ tsp pepper
Honey Mustard Sauce:
- 6 TBS Dijon mustard
- 3 TBS honey
- 2 TBS olive oil
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet, set aside.
- Dice sweet potatoes and place in a microwave safe dish. Microwave for 6 minutes. (If you don’t want to use a microwave, skip this step and proceed to step 2)
- Toss diced sweet potatoes with 2 TBS olive oil until coated.
- Sprinkle 1 tsp garlic salt on potatoes and mix until evenly distributed.
- Spread sweet potatoes evenly on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until slightly browned (if you don’t want to use a microwave, bake 15 minutes then stir and bake another 10 minutes before proceeding to the next step).
- While sweet potatoes are baking, toss green peppers and shelled edamame with remaining 1 TBS olive oil and ¼ tsp garlic salt.
- After sweet potatoes are slightly browned on one side, add the peppers and edamame and stir until everything is evenly distributed on your baking sheet.
- Bake for an additional 20 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until the peppers are cooked and everything is slightly browned.
- Make the honey mustard sauce: While the veggies are roasting, stir together all honey mustard sauce ingredients until combined.
- Add 2 TBS of the sauce to the already cooked quinoa, set aside.
- Once the veggies are all slightly browned (after about 30-35 minutes total of roasting time), add the rest of the honey mustard sauce to the vegetables and stir until evenly coated.
- Bake for 10 additional minutes, stirring once halfway through, until the sauce has thickened and has coated the vegetables.
- Remove the pan from the oven and add the quinoa to the vegetables and stir until combined.
- Serve warm or wait until the salad has cooled to room temperature, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and serve cold!
Notes
Ingredient substitutions
- Vegetables. I have used just about every veggie under the sun in this recipe and it's always delicious. Just remember to account for the roasting times of each vegetable.
- Mustard. I have used many different mustard varieties in this recipe, all with great results! My favorite is dijon and honey mustard is a close second!
- Honey. For a vegan variety substitute pure maple syrup for the honey.
- Olive oil. Any neutral oil can be used such as avocado oil, canola oil, etc.
Nutrition
More delicious quinoa recipes:
- This easy quinoa salad is tossed in a homemade lemon dressing and it's so light and fresh and delicious!
- Nothing screams summer like this balsamic caprese quinoa salad.
- This Asian quinoa salad is perfect to bring to a BBQ or potluck, it's delicious and feeds a crowd.
- This baked quinoa casserole is healthy comfort food at its finest!
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Marylee
My entire family of ten people that are extremely anti-vegan food are the entire double batch I made of this Bush and were looking for more. That is saying a lot about how delicious this recipe is. Thank you for a vegan side dish. In my case it was a meal. Wonderful. I can't say enough about how good it is!
Laurel
This salad looks amazing! Love how simple it is to make. And that Honey Mustard dressing.... YUM!
Emily Weir
All of your recipes always look so delicious! I can't wait to give this one a try.
Katie
I have a few recipes that are my go-to and this looks so good and like it would make a great go-to!
Alisa Fleming
Honey mustard has been my favorite sauce flavor for years, but we usually use it for dipping or as a salad dressing. This is such a great new option to try.