I first started making this quinoa salad when Sidney was around 3 months old, which feels like a lifetime ago! I wanted a healthy meal prep lunch that was flavorful and nutritious, but most importantly, I wanted a salad that would last for days in the fridge without getting weird. AND DAMN DOES THIS SALAD DELIVER.
I have a few other quinoa salads on the blog that are fabulous, but this chickpea curry quinoa salad really takes the cake. It’s bright, bold, and full of flavor thanks to the nutritious quinoa that’s infused with warming spices.
Oh, and let’s not forget about the rainbow of veggies, fruits, herbs, and mix-ins. Once you take a bite, I promise you won’t be able to stop. Especially after you try my spicy maple-glazed cashews!
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Ingredients in this curry quinoa salad
This delicious vegan curry chickpea quinoa salad is loaded with vegetables and an incredible blend of spices. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Quinoa: I love using white quinoa, but tri-color quinoa will work just as well. You can cook it in water or vegetable broth.
- Chickpeas: to add a delicious boost of plant-based protein. See below for more protein ideas!
- Sesame oil: a bit of sesame oil will help flavor the quinoa and infuse the spices. Feel free to substitute olive oil.
- Herbs & spices: we’re adding freshly grated ginger, curry powder, turmeric, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper to give the salad a wonderful, warming curry flavor.
- For the add-ins: this quinoa salad calls for crunchy red bell pepper, shredded carrots, green peas, dried cherries, red onion, cilantro, and parsley. The blend of veggies and herbs gives it a nice crunchy texture paired with fresh, bold flavor.
- For the cashews: I love the crunch that the cashews give this salad, and I like to toast them with a little maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and sea salt. YUM.
Customize your quinoa salad
Like with so many salad recipes, this curry quinoa salad can easily be customized to your taste preferences! Here are some swaps and/or additions I can recommend:
- Try a new grain. This would be great with farro, barley, or pearl couscous as well!
- Use your fav veggies. Shredded red cabbage, snap peas, green onion, or even roasted broccoli or cauliflower would be delicious in this salad.
- Choose your sweetness. I love this salad with dried cherries, but feel free to use dried cranberries, raisins, golden raisins, or chopped dates for little bites of sweetness throughout.
- Switch up your nuts. Honey-roasted peanuts or pistachios would be great options, or you can omit the nuts to keep the salad nut-free!
Try one of these protein swaps
Get an extra boost of protein or swap the chickpeas for:
- 1-2 cups of edamame (to keep it plant-based)
- Grilled chicken (using this marinade!)
- Sautéed or grilled shrimp
- Grilled or baked Maple Glazed Salmon
How to cook the perfect fluffy quinoa
Don’t forget to get all of my tips and tricks for making the BEST fluffy quinoa in this post! As I mentioned, you can cook your quinoa in water, vegetable broth, or, if you’re not vegan or vegetarian, chicken broth.
Delicious maple cayenne toasted cashews
The cashews are optional in this salad, but I HIGHLY recommend adding them because they’re so delicious. Here’s how to make them:
- Add your cashews to a pan on the stovetop over medium heat.
- Carefully toss them around until they begin to smell fragrant and start turning light brown, which should be about 5 minutes.
- Immediately remove them from the heat and stir in the maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and salt. Then set them aside to cool before adding them to your salad.
Beautiful chickpea curry quinoa salad in 5 steps
- Cook your quinoa. Start by cooking your quinoa in water or broth in a small pot until it’s nice and fluffy. Set it aside.
- Add chickpeas & seasonings. Stir in the chickpeas, sesame oil, and all of those yummy seasonings until they’re well combined.
- Add the mix-ins. Fold in your chopped veggies, herbs, and dried cherries.
- Toast the cashews. Toast your cashews (if using) and add the maple syrup, cayenne, and sea salt. Let them cool on a plate or parchment paper.
- Toss & serve. Add the cooled cashews to your salad, toss, and serve!
How to store quinoa salad
This delicious vegan curry cashew chickpea quinoa salad gets even better over the course of a few days as it marinates in the spices. Store it in an airtight container for up to 5 days and enjoy all week long. It’s perfect for meal prep as a side dish or a main dish, and you can easily make it the night before.
Tools you’ll need
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More salad recipes to try
- Curried Chickpea Couscous Salad
- Roasted Carrot Cauliflower Quinoa Salad with Sunshine Dressing
- Copycat Portillo’s Chopped Salad
- Everything Spring Green Salad with Basil Lemon Vinaigrette
- Chickpea Arugula Quinoa Salad
Get all of my salad recipes here!
I hope you love this vibrant curry cashew chickpea quinoa salad. If you make it, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe — I really appreciate it! xo.
Vibrant Curry Cashew Chickpea Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- For the quinoa:
- ¾ cup quinoa
- 1 ⅔ cup water
- 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- ¾ cup frozen green peas, thawed
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil (or sub olive oil)
- ½ tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon curry powder, plus more if you want a really big curry punch!
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For the mix-ins:
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- ½ cup shredded carrots (from 1 large carrot)
- ½ cup dried cherries (or dried cranberries)
- ¼ cup finely diced red onion
- ⅓ cup finely diced cilantro
- ⅓ cup finely diced flat leaf parsley
- For the maple cayenne toasted cashews:
- ¾ cup raw cashews
- ½ tablespoon pure maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Add in quinoa and water to a medium pot and bring mixture to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and cook for exactly 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove from heat and fluff quinoa with a fork, then replace lid and allow quinoa to steam for 5-10 more minutes. While quinoa is cooking you can chop all your veggies.
- Once quinoa is done cooking, stir in chickpeas, peas, sesame oil, ginger, curry powder, turmeric, garlic powder, salt and black pepper.
- Next stir in red bell pepper, shredded carrots, dried cherries, red onion, cilantro and parsley.
- Finally make your maple cayenne toasted cashews: place cashews in a skillet over medium heat. Toast cashews for 4-6 minutes, stirring frequently until they turn slightly golden brown and fragrant, then turn off heat and immediately add in maple syrup, cayenne pepper and sea salt. Stir for 30 more seconds to coat cashews, then transfer to a plate or piece of parchment paper to cool for a few minutes. Cashews may stick together so try to spread them in an even layer when they are cooling.
- Top quinoa with cashews and serve! Serves 4 for a main meal or 6 as a side. I suggest waiting to add cashews until you are ready to serve so they stay nice and crunchy.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on June 17th, 2020, republished on April 17th, 2023, and republished on March 24th, 2026.
Really great salad. I substituted the cherries for dates and just used already roasted and salted cashews for ease. Definitely make a again.
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
I have this macerating in the fridge right now, but the first bites have been amazing! I did find I needed to use more oil so I added sesame and grape seed oil. I also can’t have raw onions, so I added the juice of 1 lemon and a little bit of rice wine vinegar to add some acid. I can tell the star is going to be the cashews, which I may have to make just for their own sake!
Perfect! Hope you’re loving it after it marinates!
I just made this recipe for mmy family and I, and we absolutely ADORED it!! It was exactly what I wanted : Healthy, filling, and DELICIOUS! I’m definitely going to check out some of your other recipes 🙂 Thank you for motivating me to continue on my healthy-fitness journey with this wonderful salad. 💕💕
So happy to hear that! I hope you find more recipes here that you love 🙂
I’ve made this so many times! It’s incredible and nutrient dense. I like to just keep it in the fridge to eat throughout the week either with a meal or as a snack. It is even good warm. I add shredded red cabbage too – like in another AK recipe
So happy to hear that! One of my all-time favs, too 🙂
The quinoa recipe looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it.
Hope you love it!
I made this salad exactly as the recipe said. It was delicious and my husband enjoyed it too, which I wasn’t necessarily expecting. Making it again today, doubling it, so I can give some to a neighbor who just had surgery. The only slight change I’ll make is to add a little more curry seasoning since I like curries. Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
Thank you Heather!
Hoping for your next book, including all these amazing salad recipes!!!!
I do love a vibrant salad! 🙂
This was really good. It was also a beautiful, beautiful dish. And, if these two things weren’t enough It’s really healthy! 1 tablespoon of oil for the whole dish (and the nuts…ok). I was super impressed. My daughter-in-law LOVED the cashews. I didn’t have raw, but had roasted salted cashews, I heated them in a cast iron pan, once they started getting a little brown, I poured the 1/2 tbl. maple syrup, gave a shake of cayenne (no salt), stirred and scraped them out onto a plate. Really tasty, so lightly sweet.
One of my all-time favorites! So glad it was a hit 🙂
Looks delicious. Would it be best to serve the salad chilled or room temperature? Thanks
It’s actually delicious both ways!
Best salad I make. Always gets rave reviews and requests for a copy of the recipe!
So happy to hear that!
I made this with chicken instead of chick peas and it is delicious. Thank you for the great recipe!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
This recipe is absolutely delicious and so healthy! Thank you! My taste buds are so happy! I added a little lime juice for acid. Also chopped kale and red cabbage because I had them on hand.
So happy to hear that!
Honestly, this is SO GOOD! I just made it today. I love eggs and had planned to have eggs for breakfast after meal prepping but I couldn’t help myself and ate this instead. Freaking delicious.
I’m all about a little breakfast salad! Love it!
The salad was tasty, but I felt it was lacking acidity, so I added juice from half a small lemon.
It perked up the flavors!
Sounds amazing, Emily! Glad this salad turned out great for you!
Loved it! I didn’t have peas or red pepper – added shredded raw beets and cucumber instead. Also a spritz of lemon juice. I will definitely add this to my rotation. Thanks!
The curried quinoa salad is EXCELLENT. Actually all your quinoa salads are. Lots of layer of flavor, healthy and never boring!
Thank you so much, Susan! So happy you loved this one 🙂
I made this to have for lunch over 3-4 days. It took while to prepare – feels like one of those “everything but the kitchen sink” recipes, but the end result was worth it. I modified it only a little – didn’t have peas so I used some frozen mukimame, and I didn’t have enough dried cherries, so I added some diced medjol dates.
Sounds amazing! Glad you are loving this salad!
Didn’t know what to expect but AMAZING!! Satisfied my craving for a curry-flavored, slightly sweet and spicy dinner. I’ll be making this a lot for lunch meal prep during the week. Had it with lentils for an extra boost.
I think this recipe was good, it just wasn’t my absolute favorite. I do love all the different veggies. I think maybe next time I might try toasting the chickpeas just for some extra crunch!
Did you add the cashews? They add the perfect crush to this salad as well.
Sounds delish! Any suggestions for a sub for the cilantro and parsley? I’m one of those people that it tastes like soap to me lol
Thank you so much!
Very good! I made it without any substitutions, but did omit the salt, as my husband needs low-sodium. Very pretty colors, nice and light and refreshing, with a touch of sweet from the cherries, and spice from the curry. Loved the extra crunch the cashews gave. All around great salad!
Every time I serve this salad, it gets raves. I especially love that it is easy to make, colorful, packed with levels of flavors and different textures, AND is a recipe that is easy to adapt. The quinoa/chickpea base is inspiring.
This was a great recipe for meal prep! I had it for lunch a few days in a row and it was great each day! I enjoyed all of the different textures of ingredients and it was so flavorful! Will definitely make again,
Yay! So glad this recipe is a hit and you are loving it, Meghan 🙂
I’ve made this recipe a couple times last Summer and loved it! I would like to make it for a wedding shower for 20-25 people along with mini chicken salad croissants, a fruit salad and deviled eggs. I’m thinking this recipe would be enough as printed as I remember it making quite a large bowl despite it saying makes 4 servings. What do you think?
In an attempt to keep away from sugar I’m looking for salads like this. However; with only 1 tablespoon of “dressing” (it was more like a paste) it did not add much flavor to the salad. 1/2 t salt was too much for me. With almost 6 cups of ingredients to 1 tablespoon of oil and a few teaspoons of spice, it just wasn’t “vibrant” tasting at all. Did you leave out an ingredient??
Hi! Sorry to hear you didn’t love it. It’s not meant to be a heavily dressed salad (I didn’t leave out any ingredients) but you’re welcome to add more sesame oil and/or some lemon or orange juice for extra moisture 🙂
This dish was truly delicious. I added shrimp to mine and I loved it but would also eat it with no additional protein. I am planning to share this with a group cooking class upcoming. Thank you for sharing! I am really excited about trying more of your recipes