Fresh Caprese Quinoa Salad — ❤️🤍💚This EASY quinoa salad is packed with fresh Italian flavors. You can mix and match the ingredients to use up any fresh produce you have on hand! Great for summer potlucks, barbecues, and meal prep!
Table of Contents
Summertime and an abundance of fresh produce is my favorite time of year.
In case you’ll soon be up to your eyeballs in tomatoes from your garden or your eyes are bigger than your stomach as you wander your local farmer’s market and you bring half of it home with you (guilty), this fast, easy, and satisfying quinoa salad will take some tomatoes off your hands.
The simple but flavorful rice wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper dressing adds some tangyiness and zing while staying on the mellower side.
The crisp juicy tomatoes, in contrast with the soft cheese, and the chewy quinoa creates so many textures in every bite.
It’s just a good vegetarian, naturally gluten-free, and satisfying meal that’s easy. Not turning on the oven and keeping things as easy as possible is the name of the game.
Ingredients in This Recipe
This caprese quinoa salad is loaded with garden-fresh ingredients including:
- Cooked quinoa
- Cherry tomatoes
- Mini fresh mozzarella cheese balls
- Fresh basil leaves
- Rice vinegar
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Pinch sugar, optional
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Caprese Quinoa Salad
- Cook the quinoa according to package instructions. (Make sure to rinse the quinoa before cooking it, otherwise it’ll taste slightly bitter!)
- Once the quinoa is cooked, place it in a large bowl and add the rest of the ingredients.
- Give the quinoa salad a good stir and taste it to see if it needs additional seasoning. I added a healthy amount of salt and a pinch of sugar to my salad to balance the flavors, but you might not need to.
Make-Ahead Tip
This Italian quinoa salad can be served immediately, or you can allow the flavors to marry in the fridge for up to 24 hours before serving. Make-ahead meals are the best, right?
Recipe Variations
Summertime is about being carefree and our meals seem to be much more of the wing-it and whatever-is-around approach. Feel free to mix-and-match the tomato basil salad components based on what you have around.
- Tomatoes: any kind from cherry to diced heirlooms will work
- Mini mozzarella balls: crumbled feta, blue cheese, white cheddar, and almost any other cheese will work
- Quinoa: can be swapped with brown rice or couscous
- Adding extra veggies: Bulk up the salad and clean out your produce drawer in the process by adding diced zucchini, cucumber, yellow summer squash, avocado, bell peppers, carrots, peas, or whatever sounds good
What to Serve with Quinoa Salad
Storage Instructions
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, noting that the basil and tomatoes will soften over time.
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Fresh Caprese Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked quinoa, (start with 1 cup uncooked quinoa, 2 cups water, and cook according to package directions)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes*, (grape tomatoes work too)
- 8 ounces mini fresh mozzarella cheese balls**, (1 cup)
- 15 basil leaves, torn (or to taste)
- 3 to 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
- 1 pinch sugar, optional and to taste
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package directions and place cooked quinoa in a large bowl.
- Add all remaining ingredients and toss very well to combine. Taste and see if salad needs more vinegar, salt, etc. and season or tweak accordingly. I found it needed a fairly generous amount of salt and a pinch of sugar to balance the flavors for my taste preferences.
- Salad can be served immediately or transfer to an airtight container, refrigerate, and allow flavors to marry for up to 24 hours before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Caprese Salad Recipes:
Pesto Chicken Caprese Salad — Homemade pesto coats every bite of JUICY chicken, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella in this fun twist on caprese salad!! EASY, ready in 20 minutes, and loaded with rich basil flavor!!
Balsamic Chicken Caprese Salad — Juicy chicken coated in balsamic along with plump tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and basil!! Easy, healthy, ready in 15 minutes! The caprese salad you’ll make AGAIN and again!!
Caprese Pesto Pasta Salad — Tender pasta, cherry tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella are coated in Parmesan cheese and DELICIOUS pesto sauce!! EASY, ready in 15 minutes, and great for easy meals with planned leftovers or for parties because it feeds a crowd!!
Gorgeous!! I’d love to dive right into this :) Happy Memorial Day!!
Salads like this are my faaavorite thing about summer: so bright and fresh and flavorful, but so simple! Looks delish :) Pinned!
Gorgeous! My kids love cherry tomatoes and we are huge fans of quinoa so this salad sounds perfect for us! Pinned!
Holy cow Averie, this looks so gorgeous! I now am craving this!
I am loving all the colors!! I am so craving mozzarella. I see another trip to my store in my near future!
What a light, fresh salad! It’s just gorgeous, Averie! This would be perfect for a hot summer day when you need something light and cool for dinner. Totally pinned!
This looks delightful! I love caprese salads, but they’re never quite filling enough for me as an entree – with quinoa, though, problem solved! Those tomatoes looks so bright and tantalizing…
This salad looks delicious and is absolutely gorgeous!
So pretty! Love those bright caprese colors. :)
Oh yes, I always buy too much at the grocery store or farmers market. You are so right that quinoa is the perfect vehicle for so many fruits and vegetables. It’s one of my goto dinners.
Averie this is genius! It’s like a caprese quinoa! I want that for lunch and maybe dinner too! It’s funny I’ve probably pinned everything in your lineup… and this one’s next! ;)
Thanks for all your pins – appreciated :) Have a great holiday!
Another perfect spring/summer recipe!! This salad looks light and colorful.
Gorgeous! I could eat this every day!
This recipe is so, so perfect for summer. Love it!
This salad looks so fresh and simple Averie, I LOVE that! I need some more yummy and quick meals in my life, and anything with quinoa and fresh mozzarella is a winner! Pinned :)
Thanks for the pin & enjoy your holiday!
This salad looks so light and colorful your pictures are gorgeous. Can’t wait as more and more produce becomes available. Just paid $14 for a bag of cherries because I couldn’t resist the first ones of the season. Summer just screams fresh salads and produce.
Thanks for the compliments on the pics. I had fun taking these. It was so EASY to shoot. You’d think chocolate cake, drippy frosting, etc would be easy. No, nature like this, so easy :) And you’re nuts on the cherries…AND so am I. I have done that, in college, I didn’t understand what $5.99 per pound exactly meant until I was at the cash register. It was ramen noodles for the rest of the week but I adore cherries and will pay crazy prices for them, too!