Pumpkin Quinoa Goats Cheese Salad

This vegetarian salad is simple but delicious, filled with fresh herbs, quinoa, pumpkin, goats cheese, charred onions, pumpkin seeds and a balsamic vinegar dressing. Perfect for fall.

Whoever said a salad has to be boring hasn’t met this salt yet. This recipe is not only simple to make also delicious. It is savory, sweet, spicy, fresh and herby with every bite. The pumpkin seeds definitely add a little texture with crunch. The beauty about this salad is that everything is layered into the serving platter directly. You can make the components ahead of time and serve it when ready to eat. Also also also you can serve this salad warm or cold making it a fantastic make ahead recipe.

What ingredients do you need to make this Pumpkin Quinoa Goats Cheese Salad?

We need a mixture of fresh herbs, I like using parsley, mint and dill. But you can use any fresh herbs you have on hand or like. The recipe also requires quinoa, I have precooked the quinoa as per the packet instructions – you can do this step ahead of time. The next ingredient is pumpkin (any pumpkin of your choice, I like using butternut squash here but you can use what you have and like) – I have roasted it in the oven with a little salt and olive oil until soft. The recipe calls for goats cheese but you can use camembert, feta, brie or any soft crumbly cheese. Pumpkin seeds are a great way to add texture to the platter, instead of this you can use sunflower seeds, toasted pecans or walnuts.

As for the onion, I make this charred onion which is very simple to cook up. Slice the onions, cook it in a pan with salt, pepper, paprika until charred. We are not cooking it until its soft we just want to get a char on the onions, keep stirring it as it shouldn’t stick to the pan. Once that is achieved take it off the heat and let it cool a little.

For the salad dressing I use balsamic vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice. You can use any vinegar you have, and olive oil is a must, you can’t skip on this.

How to serve this Pumpkin Quinoa Goats Cheese Salad?

I like serving this salad warm, which means the quinoa, pumpkin and onions are warm while the goats cheese, herbs are fridge cold. You could serve it cold by making all the components ahead of time and assemble when ready. It would pair well with the Thanksgiving sangria if you are looking for a drink to pair with it.

How to store this Pumpkin Quinoa Goats Cheese Salad?

Once this salad has been assembled it will last for two days int he fridge in an air tight container. The salad would last longer without the dressing on it. Hence you could serve the dressing on the side if you like to elongate the shelf life of the salad.

You can check out my previous pumpkin salad recipe here. Now that we have covered how to make this Pumpkin Quinoa Goats Cheese Salad, you can have a look at the recipe video on my socials but let’s get to it.

If you try this recipe out, don’t forget to share it with me on instagram so I can see how it turned out. I’d love nothing more than to chat with you on your cooking/baking.