I’ve been working from home full time for about a year and a half now, and honestly my favorite thing about it so far has been having the flexibility to put a little more effort into lunch every day. And if there’s one thing that Sweetgreen taught me, it’s that salads are only boring if you make them boring. I’ve been trying to use my cookbooks more often this year, and I’ve been really inspired by the flavorful salads with ingredients I wouldn’t have thought to include. This salad was inspired by a recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, but I decided to make my own vinaigrette and swapped out a few toppings for some of my favorites.
This salad is the perfect summer lunch that doesn’t take too long to put together! The quinoa and chickpeas will keep you full until dinner and the sunflower seeds add a nice salty crunch. Try it out the next time you want a simple lunch on a hot summer day and let me know what you think!
Blue Cheese Salad with Air Fried Chickpeas
and Simple Vinaigrette
Difficulty: Beginner2
servings20
minutes15
minutes35
minutesThis salad is the perfect summer lunch that doesn’t take too long to put together! The quinoa and chickpeas will keep you full until dinner and the sunflower seeds add a nice salty crunch.
Ingredients
- For the Salad:
4 cups spinach + arugula mix
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup apple slices
2 TBSP sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup blue cheese
- For the Air Fried Chickpeas:
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas
1/2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- For the Vinaigrette:
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
1 TBSP honey
Juice of half a lemon
1 tsp dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Start by cooking up your quinoa. Add quinoa and vegetable broth to a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- While the quinoa is cooking, prepare your chickpeas. Preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees for 5 minutes. As the air fryer preheats, add chickpeas, olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and spoked paprika to a bowl and stir until chickpeas are evenly coated.
- Once the air fryer has preheated, add the chickpeas and shake gently so they’re in an even layer. Cook at 400 degrees on the “air fry” setting for 7 minutes.
- While the quinoa and chickpeas continue to cook, put together your dressing. Add olive oil, vinegar, honey, lemon juice, and mustard to a small bowl and whisk until well combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Now it’s time to put together your salad! Add 2 cups of the spinach and arugula mix to each bowl. Top each bowl with half of the quinoa and half of the chickpeas. Finish off by adding half of the apple slices, sun dried tomatoes, and blue cheese to each bowl.
- Drizzle each bowl with desired amount of dressing and enjoy!
Notes
- If you don’t have an air fryer, you can prepare the chickpeas on the stove top. Add the olive oil to a pan and heat over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Add chickpeas and cook until crispy, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and toss chickpeas in salt, garlic powder, and smoked paprika.
