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You are here: Home / Recipes and Cooking Tips / Pizza Quinoa Salad

Pizza Quinoa Salad

June 25, 2018 by Alea Milham Leave a Comment

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This pizza quinoa salad is an easy make-ahead salad recipe that is both tasty and filling.

Pizza Quinoa Salad Recipe stored in a 2 cup wide-mouth mason jar

A healthy lunch is the goal. But salads can be tricky to make in advance on meal prep Sunday and keep from wilting while sitting in the refrigerator all week. This pizza quinoa salad recipe from my cookbook Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches is a salad that you can make-ahead and know that it will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days without wilting! Even better it is flavorful and filling, so you won’t feel deprived while eating a healthy salad for lunch.

Tips for Preventing Wilted Salads

Many lettuces wilt when exposed to dressings or the juices from the other vegetables, so use firmer greens such as kale, Swiss chard, or cabbage that can better stand up to liquids.

Limit the juices from other ingredients. Use whole cherry tomatoes instead of diced tomatoes. Use vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, celery, and snap peas that don’t release as much juice.

Skip the greens and use quinoa, beans, or lentils as the base and then add your sturdier vegetables to create a hearty salad that won’t wilt.

Cool cooked items such as quinoa, rice, beans, lentils, and meat before adding them to your salad.

If using more fragile salad greens, Don’t add the dressing until just before serving. You can store your dressing in a separate container. You can also layer your salad, so the dressing is on the bottom and separated from the lettuces by a layer of non-absorbent ingredients such as firm vegetables, cheese, or meat. Then you can stir your salad to coat it with dressing before you eat it.

You can find a variety of easy make-ahead salad recipes in my cookbook Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches.

Batch Cooking Quinoa

I batch cook quinoa to use in a variety of recipes throughout the week. If you already have cooked quinoa on hand, this salad recipe will come together in minutes. If you don’t have cooked quinoa, here are several ways to cook quinoa, so you can pick a method that works for you. My favorite method is cooking quinoa in a pressure cooker. The video below demonstrates how to cook quinoa in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot.

Pizza Quinoa Salad Recipe

Zesty Italian Dressing Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1 ½ teaspoon sugar
  • ¾ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon thyme
  • ¼ teaspoon basil
  • ¼ teaspoon red peppers flakes
  • 1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Salad Ingredients:

  • 3 cups cooked quinoa
  • 2 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • ½ cup mild cheddar cheese
  • 1 bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2 cup red onion
  • 3.8 ounces can of sliced black olives, drained
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1 cup mini pepperoni slices

Directions:

  1. To make the Zesty Italian Dressing, combine the oil, vinegar, water, sugar, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, basil, red pepper flakes, and pepper in a small cruet or lidded container. Shake well to mix.
  2. To make the salad, add the quinoa, tomatoes, mozzarella, cheddar cheese, bell pepper, onion, olives, mushrooms, and pepperoni to a large bowl. Stir to combine.
  3. Drizzle the dressing over the salad. Toss to coat.

Storing: Either cover and store the salad in the large bowl or divide the salad between 5-6 lidded containers. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Need more meal prep lunch ideas? Check out my cookbook Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches.

Pizza Quinoa Salad Video

You can see how easy it is to make this pizza quinoa salad in the below video.

Printable Recipe for Pizza Quinoa Salad

Pizza Quinoa Salad
 
Print
Prep time
10 mins
Total time
10 mins
 
An easy make-ahead salad using cooked quinoa, pizza toppings, and a zesty Italian salad dressing.
Author: Alea
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: American
Serves: 5
Ingredients
Zesty Italian Dressing Ingredients:
  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1 ½ teaspoon sugar
  • ¾ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon thyme
  • ¼ teaspoon basil
  • ¼ teaspoon red peppers flakes
  • ⅛ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
Salad Ingredients:
  • 3 cups cooked quinoa
  • 2 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • ½ cup mild cheddar cheese
  • 1 bell pepper, diced
  • ½ cup red onion
  • 3.8 ounces can of sliced black olives, drained
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1 cup mini pepperoni slices
Directions
  1. To make the Zesty Italian Dressing, combine the oil, vinegar, water, sugar, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, basil, red pepper flakes, and pepper in a small cruet or lidded container. Shake well to mix.
  2. To make the salad, add the quinoa, tomatoes, mozzarella, cheddar cheese, bell pepper, onion, olives, mushrooms, and pepperoni to a large bowl. Stir to combine.
  3. Drizzle the dressing over the salad. Toss to coat.
Notes
Either cover and store the salad in the large bowl or divide the salad between 5 lidded containers. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
3.5.3251

Pizza Quinoa Salad Recipe - served on a white plate with a bowl filled with the pizza salad to the side
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About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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