To maintain a healthy Mediterranean diet, you need to eat lots of fresh, seasonal vegetables, healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil, and whole grains. This Mediterranean chopped salad combines all of those ingredients into one colorful, delicious salad.
This salad only takes about 20 minutes to make. You can chop the vegetables while the whole grains are cooking.
Start with your favorite salad ingredients. We used a combination of cucumber, red bell pepper, celery, fennel, cherry pepper, carrot, plum tomato, red onion, and spinach. Choose vegetables in a variety of colors for maximum nutrition. Make sure one of them is a leafy green. Chop them into tiny pieces.
Sometimes it can seem daunting to add whole grains to your diet. They are usually unfamiliar to us. But they each have their own interesting flavor and nutritional value. Tossing them into a salad is a tasty and easy way to accomplish this. We used a blend of white and red quinoa, millet, and buckwheat. They came packaged together for convenience. They are each tiny grains that work well with the size of the chopped vegetables.
For the dressing we whisked together extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, minced garlic, fresh basil, salt, and pepper. You could also try balsamic or cider vinegar, but be sure to use extra virgin olive oil. Try adding any fresh herbs that you like best.
You can serve this Mediterranean chopped salad on its own as a small meal, or add it as a side dish for dinner. It holds up well in the refrigerator. Ours tasted just as good the next day.
You’ll impress your family and friends with how beautiful all of the colors look together.
Mediterranean Chopped Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole grains
- 1 cucumber
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1 stalk celery
- 1/2 bulb fennel
- 1 cherry pepper seeds removed
- 1 carrot
- 1 plum tomato
- 1/2 red onion
- 2 cups spinach
- 15 oz chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 1/4 cup olive oil extra virgin
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 clove garlic
- fresh basil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the whoke grains according to the package instructions. We used a combination of red and white quinoa, millet, and buckwheat. I boiled 2 cups of water and added 1 cup of dried grains.
- While the grains are cooking, chop all of the vegetables into tiny pieces. We used cucumber, red bell pepper, celery, fennel, cherry pepper, carrot, plum tomato, red onion, and spinach. You can use add whatever are your favorite salad vegetables.
- Rinse the canned chickpeas and drain them.
- To prepare the dressing, whisk together the extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper, and herbs. We used a few basil leaves.
- Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and serve.
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