Greek quinoa bowls with chickpeas and feta
Fluffy quinoa, crunchy vegetables, briny olives and salty feta in a zippy dressing, and it keeps for days, so lunch is sorted too.
- 35 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $3.24 a serving
- 540 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 can chickpeas, 15 oz, drained and rinsed
- 1 english cucumber, chopped
- 1½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- ¼ red onion, finely chopped
- ⅓ cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- ⅓ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- ¾ cup feta cheese, crumbled
From your pantry
- 2 cups water
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 540 calories, 18 g protein, 55 g carbs and 29 g fat, and costs about $3.24 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No english cucumbers? Cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No red onions? White onions or yellow onions work.
- No kalamata olives? Black olives work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
- No feta cheese? Goat cheese works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the quinoa in a fine strainer, then put it in a with the water and of salt and over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Dolly’s tip: Rinsing washes off a natural coating that tastes bitter, so don’t skip it.Cover, to low and cook for 15 minutes, until the water is gone. Take it off the heat, leave it covered for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Shake the oil, vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, garlic, pepper and the rest of the salt in a jar until it looks creamy and .
Emulsify. Emulsifying means whisking or shaking oil with a watery liquid, like vinegar or pasta water, until they blend into one smooth sauce. It makes dressings and sauces creamy instead of greasy.
How you’ll know: It looks smooth, slightly thick and one even color, with no oil beading on top.
Dolly’s tip: No jar? Whisk it in a bowl instead.the chickpeas and let them . the cucumber, the tomatoes and the onion.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Spread the quinoa on a plate for 5 minutes so it stops steaming, then tip it into a large bowl.
Timer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Hot quinoa wilts the vegetables. A few minutes spread out cools it fast.Add the chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, olives and parsley, pour the dressing over and well.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
the feta gently so it stays in chunks, then spoon into bowls.
Fold. Folding means mixing gently by scooping from the bottom and turning it over the top, instead of stirring hard. It keeps light mixtures airy and soft things like berries or herbs in one piece.
How you’ll know: You use slow, wide strokes and stop as soon as there are no streaks left.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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