Smoked Salmon and Quinoa Salad

This smoked salmon and quinoa salad is a healthy and easy main course salad, perfect for lunch or a light dinner.

Jump to:

• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🔪 Instructions
• 🐟 Smoked salmon
• 🍴 Dressing
• 💭 Top tips for the best result
• 🥗 Serving suggestions
• 🍲 Leftovers
• 📋 Frequently asked questions
• More salad entrees
• 📖 Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. Read more about it in the privacy policy.

The salad is packed with healthy fat, protein and whole grains. Perfect to keep you feeling full for a long time!

🥘 Ingredients

To make it, you will need smoked salmon, quinoa, avocado, rocket or other leafy greens, plus a dressing of your choice.

🔪 Instructions

Start by cooking the quinoa. Rinse raw quinoa under running cold water for a few minutes, or until the water runs clear. This helps remove the bitterness from the quinoa grains, and gives it an overall more pleasant flavor.

Boil quinoa in water following package instructions, about 15 minutes. Drain off any excess water, and rinse the grains under cold water to cool it down.

Add cooked quinoa to a salad bowl, along with roughly chopped smoked salmon, arugula and sliced avocado.

Optionally, pour dressing of your choice over the salad, and combine!

🐟 Smoked salmon

This recipe uses regular cold smoked salmon. This is the most common type of smoked salmon, and can be found in all grocery stores and supermarkets.

If you wish, you can also make the salad with warm smoked salmon, or even leftover cooked salmon.

🍴 Dressing

A good dressing really makes the salad. Smoked salmon and quinoa salad can be paired with different types of dressings, but here are some of my suggestions:

• Pesto, or a pesto based vinaigrette
• Lemon pepper vinaigrette
• Creamy ranch or yogurt based dressing

💭 Top tips for the best result

• Make sure to rinse the quinoa thoroughly before cooking to remove the bitterness in the grains.
• You can use leftover cooked quinoa or leftover salmon in this recipe – a perfect way to reduce food waste!

🥗 Serving suggestions

This salad is very filling, and perfect as a main dish for lunch or a light dinner.

You can serve salad as is, preferably with a delicious dressing, or with crusty bread on the side.

🍲 Leftovers

Leftover avocado tends to brown quickly. You can store smoked salmon and quinoa salad in the fridge for up to a day.

If you leave out the avocado, the other ingredients can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

💡 TIP! If you are meal prepping multiple servings, I recommend making the salad without the avocado. Slice and add avocado right before serving. This helps the salad stay fresh.

📋 Frequently asked questions

Can I omit an ingredient? – Yes. Omit any ingredients you don’t have available or don’t like.

Can I add an ingredient? – Absolutely! Add anything you like to this salad. Try adding spinach, tomatoes, peppers, a mild cheese, walnuts or fresh dill.

More salad entrees

• Quinoa salad with black beans and avocado
• Pasta salad with tuna
• Tuna nicoise
• Italian salad with mozzarella and salami
• Shrimp and avocado salad

📖 Recipe