An easy and light summer dish! This warm turkey quinoa salad is a light and satisfying meal with ground meat, red pepper, fennel and arugula, topped with fresh burrata and a buttery honey vinaigrette. Very simple and inexpensive to make.
Make the Warm Quinoa Salad
Quinoa is great because it’s pretty hard to mess it up. My rule of thumb is 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa. I make 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups water, so alter accordingly if you want more. Once the quinoa comes to a boil, just bring it to a simmer, cover, and wait for the water to absorb.
In the meantime, sauté your onions, peppers and fennel with some olive oil in a large pot. If you’re not familiar with fennel, it has a licorice taste when it’s raw. However, when it’s cooked, it’s just crunchy and slightly sweet – so don’t be alarmed if you don’t love it at first. One of my favorite bloggers Love and Lemons has an informative post about it! Once browned, add your ground turkey and some herbs and simply brown all over. Very easy! Throw in the quinoa and add the arugula.
The Honey Vinaigrette
Granted, this is more of a butter sauce with a splash of white vinegar. But it is very good and adds great flavor to dish.
Just melt the butter and honey together in a small pot with red pepper flakes (if you like a little heat). Once the mixture has been bubbling for about 30 seconds or 1 minute, you can remove from the heat. Add a splash of vinegar and it’s ready to dress your salad. Pour over the quinoa and turkey, stir, and dinner is just about ready! Serve and top with fresh burrata – and let it melt all over the place. It’s delicious.
And that’s it! Keeping this one short because the recipe is that easy. This warm turkey quinoa salad will be done in about 30 and makes for fabulous leftovers.
If you liked this recipe, try my Spicy Turkey Tomato Ricotta Bowls or my Gouda Turkey Meatballs with Greek Yogurt Sauce.
Warm Turkey Quinoa Salad with Honey Vinaigrette
Equipment
- large pot
- cutting board
- knife
- medium pot
Ingredients
Quinoa Salad
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 fennel bulb diced
- 4 green onions chopped
- 2 tbsps miso paste
- 3 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
- ½ cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 2 cups arugula
- 1 tbsp thyme
- 2 balls fresh burrata
- salt and pepper to taste
- red pepper flakes to taste
- 2 tbsps olive oil
Honey Vinaigrette
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat up the 2 tbsps of olive oil over medium heat and throw in the garlic, onions, red pepper, and fennel. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté on medium heat for about 6 minutes, or until the veggies begin to brown and soften.
- Add the ground turkey and add the miso paste, thyme, and pinch of red pepper flakes if desired. Mix together and cook until the meat has fully browned, about 5 or 6 minutes. Then remove from heat.
- In the meantime, make the quinoa. Add two cups of water to 1 cup of quinoa and bring to a boil in a medium or small pot. Only boil for one minute. Then reduce the heat to a simmer, and then let sit (covered) until the water is absorbed – around 10 minutes.
- Dump the quinoa into the pot with the turkey, and then use the same pot to make the honey sauce. Over medium heat, melt the butter, honey and red pepper flakes together over medium low heat until the mixture is bubbling. After 1-2 minutes, remove from heat and add in the vinegar. Once combined, pour the vinaigrette over the warm salad and mix. Enjoy!
