A bright, flavorful fennel & pomegranate quinoa salad recipe that is so simple to throw together and is a perfect make ahead holiday side dish! Filled with crunchy fennel, radish and celery, with sweet pomegranates and fresh mint.
Quinoa is one seriously versatile ingredient! Not only can it go Italian in this caprese chicken quinoa salad, or Mexican for this quinoa black bean salad, but it goes with the mediterranean ingredients in this fennel and pomegranate quinoa salad!
With sweet pomegranate seeds, salty feta cheese, spicy radishes, crunchy pecans and refreshing fennel...ingredients which may not sound like they belong together, but go oh-so-well.
This is a great holiday-worthy salad (because it's gorgeous!), but you can also enjoy it as an 'everyday' salad, and make a meal out of it by adding some protein.
Serve it with crispy baked chicken thighs or balsamic marinated salmon, and you have yourself a great meal!
Reasons you'll ♡ fennel & pomegranate quinoa salad
- it's beautiful and worthy of your holiday table
- you can add some protein and make a whole meal out of it
- the incredible combination of flavors + textures work together so well
The salad base
The base of our salad is 1 cup of dried quinoa. You can cook this on the stovetop (see my tips for perfect fluffy quinoa), in the Instant Pot, and even in a rice cooker! Once cooked, you will want to allow the quinoa to fully cool before assembling the salad.
Adding layers of flavor + texture
This pomegranate quinoa salad gets the crunch factor from fennel, celery and radish. Try your best to cut them into evenly sized pieces (about ½ an inch), for the best presentation of your salad.
To add a sweet pop of flavor, we are adding the seeds of a pomegranate. Find out how to deseed a pomegranate...my method is so fast!
To add another crunch and nutty flavor, we are adding chopped pecans. If you have the time to do so, I highly recommend toasting them first for 5-10 minutes in a pan. You won't believe how much extra flavor this adds to the salad!
For fresh and herbaceous flavor, we are adding fresh mint leaves, as well as some of the fronds from the fennel bulb. If you are making this salad ahead, be sure to leave the mint off until serving as the leaves can brown quickly.
The vinaigrette
We are tossing the salad in a nice, tangy apple cider vinaigrette. This recipe is adapted from my favorite white wine vinaigrette, and coats the salad ingredients, enhancing their flavors and adding a bit of tanginess. If you like a really tangy dressing, I'd actually use the white wine vinaigrette instead.
You can prep the apple cider vinaigrette up to 2 weeks ahead, and just give it a good shake up before tossing the salad in the dressing.
Storage + prep ahead tips
You will be happy to hear that this salad can work well for a make ahead option. Here are some tips:
Prep components ahead and assemble later
You can pre-cook the quinoa, pre-chop the veggies and shake up the vinaigrette up to 4 days ahead of time. Store components in the fridge, and toss together just before serving. *do not pre-chop the mint*
Enjoy leftovers
Leftovers from this pomegranate quinoa salad make for a delicious lunch, and it keeps well even after dressing in the vinaigrette. Portion out into meal prep containers and store in the fridge for up to 4 days. *if you plan to eat this as leftovers, consider leaving the mint off as it will brown*
Check out my favorite meal prep containers!
Variations
This salad is super flexible. Here are some ingredient swaps you could make:
- quinoa- swap for rice, farro or barley
- pomegranate- swap for dried cranberries or chopped apple
- fennel- swap for cucumber (will not work for meal prep this way), or just increase the radish + celery
- pecans- swap for almonds or chopped hazelnuts
- apple cider vinaigrette- swap for balsamic vinaigrette or this honey lemon vinaigrette
Recipe video
Watch the video below to see exactly how I prepped this fennel and pomegranate quinoa salad. It’s so easy! You can find more of my recipe videos on my YouTube channel, or on Facebook.
More salad recipes
- Apple Bacon Spinach Salad with Spicy Maple Walnuts
- Winter Balsamic Kale Salad with Havarti Crisps
- Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Salad with a Chili Lime Vinaigrette
- Pear Gouda + Spinach Salad
- Autumn Apple Farro Salad
Fennel and Pomegranate Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried quinoa
- 1 fennel bulb (cut into ½ inch cubes)
- 2 tablespoons fennel fronds (coarsely chopped)
- 2 stalks celery (cut into ½ inch cubes)
- ¼ cup mint leaves (torn into small pieces)
- 1 pomegranate (deseeded)
- 1 bunch radishes (cut into ½ inch cubes)
- ½ cup pecans (chopped; toast for extra flavor)
Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (packed; or swap maple syrup)
- ½ teaspoon dijon
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package directions.
- While quinoa is cooking, prep your salad ingredients.
- Shake together the dressing.
- Toss everything together and serve.
Notes
- quinoa- swap for rice, farro or barley
- pomegranate- swap for dried cranberries or chopped apple
- fennel- swap for cucumber (will not work for meal prep this way), or just increase the radish + celery
- pecans- swap for almonds or chopped hazelnuts
- apple cider vinaigrette- swap for balsamic vinaigrette or this honey lemon vinaigrette
