Meal Prep Salad Pots with Quinoa, Halloumi & Chickpeas

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Jasmine

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Today I’m sharing a quick and easy lunchtime prep for days at the office. Gone are the days when buying lunch whilst out and about was no big deal; life’s expensive and getting a healthy, fresh meal in most cities will probably cost you £10, at least! This is a healthy, balanced salad with flavours you’ll look forward to. And the ingredients mean it stays fresh throughout the week…

INGREDIENTS

Salad:

Cucumber

Yellow pepper (or any other sweet pepper)

Red onion

Pine nuts (pistachio or blanched / flaked almonds would also work)

Halloumi cheese (feta would also work – just skip the frying step!)

Pre-cooked chickpeas (canned or jarred, any white bean would also work)

Light quinoa (or tricolour)

Fresh parsley

Fresh dill (mint would also work, or you can double up the parsley)

Dressing:

Extra-virgin olive oil

Mustard

Dried oregano

Lemon juice

Garlic

TIPS & NOTES

Personally, I like to build this salad in a pot in reverse (so what I want on top is added to the pot first) so I can dump it out on a plate. But you can also shake everything up in your container and eat it directly out of there. This is a fairly light lunch (I tend to be a big brunch person when working from home or at the weekend, but when I’m at the office, I have a light breakfast and a light-ish lunch) but if you want to bulk it up; the easiest way to do so is to just add another 50g of chickpeas.

Meal Prep Salad Pots with Quinoa, Halloumi & Chickpeas

  • Servings: 3
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

A quick and easy meal prep to make lunctime on the go cheaper and tastier

No special equipment or advance prep needed


Ingredients

  • 1 small red onion (finely sliced)
  • 1/3 of a medium cucumber (cut in half, remove the seeds with a spoon and cut into small chunks)
  • 1 yellow bell pepper (cut into bitesized chunks)
  • 100g of halloumi (cut into small chunks)
  • 100g of pre-cooked chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
  • 1/2 of a cup (c.90g) of dried light quinoa (rinsed)
  • 15g of pine nuts
  • A generous handful (c. 5g) of fresh parsley (de-stemmed and roughly chopped)
  • A generous handful (c. 5g) of fresh dill (de-stemmed and roughly chopped)
  • 1/4 of a cup of extra-virgin olive oil + more for cooking
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp of mustard
  • 1 tsp of oregano
  • 1 clove of garlic (crushed or grated)
  • Salt and pepper to taste


Directions

  1. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a small lidded saucepan over a medium heat, add the quinoa with a little salt and pepper, stir to coat it in the oil and allow to toast for a couple of minutes before adding 3/4s of a cup (or c.135g) of water – bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer to cook covered for around 20 minutes (stirring occasionally)
  2. Meanwhile, in a small frying pan over a medium-low heat, add the pine nuts and toast until golden (this should take 5-7 minutes), tossing occasionally
  3. Remove the pine nuts and increase the heat to medium – add the halloumi and fry on each side for around 5 minutes until it’s golden
  4. Once the quinoa is cooked, remove it from the heat and take off the lid to allow it to cool
  5. Prepare the salad dressing in a small jar or a small jug with a whisk or fork – add the extra-virgin olive oil, mustard, oregano and lemon juice with a little salt and pepper and combine
  6. Line up your pots or containers and add the salad dressing, pine nuts, fresh parsley and dill, cucumber, pepper, chickpeas and quinoa
  7. Turn out the contents onto a dish to serve

Let me know if you try this lunchtime meal prep!

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