This Arugula and Quinoa Waldorf Salad! Drizzled with a creamy orange basil vinaigrette? Such a winner for me. I’ve had a thing for a Waldorf salad forever. Like maybe since high school? Because I was obsessed with the one from CPK. Right up until I started macros, it was still a go-to for Ross and I to share when we went there (along with our pizzas of course). I pretty much never eat celery, like it’s just not a vegetable that frequents my plate… but for some reason, paired with the apples and blue cheese that I always associate with this salad, it’s crunchy, juicy, slightly salty addition is a must.
(Macros= 40c/15f/38p/435cal for this lovely bowl.)
Pretty sure a Waldorf doesn’t usually have tomatoes, and it does usually have grapes… pretty sure I’ve always had it with walnuts and not marcona almonds… all at best it’s a very LOOSE interpretation of the Waldorf. But that’s what I wanted when I made this so in my head it’s my macro-friendly Waldorf. Just go with me.
I love having salad for dinner as a macro-counter because I just feel like you can always make it fit and customize for your needs. This particular night, I had plenty of carbs left and strangely enough, (maybe because I always know my massive dessert is just around the corner) I don’t really feel the craving for lots of carbs at dinner. (At least right now, don’t hold me to that.) So that’s opened me back up to grains and carb-heavy veggies (like squash) in my salad which is so liberating! I thought I’d never eat quinoa in a salad again because “it’s just not worth it”. But I’ve found I love having it on hand for nights like this one. Dessert is logged, I’ve still got 20 carbs floating around and now I get a little more texture and substance to my family-sized salad.
And I kind of feel like I deserve an award for choosing quinoa over bread or handfuls of cereal but we can discuss that later.
The dressing is a serious topic for me. I use to be a total dressing snob and honestly almost never ever used one from a bottle. I just don’t think anything beats a homemade vinaigrette loaded with good olive oil. But without those 30 grams of fat or whatever it could easily add up to (!!) … they’re just not the same. So I’ve really turned to bottled dressings this last year and all in all it’s been ok — I’ve even really learned to love a few. But sometimes I just want my ingredients to shine and I don’t want to taste a familiar bottled flavor… so I’m always experimenting.
This Creamy Orange Basil Vinaigrette did it for me! I’m putting a disclaimer in the notes below because I DO KNOW that it’s not going to be the same as a dressing with tons of olive oil, but I really think my palette has changed and I’ve been loving lots of fresh squeezed citrus in or as my dressing. Add to that a bunch of fresh basil, shallots, and a little honey and I was licking the bowl.
Arugula and Quinoa Waldorf Salad with Creamy Orange Basil Vinaigrette
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 2-3 cups arugula or mixed greens (115 g)
- ¼ cup Chopped celery (30 g)
- ⅓ cup Halved cherry tomatoes (80 g)
- ¼ cup Chopped apple (30 g)
- 2 Tbsp. Thinly sliced or chopped red onion (20 g)
- 2 tsp. Reduced fat blue cheese (10 g)
- ~1/2 cup Cooked quinoa I buy the already cooked from Costco! Makes it so easy. (60 g)
- 3/4 cup Grilled chicken (100 g)
- 2 tsp. Marcona Almonds Trader Joe’s Rosemary Thyme ones are amazing- any favorite nut will do (10 g)
- 2-3 Tbsp. homemade Creamy Orange Basil Vinaigrette I did 40 g
For the Dressing:
- 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar, or light colored balsamic (30g)
- 2 Tbsp. fat free Greek yogurt (30g)
- 1 Tbsp. grainy dijon mustard (15g)
- 1 Tbsp. chopped shallot (10g)
- 2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed orange juice (30g)
- 1 tsp honey (7g)
- 1 pinch of salt and big pinch of pepper
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil (15g)
- 2-3 Tbsp. fresh chopped basil (5g)
Instructions
- Whisk first 7 dressing ingredients together. Then slowly add oil while whisking. Stir in basil.
- OR shake it all in a jar! Mine made 135 grams of dressing so I used almost 1/3.
- Toss all salad ingredients with 40 g of dressing. If you need more but don’t have the macros to spare, squeeze more fresh orange juice or lemon juice in there.
- Finish with a sprinkle of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
Notes
Nutrition
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