Watermelon salad with feta, quinoa, fresh basil and… everything else you see! Not what I’m having for breakfast right now but it’s never too early to be inspired for lunch so I don’t end up eating half a bag of veggie chips before I leave Trader Joe’s.
And with Costco’s pre-cooked quinoa, and leftover watermelon and grilled chicken from last night, I’m halfway there! Obviously it’s a salad, so it’s totally customizable, but for this exact bowl it was 40C 21F 41P and 475 calories. (*The carbs are pretty close to the carbs in my giant daily turkey sandwich. I don’t eat this because I’m avoiding carbs, just because it’s delicious and I probably shouldn’t always eat my carbs in fluffy white rolls.)
But maybe I mostly do.
But when I want a salad this is at the top of my list. SO GOOD.
Watermelon Salad With Feta and Fresh Basil
Such a fresh DELICIOUS and beautiful salad. I love to have this for guests. I do whatever amounts look good and fit my macros that day. You can’t go wrong here. But in parentheses is exactly what I did for this photo and the nutrition facts below.
- Prep Time: 30
- Total Time: 30
- Yield: 1 1x
- Category: Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 2 cups (75 g) arugula
- 1/2 cup (75 g) cubed watermelon
- 1/4 cup (50 g) quinoa (I buy the already cooked packages at Costco to make it even easier!)
- 1/4 of an Avocado (25 g)
- 1/4 cup loosely packed sliced red onion (20 g)
- 1/4+ cup (35 g) chopped cucumber
- 1/2 tbs (7 g) toasted pine nuts
- 2 large pinches of fresh basil
- 1.5 tbs reduced fat feta (20 g)
- 4 oz (113 g) Grilled chicken (leftover or grill your favorite with simple marinade)
For the Dressing
- 3 tbs white balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp Dijon
- 5 grams honey (drizzle for a few seconds)
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- 2 tbs olive oil (whisk fast while you drizzle slowly)
- Balsamic Glaze (or reduction) *optional
*I would have always done more olive oil before I watched my fat, but if you’re trying to limit fat this worked great. I used 25 grams which is just under 2 tbs of dressing.
Instructions
DIRECTIONS
- Toss arugula in a little dressing
- Toss quinoa in a little dressing
- Top arugula with all toppings and then drizzle with additional dressing and optional drizzle of balsamic glaze. And by optional I mean do it because balsamic glaze makes everything better.
- Always finish with some coarse salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper. Please.
Notes
OR sometimes I toss everything (besides arugula) together with dressing and pile the dressed arugula on a platter and then top with dressed “quinoa salad”. The quinoa salad can be tossed ahead of time if wanted. If I want more dressing but don’t want to use any more fat, I’ll add some Balsamic Vinaigrette from Bolthouse or Trader Joes. Both have no fat.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: This bowl of salad + 25 grams of the dressing
- Calories: 475
- Sugar: 16
- Sodium: 518
- Fat: 21
- Carbohydrates: 40
- Fiber: 5
- Protein: 41
- Cholesterol: 73
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