Name: Cold Peach Quinoa Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil; 2 chicken breasts (or leftover chicken); 2 cups chicken broth (or water); 1 cup quinoa; 3-4 peaches (cubed); 7-8 cups mixed greens; 3-4 tbsp almonds (slivered or sliced); 1/3 cup goat cheese (or more); 3 tbsp olive oil; 4-5 tbsp orange juice; 3-4 tbsp lemon juice; 1 tsp lemon zest; 1 shallot (minced); 1-2 tsp honey; pinch of salt

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This Peach Quinoa Salad is the perfect cold lunch meal prep as well as being super easy to make for a large gathering! Look no further for a cold lunch idea than this sweet peachy salad.

Cold Lunch Idea / Easiest Potluck Dish

Is it peach season where you are? Growing up, peaches were one of my favourite fruits and as a picky eater, it meant once peach season rolled around, all I’d eat for my fruit intake was peaches! So now that peaches are taking over the grocery store, I have for you the perfect way to eat them for pretty much every and any meal!

This Peach Quinoa Salad is perfect for so many things. The recipe makes for a great meal prep for those without access to a microwave or for those who just don’t feel like eating something hot for lunch in the summer time. This Peach Quinoa Salad is also great for potlucks and picnics because it is so easy to throw together and again, you probably won’t have time or the ability to reheat your dish so this cold salad is perfect!

I’ve made this salad so many times growing up that I’m always excited for peach season to kick in! I pair my Peach Quinoa Salad with a tangy orange-y dressing that really compliments the peaches. It also takes seconds to put together and I recommend that you store the dressing separately until it’s time to eat.

What You Need To Make This Peach Quinoa Salad

olive oil
chicken (leftover chicken works great here!)
chicken broth
quinoa
peaches
mixed greens
almonds, slivered or sliced
goat cheese

For the tangy orange dressing, you’ll need

olive oil
orange juice
lemon juice
lemon zest
shallots
honey
pinch of salt

How To Make This Cold Peach Quinoa Salad

Start with cooking your chicken, I chose to pan fry mine but you can grill or bake your chicken or just use leftover rotisserie chicken. Check out this post to learn more about cooking chicken breasts.
Next, add your chicken stock in a pot and add in your quinoa. Bring it to a boil and then put it on low heat until it’s done cooking (10-15 minutes).
While your quinoa and chicken is cooking, prep your peaches by slicing them and cutting them into bite sized pieces.
Next, in a small bowl or mason jar, mix together your ingredients for your salad dressing. Stir well and set aside in the fridge.
Once your chicken and quinoa is done cooking, assemble your salad by tossing together mixed greens, quinoa, peaches, and almonds. Top the dish off with some crumbled goat cheese. Portion it out in individual meal prep containers if you wish or have it all in one large container.
Once chilled, it is ready to be served! Divide the dressing up if you are meal prepping the salad. Add the dressing to the salad before eating so the salad doesn’t get soggy.
Overall, this salad is a very simple one, I make it very often and the fruit can always be subbed out to whatever’s in season, for example, you can use apples, berries, grapes, etc.

Tips and Notes on Making This Cold Peach Quinoa Salad

I used chicken broth/stock to cook up my quinoa in as I find that it makes quinoa much tastier. If you want to follow the instructions on your package, making it with water, that is fine as well.
I love the tart earthy flavour the goat cheese adds to the salad. However, if you are not a goat cheese fan, feel free to leave it out.
I had tried making this with frozen peaches before and it turned out pretty good. If you don’t have fresh peaches, frozen would make a good substitute. Thaw out 2-3 cups and dice them up. Since you’re not reheating this salad, the peaches stay intact.
I store my meal prep in these containers.
You can sub out the almonds for your nut of choice, pine nut, cashew, peanut, etc. Or add them all in!
Don’t have shallots for the dressing? You can sub in with 2-3 cloves of garlic but it’ll be a bit tangier from the garlic.
The dressing is very versatile, play around with the amounts of each ingredients to see what you like best! This just happens to be the combination that I enjoy but I’ve had friends prefer more orange juice and less lemon juice or vice versa. This is definitely a recipe that you do not have to follow to a T! Play around and have fun 🙂