One food that always reminds me of fall is cranberries. Maybe it is their gorgeous red colour. Or maybe it is because of the amazing cranberry sauce my mom makes every Thanksgiving. Either way, every fall when the weather starts to cool, I really crave them. This quinoa salad has double cranberries: a cranberry vinaigrette and dried cranberries!
The base of this salad, quinoa, is a whole grain that is both low FODMAP and gluten-free.
Chopped walnuts and cucumber give the salad a nice crunch, and the green onions adda boost of flavour without adding any FODMAPs.
This cranberry walnut quinoa salad is simple, nutritious and perfect for fall. It would also be a great low FODMAP dish to bring to a holiday potluck!
Recipe inspired by the Globe and Mail (original recipe unavailable online).
Cranberry Walnut Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 English cucumber chopped
- 1-2 stalks green onion chopped green parts ONLY
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries or fresh
- 1 cup walnuts chopped
Dressing
- 1 cup cranberry juice (low FODMAP see notes)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Bring 1.5 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add quinoa, reduce heat to low, and cover saucepan with a lid. Cook quinoa for 15 minutes, then remove saucepan from heat and fluff quinoa with a fork.
- In a separate saucepan bring cranberry juice to a boil. Reduce heat and let the juice simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat and let cool. Whisk in the olive oil, red wine vinegar, maple syrup, salt and pepper.
- In a large bowl mix together the tomatoes, cucumber, green onion, dried cranberries and walnuts. Once the quinoa has cooled off, mix into the large bowl. Pour the in the dressing and mix well.
- Store in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Each of the 8 servings contains approximately 1 Tbsp of dried cranberries, which is the max serving size suggested for one meal. If you are sensitive to fructans, and think you may eat more than 1 serving at a time, decrease the total amount of dried cranberries to 1/4 cup (or use fresh cranberries).
- When purchasing cranberry juice read the label carefully. Diet cranberry juices may have added fructose and/or sugar alcohols (e.g., sorbitol, erythritol, etc.)
- Only use the green part of the green onions. The white parts contain FODMAPs.
Let me know what you think of the recipe!
What are some foods that you crave in the fall?
This looks deeeelicious. Love the double cranberry idea.
For me, Fall makes me want pumpkin everything!
Yes pumpkin is definitely another great fall food 🙂 With all of the recent instagram posts I’ve seen about American Thanksgiving and cranberry sauce, cranberries have definitely been on my mind!
Had a blast making this with you, Lauren! Super yummy too!
Pictures also turned out so well! 🙂
Thanks again for helping me with this recipe!! These are definitely some of my favourite pictures so far
This is really tasty! I am new to FODMAP so looking for new recipes! Yum Thank you !
Thanks for commenting Margaret! I’m glad you liked this recipe, it’s one of my favourites!
How long can this salad last in the refrigerator? Thanks, Jan
This will last in the fridge up to one week as long as your vegetables are fresh 🙂
If your veggies are already a bit old they might start to not look so good after a few days
Can you add fish or meat to this dish?
Sure! 🙂
This was easy to make and delicious!!!! Thank you for the great recipe! The dressing is soooo good! I’ll use it for regular salads too.
Hi Mary, so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂