This quick and easy quinoa tabbouleh is one of my go-to recipes for lunches. It’s best eaten cold so you can make it the night before and have it ready to take to work with you (or if you are at home, it’s sitting in the fridge waiting for you!).

It’s a good base to add other ingredients to. For example if you have some leftover meat that needs eating, or you feel like some salmon or quite literally whatever, you could add it on top of this baseline recipe plan.

While quinoa is gluten free, some people who react to gluten can’t tolerate quinoa either. You could try with cauliflower rice.

This recipe is dense, so you don’t need a lot to fill you up. It’s high in protein and the added avocado and oil makes it high in fat too. Yay for stable blood sugars!

Quinoa on it’s own (ie without a sauce to soften it) can be difficult for small babies to eat. This particular recipe would not be recommended until approximately 15-18 months of age, when you are confident your child can chew the ingredients and not inhale or choke on the small parts.

Ingredients for quinoa tabbouleh

1 cup quinoa, soaked overnight

2 ripe tomatoes

2 cups of flat leaf parsley

1/2 red onion

3 spring onions

2 Lebanese cucumbers

1 lemon, squeezed for it’s juice

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Optional ingredients:

Grilled chicken breast or thighs

1/2 Avocado, chopped into cubes

Tofu, chopped into cubes

Making quinoa tabbouleh

Cook the quinoa - I use a Thermomix - place quinoa in the basket, water in the bowl and cook on Varoma / speed 4 / 15 minutes (you can also use a stovetop method or a rice cooker)

Finely chop the rest of the ingredients (excluding the oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper)

Once the quinoa is cooked, allow it to cool down in the fridge

Mix the quinoa with the chopped ingredients

If you’re adding meat, cheese or tofu, add those now (cooked), as well as avocado

Add the oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper

EAT!