Easy Salmon Quinoa Salad (Café-Style)

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This salmon quinoa salad with its combination of tender salmon, nutty quinoa, baby spinach and a lemon dill dressing creates a perfect balance of Scandinavian flavors and textures that will have you skipping the café and making this at home instead. Making this quinoa and salmon salad is really straightforward – just cook your quinoa and salmon (or use your leftover salmon, canned or smoked salmon), chop some vegetables, and toss it all together with the simple lemon dressing.

You can serve the quinoa salmon salad right away while the salmon is still warm, pack it for lunch tomorrow, or keep it in the fridge for a cool dinner on hot days. The best part? You’ll only need a few fresh ingredients and less than 30 minutes to bring this café-style salad to your table.

Growing up with Baltic food, I learned that salmon, dill, and potatoes were kitchen staples – but here I’ve swapped the potatoes for quinoa to make a lighter meal. It still has that familiar mix of dill and fish that you’d find in any Baltic kitchen (a generous amount of dill – because let’s be honest, we never use just a sprinkle), plus the crunchy cucumbers and sweet cherry tomatoes that would’ve come straight from your grandmother’s garden. It’s my favorite way to use up leftover salmon. It’s also super versatile – so easy to throw in some extra red bell peppers, creamy avocado, grated carrot or other fresh vegetables.

If you are looking for more salad recipes, try my cucumber beet salad or my French style carrots and cucumber salad. Or if you are looking for more cafe style lunches, try this asparagus ricotta quiche with phyllo dough (my absolute favorite asparagus recipe!)

Ingredients for Salmon Quinoa Salad

For the salad:

• Quinoa – white or tricolor
• Salmon – fresh fillets, leftover salmon, canned or smoked salmon
• Baby spinach
• Cucumber
• Cherry tomatoes
• Spring onions or chives or red onion
• Feta cheese (optional)
• Avocado (optional)
• Dill
• Fresh herbs such as chopped chives or spring onions or parsley (optional)

For the lemon dill dressing:

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Lemons (juice and zest)
• Garlic, minced
• Salt
• Black pepper to taste
• Dill

Substitutions

• Quinoa – You can also use brown rice or pasta
• Salmon – You can use cooked or smoked trout as well
• Baby spinach – you can also use romaine lettuce, arugula lettuce or a mix of lettuces and spinach
• Green onions – finely sliced spring onions, chives and red onions also work well in this recipe
• Feta cheese – goat cheese can also be used
• Lemons – you can also use lime juice and zest
• Fresh dill – you can use dried dill as well, just substitute about 1 teaspoon dried dill for every tablespon of fresh dill.

Additions

Fresh vegetables: Sliced red or yellow bell pepper, lightly cooked asparagus or broccoli, cold potatoes, sliced mushrooms, leftover peas, snowpeas…

Salad: Crunchy romain lettuce, arugula lettuce, iceberg lettuce all go well with this salad.

Equipment

• Sharp knife
• Vegetable peeler
• Baking tray, air fryer or skillet to cook the salmon

How to make Salmon Quinoa Salad

This quinoa salmon salad is very quick to put together. Start by cooking your quinoa and salmon, wash and chop your veggies, mix up your dressing and that’s it.

Here’s how to cook perfect, fluffy quinoa:

First, rinse 1 cup of quinoa thoroughly in a fine-mesh strainer until the water runs clear. This removes the bitter saponin coating.

Use the correct liquid ratio: 1 cup quinoa to 1¾ cups water. Many recipes call for 2 cups of liquid, but this often leads to mushy quinoa.

In a medium saucepan, combine the rinsed quinoa and liquid. Add a pinch of salt.

Bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and simmer for exactly 15 minutes. Don’t lift the lid!

After 15 minutes, remove from heat and let it sit, covered, for 5 more minutes.

Fluff with a fork, and let it sit uncovered for a few minutes to allow excess moisture to evaporate.

If your quinoa still seems wet after resting, drain it and then place it back on low heat uncovered for 1–2 minutes to evaporate excess moisture.

Prepare the salmon:

Cut salmon into one inch cubes for faster cooking or cook larger salmon pieces and then chop up into smaller pieces.

If cooking fresh salmon on a skillet: Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Cook in a pan over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes per side, or until desired doneness. Let cool slightly and flake into large pieces. Drizzle with 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice.

If cooking fresh salmon in an oven or air fryer: Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and bake for about 7 minutes at 360 degrees. The baking time will vary with the thickness of the salmon and your airfryer temperature, so keep a close watch on the salmon.

It should still be very slightly underdone (slightly pink on inside) when you take it out of the oven as it will continue to cook for a few minutes after you take it out. If you are unsure about how underdone it should be, err on the side of caution and make sure it is cooked through before taking it out.

If using canned salmon: drain and then scrape off any bits that don’t look nice. Flake into smaller pieces.

If you have any leftover salmon – fresh or canned, try my salmon and cream cheese toast recipe – yum 😋

If using smoked salmon: Cut into bite sized pieces, or leave slices whole and make little rolls if you prefer.

Prepare the vegetables:

Wash the baby spinach, peel and slice the cucumber, finely slice the green part of the spring onion or red onions and wash and cut the baby tomatoes in half.

Wash and slice any other veggies you would like to add.

Finely chop the dill.

Make the homemade dressing:

Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, minced garlic, salt, and pepper in a small bowl or jam jar.

Assemble the salad:

In a large bowl or four separate bowls, layer cooled quinoa, spinach, cucumber, tomatoes, green onions and avocado if using. Add the flaked salmon and pour the dressing over everything. Present as is or toss gently to combine.

If using, sprinkle with feta cheese, fresh dill, and other fresh herbs.

Tips and Notes

• Be careful not to overcook the quinoa or it will turn mushy.
• Resist the urge to mix the quinoa wuile cooking as this also can make it less fluffy.
• Pour the dressing on at the last minute to keep everything fresh and crisp.

How to serve Salmon Quinoa Salad

• Serve as a main coarse in a large serving bowl or in individual salmon quinoa bowls.
• Goes great as a meal on its own or as one of a selection of salads, such as this carrots and cucumber salad or this cucumber beetroot salad with dill.

Salmon Quinoa Salad FAQ

How did I test this salmon quinoa salad?

I often make variations of salmon salad. And most involve dill, because dill is the most popular herb in Latvia, where my parents were born. I don’t think a meal went by in my childhood without dill in it somewhere. Or potatoes. I discovered quinoa much later in life, but I love the light, slightly nutty flavor and it goes so well with salmon. So this is my modern take on a traditional salmon with potatoes and dill Baltic meal using quinoa instead of potatoes. And I just made sure I paid special attention to the quantities, so that I got the balance right.

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