Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with Roasted Summer Vegetables
This fresh Mediterranean quinoa salad recipe features summer squash, tomatoes, eggplant, basil and mint! It's light, healthy and delicious.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 8, 2026
This Mediterranean-style quinoa salad is fresh, hearty and perfect for late summer. It features roasted eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash with raw cherry tomatoes—once combined, they offer a ratatouille vibe. Lemon juice, fresh basil and mint, toasted almonds and feta cheese round out this lively dish.
Make this beautiful recipe for dinner and enjoy the leftovers packed for lunch. They’re so good, I’ve even enjoyed them for breakfast! I promise that this salad is worth cranking up the oven for.
How to Make Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
You’ll find the full recipe at the bottom of the post. Here’s a brief preview, followed by an instructional video.
- Roast the eggplant and squash with olive oil across two sheet pans.
- Meanwhile, cook the quinoa and toast the almonds or pine nuts. Details for each component are provided.
- In a large serving bowl, whisk together lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. Add the remaining ingredients (halved tomatoes, quinoa, basil, mint, vegetables and nuts).
- Season to taste with additional salt, pepper and lemon juice, and stir in the feta cheese if you’d like (I suggest adding the feta last so it doesn’t melt in contact with the warm ingredients).
Watch How to Make This Salad
I shared this recipe, originally from The Yellow Table: A Celebration of Everyday Gatherings, in 2015. I’m sharing it again today with updated photos and a few tweaks for bolder flavor and a larger yield, with little extra effort.
The recipe now calls for larger eggplant and squash, and I increased the baking time to ensure the vegetables have time to caramelize. I doubled the tomatoes and increased the lemon juice and herbs (you might as well use the whole container). Lastly, since I preferred sliced almonds to pine nuts here, I listed those first. Use whichever you prefer!
Make an End-of-Summer Feast
This dish is a well-balanced meal on its own. Here are a few more late summer recipes that would go well with this quinoa salad:
- Peach and Burrata Salad
- Kalamata White Bean Dip
- Socca or Panisses (Chickpea Fries) with Creamy Basil Sauce
- Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint
- Peach Crisp (Gluten-Free)
Please let me know how your salad turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you. I have more quinoa recipes for every season (don’t miss my favorite quinoa salad).
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with Roasted Summer Vegetables
This fresh Mediterranean quinoa salad recipe features summer squash, tomatoes, eggplant, basil and mint! It’s light, healthy and delicious. Recipe yields 4 larger servings or 6 side servings. It makes for great leftovers, so feel free to double the recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 medium eggplant (about 1 pound), diced
- 1 medium-to-large zucchini (about ½ pound), diced
- 1 medium-to-large yellow squash (about ½ pound), diced
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed (or 1 ½ cups cooked quinoa)
- 1 cup water
- 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste (about 1 medium lemon)
- 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes (quarter any larger tomatoes)
- ⅔ ounce fresh basil leaves, chopped (about ⅓ cup)
- ⅔ ounce fresh mint leaves, chopped (about ⅓ cup)
- ¼ cup sliced almonds or pine nuts
- ½ to ¾ cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Divide the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash between the two baking sheets. Drizzle each baking sheet with 1 tablespoon olive oil and toss. (Add a little more if necessary; you want enough to lightly coat the vegetables.) Sprinkle each pan with ¼ teaspoon salt and 5 twists of pepper. Roast until the veggies are softened and browning along the edges, about 25 to 30 minutes. Set the roasted vegetables aside to cool.
- To cook the quinoa, combine the uncooked quinoa with 1 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes, then remove from heat and let the quinoa steam with the lid on for 5 minutes. Remove lid, fluff the quinoa with a fork and set aside.
- To toast the almonds or pine nuts, cook them in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they’re turning lightly golden and fragrant, about 4 to 8 minutes. Be sure to keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. Transfer them to a bowl to cool.
- In a large serving bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice and garlic. Slowly pour in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil while whisking constantly. Add the tomatoes, quinoa, basil, mint, roasted vegetables and nuts, and gently stir to combine. Season generously with salt (I add another ¼ teaspoon or more), pepper and maybe another squeeze of lemon, to taste. Stir in the crumbled feta, if you’d like. Serve at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
Recipe adapted from The Yellow Table by Anna Watson Carl. I revisited this recipe in 2025 and increased the amount of herbs and lemon juice, as well as increased the baking time for the vegetables to ensure proper browning.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Skip the feta and add some sliced, pitted Kalamata olives to make up for feta’s salty punch.
Make it nut free: Don’t use almonds. Technically, pine nuts are seeds, not nuts. If you’re sensitive to them, though, omit them!
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This was so delicious!! We changed it up with some veggies we already had in the house including broccoli and mushrooms in place of the eggplant and zucchini. We also added shrimp for a little added extra protein. It absolutely did not disappoint. Great flavor and we will absolutely be making it again!
That’s great to hear, Kylie! I appreciate your review.
Wow this was incredible! So delish! Didn’t change a thing (except added more quoina as I had cooked more haha!)
I really appreciate when you include adaptations to make your recipes vegan ☺️ Instead of subbing kalamata olives for the regular feta, I’m going to try using Follow Your Heart vegan feta. I’m sure you can’t name specific brands, but you could suggest that people look for a vegan feta at their local grocery store!
This has been my go-to side dish all summer! Instead of roasting the veggies in the oven, I cook them in the air fryer! My daughter, who doesn’t usually like eggplant, even loves this dish!
Lovely dish, I added sweet potato and red peppers instead of aubergine and squash, and served with feta and black olives – so delicious! Thank you
You’re welcome, Mima! I appreciate your review.
One of my favorite recipes. It is very forgiving. I don’t always add nuts, usually use spray oil, then sprinkle with Crazy Janes salt before roasting. Yesterday I made for a family that cannot have garlic. So I used all the oil, pepitas because that’s what I had, more lemon & lots of feta. They asked for the recipe. Thanks Kate!
Mine came out really nice. Can I freeze the leftovers?
Hi Christine, yes, you could freeze the leftovers. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat on the stove. Microwaving could impact the texture of the vegetables.
Should have known another C+K recipe would be dynamite. Everything you do is amazing! This salad was EVERYTHING!!