Hot Honey Quinoa Salad

This Hot Honey Quinoa Salad is spiced up with one great ingredient: hot honey! If you can’t find hot honey in a store, you can always make your own with pure honey and some red chili flakes. Served with herby grilled chicken, this salad makes a great all-in-one dinner side. 

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This Hot Honey Quinoa Salad came together in a flash one evening. We had chicken to grill, quinoa and some leftover veggies, and two new flavors to cook with: the Early Mountain Vineyards Herby Salt Rub and a bottle of hot honey! This meal turned out to be the perfect all-in-one combination to get veggies, protein, carbs, and spiced flavor into each bite.

What is hot honey?

Hot honey is pure honey infused with hot red chili peppers – the perfect blend of sweet and spice! I learned about it when Early Mountain Vineyards sent me a grill pack that included Ar’s Hot Southern Honey made in Richmond, Virginia. Ar’s is a mixture of sweet clover and floral wildflower honey with red chili peppers (de Arbol). The bottle calls it “The sweet heat of the South.” The bottle the sent me is labeled as “mild” and let me tell you this stuff has a KICK! I don’t know if I could handle the hot. They sell a sampler pack that would be a great gift for a foodie and even a spicy peanut butter!

My first though was to make a salad dressing.

I love sweet + spicy combos (I’m looking at you Lampo Hellboy Pizza!) And that’s how this dish came to be. Or should I say….came to bee!

Gather Your Ingredients

I like to keep my recipes as flexible as possible, so I’m writing this recipe with the chicken. Top this salad with any protein you like or serve as a vegetarian dish – quinoa and walnuts add protein.

Quinoa

One cup, uncooked, prepared according to the package

Broccoli

I like my broccoli chopped as finely as possible, with minimal stems! Sub in 1 cup of any green veggie you like.

Bell Pepper

Red is nice and colorful! And it marries well with the hot honey flavor.

Currants

1/4 cup currents or raisins adds a little sweetness that contributes to the sweet + spice theme of this recipe.

Walnuts

Toasted of course! And chopped. Every salad needs a little crunch.

Hot Honey

For the dressing and more to drizzle on! You’ll also need pantry staples like olive oil, red wine vinegar, a garlic clove, salt, and pepper.

How to serve the salad

1. Underneath protein on a platter.
2. As a separate side dish.
3. For lunch with leftovers on top. This will keep in the fridge for a few days and the flavors just get better and better!
4. By the pool!

Dress it up, dress it down.

Print Pin

Hot Honey Quinoa Salad

This Hot Honey Quinoa Salad is spiced up with one great ingredient: hot honey! If you can't find hot honey in a store, you can always make your own with pure honey and some red chili flakes. Served with herby grilled chicken, this salad makes a great all-in-one dinner side. 

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Keyword broccoli, honey, quinoa, red pepper, walnuts

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa cooked to package
• 1/4 cup currants
• 1 small head broccoli chopped finely
• 1 small red pepper chopped
• 1/3 cup toasted walnuts
• Lots of salt and pepper to taste

Hot Honey Dressing

• 1/4 cup hot honey OR regular spiced with red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 small garlic clove
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

• Cook quinoa according to package.
• Add currants to quinoa to steam.
• In a separate skillet, cook broccoli and red pepper for about 5 minutes, until tender.
• Add cooked veggies to quinoa.
• In same skillet, toast walnuts for 3-5 minutes, until fragrant and beginning to brown.
• Toss walnuts with salad.
• For the dressing, combine all ingredients in a jar and shake. Pour over salad.
• Season finished salad with salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle with more honey to serve.

More Quinoa Salads:

• Feta and Herb Quinoa Salad
• Steak + Quinoa Salad with Red Pepper Jelly Viniagrette
• Moroccan-Inspired Quinoa Salad