Quick Mediterranean Baked Salmon & Quinoa Bowls
This healthy baked salmon recipe makes for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. Oven baked salmon is moist and flakey, served bowl-style with quinoa and a medley of Mediterranean roasted veggies including eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and tomatoes. Top it off with creamy homemade feta dill sauce! Ready to enjoy in 45 minutes.
Quinoa bowls are my go-to dinner recipe when I want to make something satisfying, healthy, and easy. Quinoa is a nutrient-dense whole grain that goes with pretty much any vegetable and protein you pair it with!
In addition to quinoa, we’ve got flaky baked salmon fillet and a roasted vegetable medley in this bowl (eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes – yum)!
While the salmon and vegetables are baking in the oven, you’ll cook quinoa on the stovetop and prep the zesty Greek yogurt feta dill sauce.
These Mediterranean salmon quinoa bowls are loaded with fiber, healthy fats, and high quality protein. As a Registered Dietitian, all the nourishing ingredients in this recipe make my heart swoon 🙂 It’s a complete well-balanced meal that takes less than an hour to prepare, and serves 4 people.
This recipe is pescatarian, gluten free, soy free, and nut free.
Are you new to cooking quinoa? Head over to this post to learn how to perfectly cook quinoa for some pointers before you get started!
Ingredients in Mediterranean salmon quinoa bowl
In addition to olive oil, salt, and pepper, everything you need to make this recipe, below:
- Quinoa: Quinoa is a whole grain that cooks up like rice on the stovetop. It has a mild, nutty, slightly earthy flavor that won’t overpower the other ingredients you pair with it. Quinoa is a nutrition powerhouse – read more about the nutrition benefits of quinoa, below. You can cook a fresh batch of quinoa, or use pre-cooked quinoa for this recipe.
- Salmon: Salmon is a fatty fish with a distinct flavor that I just love! Since salmon is so flavorful by itself, it is perfect simply seasoned with some lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Baking salmon in the oven yields soft, tender, moist, and flaky fish.
- Eggplant
- Zucchini
- Bell pepper
- Cherry tomatoes
- Lemon
- Dried oregano
- Greek yogurt feta dill sauce, for which you need plain Greek yogurt, feta cheese, fresh dill, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, Dijon mustard, and honey.
Ingredient substitution suggestions
- You could use a different whole grain as a substitute for quinoa, such as farro or brown rice. You may need to alter the cooking time based on what grain you use.
- Don’t love one of the vegetables in this dish? Swap it out for another you enjoy! If you don’t like eggplant, for example, swap it out for an extra zucchini or summer squash.
- Try it with a different sauce. This recipe would taste great with my popular Greek yogurt salad dressing, lemon tahini sauce, chimichurri sauce, or tzatziki sauce.
Kitchen equipment needed
You’ll need a handful of kitchen tools to make this recipe:
- Cutting board
- 6-inch or 8-inch chef’s knife
- Food processor to make the sauce
- 2-3 quart pot with a lid
- Aluminum baking sheet
- Glass casserole dish or roasting pan
- Measuring spoons and cups
Step-by-step instructions (with pictures)
Finally, assemble the bowls while everything is warm. Add the quinoa, then top with roasted vegetables and a piece of salmon. Drizzle a few spoonfuls of the sauce over everything and dig in!
I like to use low bowls like these ones for this recipe.
Storage
This meal makes for delicious leftovers, because everything keeps well in the fridge once cooked.
Store each component in separate airtight containers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
When you’re ready to reheat, assemble the bowls without the sauce and microwave for 1-2 minutes until warmed through. Then add the sauce after it has been reheated.
Quinoa nutrition benefits
Quinoa is an incredibly healthy whole grain. One cup of cooked quinoa provides several nutrients, including:
- 5.2 grams of dietary fiber (19% of your daily needs)
- 8.1 grams of plant-based protein
- 2.8 mg iron (16% of your daily needs)
- 77.7 mcg folate (19% of your daily needs)
- 118.4 mg magnesium (28% of your daily needs)
Quinoa is also a good source of thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, zinc, and an excellent source of copper, manganese, and phosphorus.
Quinoa is a high protein choice, when compared to other whole grains. Quinoa contains all nine essential amino acids. Because of this + it’s relatively high iron content, quinoa is an excellent food to enjoy regularly if you follow a plant-based diet.
Salmon nutrition benefits
Salmon is one of the best dietary sources of heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids, including DHA and EPA. Our bodies can’t make omega-3s, so we need to get them from our diet.
The American Heart Association recommends consuming fatty fish like salmon twice a week for heart health benefits.
Salmon provides several other nutrients in addition to healthy fats! Three ounces of Atlantic salmon provides:
- 17 grams of protein
- 172 mg phosphorus (17% of your daily needs)
- 422 mg potassium (12% of your daily needs)
- 31.4 mcg selenium (45% of your daily needs)
Let me know if you love this post by leaving a comment or star rating below, and check out Instagram and Pinterest for more healthy lifestyle inspiration. Thanks for stopping by!
Quick Mediterranean Baked Salmon & Quinoa Bowls
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: serves 4
- Category: main dish
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This healthy baked salmon recipe makes for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. Oven baked salmon is moist and flakey, served bowl-style with quinoa and a medley of Mediterranean roasted veggies including eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and tomatoes. Top it off with creamy homemade feta dill sauce! Ready to enjoy in 45 minutes.
Ingredients
Salmon Quinoa Bowls
- 1 small – medium sized eggplant, diced into 1 inch chunks
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped into large chunks
- 1 medium sized zucchini, diced into 1 inch chunks
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 1/2 – 2 pounds salmon, fresh
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced
- 1 cup dried quinoa
- 2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt, preferably 2% or 4% milkfat
- 1/2 cup fresh dill
- heaping 1/2 cup block feta cheese, crumbled by hand
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup cold water
Instructions
- PREP: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line an aluminum baking sheet with parchment paper. Line a 9×13 glass casserole dish with parchment paper.
- Place the chopped eggplant, bell pepper zucchini, and cherry tomatoes on the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Season with 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil, dried oregano, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
- Use your hands to toss the vegetables in the oil and seasonings. Spread them out in a single layer.
- Roast the vegetables in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until they are fork tender. Zucchini, eggplant, and bell pepper will have lightly browned, and cherry tomatoes will be wrinkly and some will have burst.
- Put the salmon on a plate and season with lemon juice, the remaining 1/2 tbsp olive oil, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
- Transfer the salmon to the lined casserole dish, skin side down. Place lemon slices on top of the salmon.
- Bake salmon in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Cook time is determined by the thickness of the fish – thicker fish will take a bit longer to cook. Salmon is done cooking when it flakes easily and the flesh is opaque.
- While the salmon and vegetables are in the oven, prepare the quinoa on the stovetop according to package instructions.
- Make the feta dill sauce: add all of the ingredients, except the water, to a food processor fitted with an S-blade.
- Blend until everything is well mixed, with a few small chunks throughout.
- Add the water, 1/4 cup at a time, and blend it into the sauce to thin it out a bit. Use less water for a thicker sauce, and more for a thinner sauce similar to a salad dressing.
- Assemble the bowls: add quinoa to a bowl and top with a few scoops of roasted vegetables and a piece of salmon. Spoon a few dollops (or more!) of the sauce onto each bowl. Enjoy right away while warm.
Notes
Ingredient substitution suggestions
- You could use a different whole grain as a substitute for quinoa, such as farro or brown rice. You may need to alter the cooking time based on what grain you use.
- Don’t love one of the vegetables in this dish? Swap it out for another you enjoy! If you don’t like eggplant, for example, swap it out for an extra zucchini or summer squash.
- Try it with a different sauce. This recipe would taste great with my popular Greek yogurt salad dressing, lemon tahini sauce, chimichurri sauce, or tzatziki sauce.
Storage
Store each component in separate airtight containers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
When you’re ready to reheat, assemble the bowls without the sauce and microwave for 1-2 minutes until warmed through. Then add the sauce after it has been reheated.
Keywords: salmon quinoa bowls, salmon and quinoa bowls, mediterranean bowls, healthy baked salmon recipe, healthy dinner recipes
