Roasted Eggplant, Spinach, Quinoa, and Feta Salad – healthy, Mediterranean-style, gluten free recipe. It’s also vegetarian, paleo, low calorie, low carb and low cholesterol, high in fiber and protein (from quinoa). Even though it’s a salad, it also makes a great main dish.
Roasted Eggplant with Spinach, Quinoa, and Feta combined together are so delicious! Honestly, it’s one of the best recipes I’ve made so far using eggplant, and the combination of all these simple ingredients is amazing! I love eggplant, it’s one of my favorite vegetables:
This dish has a very strong Mediterranean vibe, as I am using eggplant, quinoa, and Feta cheese. I call it healthy comfort food. It’s vegetarian, gluten-free, paleo, low calorie, low carb and low cholesterol, high in fiber and protein (from quinoa). Also, this recipe could not be simpler to make. First, you roast cubed eggplant in the oven:
Then, you cook spinach and 1 clove of minced garlic in a large skillet for only a minute or two, just until it wilts. Then, once eggplant is done, add eggplant to this large skillet with wilted spinach:
Add cooked quinoa to the skillet, and season with salt and pepper. Don’t overdo it on the salt, as you will be adding Feta cheese in the end.
Finally, top it with Feta cheese:
Enjoy!
Roasted Eggplant, Spinach, Quinoa, and Feta Salad - healthy, Mediterranean-style, gluten free recipe. It's also vegetarian, paleo, low calorie, low carb and low cholesterol, high in fiber and protein (from quinoa). Even though it's a salad, it also makes a great main dish.
- 1 eggplant large, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 10 ounces spinach fresh
- 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1/4 cup Feta cheese
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Preheat oven to 420 F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Grease the sheet lightly with olive oil.
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In a large bowl, mix cubed eggplant with 2 tablespoons olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Spread chopped eggplant over the lightly greased baking sheet. Roast for 20-25 minutes (or more, depends on your oven) until eggplant softens. Midway through roasting, take out the sheet and flip over eggplant cubes to the other side using spatula - that will help even out the roasting.
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While eggplant is being roasted, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet, add spinach and 1 minced garlic clove and cook for a couple of minutes, constantly stirring, just until spinach wilts. Remove from heat.
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Once eggplant is done, immediately remove it from the baking sheet into the same skillet with spinach, off heat. Immediately add quinoa and second clove of minced garlic. This will allow cooked eggplant to release some juices when mixed in with quinoa. Mix everything well, off heat, and season with more salt if needed. Don't add too much salt or omit it altogether as you will be using Feta cheese too. Top with Feta cheese.
Looks great, am going to try this one tonight less the Quinoa. Ad a long time Paleo eater (started way before Paleo was popular or well known) I do need to point out that Quinoa is a grain and is therefore not Paleo.
Anyway, looking forward to making something similar to this.
I found this recipe using key words “quinoa” and “eggplant” because I had both to use up and this was exactly what I hoped for! If you have an air fryer, it’s a great way to roast eggplant chunks, in fact one of the best uses of the air fryer I’ve found to date. Very delicious combination. A keeper and I will have to go out and buy the ingredients intentionally next time!