I love having a hearty grain based salad ready to go in the fridge for the week. When I can reach for something easy, filling and delicious it makes eating a varied diet so much easier. Today’s recipe for low FODMAP broccoli quinoa salad is just that: hearty, healthy, delicious and full of good stuff. I developed it for my friends at Remedy Kombucha.
Low FODMAP broccoli quinoa salad
This salad uses cooked quinoa and uncooked broccoli florets to form the base. Said base is spruced up with flat leaf parsley, marinated goat’s cheese, toasted pine nuts and pickled red onions (yes, they have a FODMAP threshold).
The salad is finished off with a deliciously bright ginger and lemon dressing that uses Remedy Kombucha along with fresh ginger, fresh lemon and zest. It also uses mustard for some zing and maple syrup to balance everything out.
The salad is gluten free, low FODMAP, vegetarian and adaptable to be vegan. It is a great low FODMAP meal prep dish that stays fresh for days. A real winner in my house.
FODMAP notes
If you were as surprised as me to discover that broccoli florets actually have quite a generous FODMAP threshold, read on!
As of April 2024, Monash says that the heads (or green fluffy bits) of broccoli are low FODMAP in 75g serves per person and up to 208g per person. This recipe uses 250g broccoli heads and serves 4 really hungry people or 6 with a protein.
As of April 2024, FODMAP Everyday’s app says that broccoli is low FODMAP in serves of up to 1500g per person. They don’t specify heads or stalks like Monash do. I have only recently downloaded the FODMAP Everyday app so I don’t know whether one tends to be more accurate than the other or not. Take this information as a guide and do what works for you.
FODMAP Everyday says that pine nuts are low FODMAP in 14g serves and up to 47g serves. Their app suggests that pine nuts contain fructans. Monash has a much less generous serving of 9g or less, after which they contain moderate amounts of GOS. I have chosen to use the FODMAP Everyday thresholds here because I just wanted to use pine nuts lol.
See more in the section below on switching up the nuts if you are concerned about the FODMAP content.
Goat’s cheese is low FODMAP in serves of up to 250g, according to Monash. I will say that Meredith marinated Goats cheese, the brand and style I adore, is marinated with garlic. I don’t taste it and I don’t react to it, but I have given options below.
Pickled red onion is low FODMAP in serves of up to 85g according to Monash.
Balancing the FODMAPs
Sometimes I feel it is helpful to have a clear idea of which ingredient contains which FODMAP in case you want to substitute something in or out.
- Broccoli heads contain fructose when they exceed serves of 208g or more per person, according to Monash.
- Pine nuts contain fructans when they exceed serves of 47g per person, according to FODMAP Everyday. Monash lists them as much lower, so see the below on changing the nut in the recipe if you have concerns.
- Goat’s cheese contains lactose when it exceeds 250g per person, according to Monash.
- Pickled onions contain fructans when they exceed serves of 85g, according to Monash.
If fructans are an issue for you, I’d recommend switching the pine nuts out for toasted macadamias. This is an easy swap that drops the fructan stacking issue right back and still gives the salad plenty of flavour and texture.
Low FODMAP substitution options
Depending on how much of this salad you are eating, you might prefer to substitute the marinated goat’s cheese and the pine nuts. We’ll go into those options below.
Firstly, the goat’s cheese. As we discussed above, the marinated variety (aka the infinitely more delicious variety) does often contain garlic in the marinating oil.
The easiest way to substitute here is to use feta. Both Monash and FODMAP Everyday say it is low FODMAP in serves of up to 500g per person. Choose a good quality feta and add it to taste. For the option that performs similarly to the goat’s cheese, use Danish feta. It has a softer, creamier texture.
Onto the nuts! This salad doesn’t necessarily lean towards a particular profile in the flavour department. This is ideal because it means you can really add any nut you love.
Macadamias are an easy choice and lend an unusual flavour in the same sort of way that pine nuts do. They are low FODMAP in 328g serves or less, according to Monash. After they exceed this threshold, they contain moderate amounts of fructans. They are low FODMAP in 600g serves according to FODMAP Everyday.
Tips for your low FODMAP broccoli quinoa salad
- The absorption method for cooking quinoa is by far the best option here. I tested both methods and found that boiled quinoa was a lot wetter than quinoa cooked with the absorption method. This means that it is less able to absorb the salad dressing, resulting in pooling dressing and overly wet salad. Quinoa cooked with the absorption method was a lot drier (in a good way) and perfectly soaked up all the dressing.
- You can add as much ginger and lemon zest as you like. The sky is the limit! I love ginger and I could have done more than 30g in the dressing.
- Make sure you choose a mustard without added onion and garlic. I like Maille dijon mustard.
- For FODMAP purposes, I work on the assumption that quick pickled onion is not suitable. Pickled or canned products tend to be lower FODMAP because the FODMAPs have leeched out into the canning liquid or brine. If you are quick pickling, you are not giving the FODMAPs enough time to do that. I make my own pickled red onion using this recipe and I make sure to do it at least the night before I make the salad.
More low FODMAP salad recipes
- Low FODMAP sushi salad
- Low FODMAP Nam Khao (crispy rice salad)
- Low FODMAP chopped salad
- Low FODMAP vegetarian Caesar salad
- Low FODMAP dense bean salad from my paid Substack
Low FODMAP broccoli and quinoa salad
Ingredients
For the quinoa:
- 150 g white quinoa rinsed
- 375-500 ml (1 ½ – 2 cups)* water
- Salt
- Lemon zest optional but adds a bit of extra flavour
For the ginger lemon dressing:
- 80 ml (1/3 cup)* Remedy ginger lemon kombucha
- 40 ml (2 tablespoons)* lemon juice (plus more to taste)
- 20 ml (1 tablespoon)* maple syrup or honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard plus more to taste
- 20-30 g+ fresh ginger microplaned (plus more to taste)
- Zest of ½ – 1 lemon plus more to taste
- Plenty of seasoning to taste
For the salad:
- 250 g broccoli florets washed and finely chopped (see notes)
- 150 g pickled red onion
- 150 g toasted pine nuts or macadamia nuts see notes
- 1 bunch flat leaf parsley finely chopped
- 150 g marinated goats cheese see notes for substitutes
Instructions
To cook the quinoa:
- Place the ingredients for the quinoa in a medium heavy bottomed pot. Cook on a medium heat, stirring frequently, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa grains have unfurled. I recommend starting with the lesser quantity of water and adding a bit more if your quinoa hasn’t fully cooked by the time all the water is evaporated.
- Once the quinoa is fully cooked and the water is evaporated, remove the quinoa from the heat. Place a lid or top on the pot and allow to sit for 10 or so minutes. The steam will finish cooking the quinoa and it should become nice and fluffy in this time.
- After this time, remove the lid and allow the quinoa to cool while you work on the rest of the salad.
To make the salad dressing:
- Combine all the ingredients in a clean, medium sized glass jar. Shake gently to combine and emulsify (be careful because the Kombucha will create gas!).
- Taste and adjust according to your preferences, noting that it has a lot of quinoa to cover so it will taste toned down in the final salad. You are looking for strong, bold flavours so don’t be shy with the lemon, ginger and seasoning. Remove the lid and set aside.
To assemble:
- Combine the cooled quinoa and broccoli in a large mixing bowl. Add the pickled onion, most of the pine nuts (save a handful for garnishing) and parsley and toss to combine.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss really well to coat. Once evenly distributed, taste and add any flavourings you think the dressing requires. I normally add a squeeze more lemon.
- Add about ¾ of the goats cheese in medium sized chunks and toss gently to combine. Some of them will break down in the tossing process, which is why we are adding them last and in larger chunks.
- To serve, finish with the remaining goats cheese and pine nuts. I like to finish with extra lemon zest, ginger, sea salt flakes and freshly cracked pepper. Some finely diced red chilli is also delicious.
Notes
- The absorption method for cooking the quinoa is important here. It makes for a much drier quinoa that soaks up dressing a lot more efficiently than boiled quinoa.
- Add the dressing ingredients to taste. You might find you need more of something – it’s your salad so go ahead and add it!
- To ensure this salad is low FODMAP:
- Use just the green heads of the broccoli as opposed to any stalks.
- • Use maple syrup instead of the honey substitution option.
- Use toasted macadamias instead of toasted pine nuts if you’d prefer to use the lower Monash threshold for pine nuts (see FODMAP notes in the body of the post).
- Pickled red onion is low FODMAP in serves of up to 84g per person. See the FODMAP notes in the body of the post.
- Read all the FODMAP notes in the body of the post for an extensive breakdown.
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