Halloumi And Pomegranate Salad

Packed with flavour and textures, this halloumi and pomegranate salad with quinoa, chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber and mint, all tossed in a pomegranate dressing, is a meal itself! It is also a delicious salad to take to parties, barbecues or pot lucks, or serve alongside grilled or roasted meats.

I have been making this halloumi and quinoa salad with fennel for years and love the combination of salty halloumi and quinoa with fresh crunchy vegetables. Seeing beautiful pomegranate in the shops I wanted to create a winter salad that was packed with flavour and looked colourful – to brighten up those darker winter days.

The halloumi is pan fried until golden, and mixed with quinoa, fresh crunchy cucumber, juicy sweet-tart pomegranate seeds and crunchy walnuts. The pomegranate molasses dressing is thick, sweet and sharp, and goes beautifully with the salty cheese.

Jump to:

• Ingredient notes and substitutions
• My recipe tips
• Serving Ideas
• Make ahead/storage
• Leftover Ingredients
• Why not try…
• Halloumi Pomegranate Salad

Ingredient notes and substitutions

Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for ingredient quantities.

• Pomegranate Molasses – this adds a sharp sweetness to the dressing. At a push you can substitute balsamic glaze in the dressing, however it won’t give the salad quite the same flavour.
• Fresh lemon juice – if you don’t have any lemons fresh to hand, substitute with red wine vinegar to make the salad dressing.
• Halloumi – substitute with feta cheese.
• Chickpeas – these really help add substance to the salad. I often substitute with cooked lentils if I don’t have chickpeas to hand.

My recipe tips

• To remove the seeds from a pomegranate: slice the pomegranate in half, hold one half, cut side down, in your open fingers over a bowl, then whack the pomegranate hard with a wooden spoon. Repeat until all the seeds have fallen into the bowl (I recommend doing this over the sink as it can get messy!)

Serving Ideas

This salad is a meal in itself, however it is also delicious served with roasted or barbecued lamb, chicken or salmon.

Make ahead/storage

This salad is best served straight away as the halloumi becomes rubbery as it cools, and the rocket (arugula) can become limp once mixed with the dressing. However, if you are wanting to get ahead:

• Cook the quinoa and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
• Whisk the dressing together and store in a jar or airtight container for up to 3 days.

Leftover Ingredients

Food is a huge expense, and unfortunately quite easy to use half a packet here, or a quarter of a bunch there, and then forget about the rest, to have it destined for the bin or compost heap. So here are a few ideas to help use up some of the ingredients you may have leftover once you have made this halloumi salad.

• Halloumi – add to a Greek orzo salad in place of the feta, or sprinkle over pizza.
• Pomegranate – use in this simple rocket salad or roasted pumpkin salad.
• Walnuts – use them in this pear salad, to make a dill pesto, or in a coffee and walnut cake.
• Parsley – add to garlic bread, sprinkle over an orange salad or use in this fresh and light cabbage salad. If you have a lot of parsley, this quinoa tabbouleh is a must make!
• Mint – make marinated courgettes / zucchini, herby potato salad, or add to a yogurt dip.

Why not try…

You may also like these other filling salad recipes: