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Bring the Wildflower Chopped Salad right to your kitchen! My copycat recipe is packed with arugula, quinoa (a protein-rich swap for couscous), dried cranberries, roasted red peppers, feta, sunflower seeds, and black beans for an extra protein boost—all drizzled with a simple pesto vinaigrette. You’ll love this recipe—it’s perfect for a quick, healthy lunch or a simple, satisfying dinner!
If you’ve never been to Wildflower Bread Company, it’s a fantastic Arizona-based café chain with creative salads and sandwiches, kind of like Panera, but with even more inventive options. Since I now live in New England—far from any Wildflower locations—I recreate my favorites at home with easy fakeaway recipes!
🥗 Wildflower Chopped Salad Recipe
Here’s a look at all the ingredients for this delicious copycat salad:
- 5 ounces baby arugula (142 grams)
- ½ cup dry quinoa
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 3.5 ounces dried cranberries (100 grams)
- 15 ounces canned black beans, drained (425 grams)
- 1 cup frozen roasted corn, thawed
- 6 ounces roasted red peppers (170 grams)
- ½ cup shelled sunflower seeds
- 4 ounces feta, crumbled (113 grams)
- 6 tablespoons pesto (storebought or try this carrot leaves pesto recipe)
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Quick Tip
If you love chopped salads, investing in a salad chopper makes prep so much easier. But honestly, this might be the easiest chopped salad ever—just gather, chop the arugula, and stir! The roasted red pepper is soft enough to cut with a regular knife, and everything else is ready to go.
Put the quinoa and broth in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it comes to a simmer, lower the heat, cover, and finish cooking the quinoa. It will take about 15 minutes and all of the broth will be absorbed.
Finely chop the arugula using a salad chopper. Chop the roasted red pepper finely as well.
When the quinoa is finished cooking, divide all ingredients except the pesto and vinegar between four salad bowls or meal prep containers.
Stir the pesto and white wine vinegar together to make the Wildflower pesto vinaigrette. Drizzle on the pesto vinaigrette and serve.
If you are using this salad recipe as a meal prep, I recommend waiting to chop the arugula until you are ready to have the meal. The pesto vinaigrette should be kept separate until serving time.
🌱 Wildflower Pesto Vinaigrette Recipe
Instead of complicating things, I kept the dressing simple: just prepared pesto and white wine vinegar. Pesto already has oil, garlic, and herbs—so all it needs to become a tangy vinaigrette is a splash of vinegar or citrus juice.
Watch How to Make It!
Wildflower Chopped Salad with Wildflower Pesto Vinaigrette Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 ounces baby arugula (142 grams)
- ½ cup dry quinoa
- 1 cup vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
- 3.5 ounces dried cranberries (100 grams)
- 15 ounces canned black beans, drained (425 grams)
- 1 cup frozen roasted corn, thawed
- 6 ounces roasted red peppers (170 grams)
- ½ cup shelled sunflower seeds
- 4 ounces feta, crumbled (113 grams)
- 6 tablespoons pesto
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Instructions
- Put the quinoa and broth in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it comes to a simmer, lower the heat, cover, and finish cooking the quinoa. It will take about 15 minutes and all of the broth will be absorbed.
- Finely chop the arugula using a salad chopper. Chop the roasted red pepper finely as well.
- Stir the pesto and white wine vinegar together to make the WIldflower pesto vinaigrette.
- When the quinoa is finished cooking, divide all ingredients except the pesto vinaigrette between four salad bowls or meal prep containers. Drizzle on the pesto vinaigrette and serve.
Equipment
Notes
💭 Expert Tips from Dietitian Summer Yule
This is a level 2 recipe (transition or weight maintenance). This is a nutritious moderate-calorie meal offering a range of nutrients from a variety of food groups. I made a few tweaks to Wildflower Bread’s original recipe:- Swapped couscous for quinoa to make it gluten-free and higher in protein
- Added black beans for extra plant-based protein
- Used roasted corn instead of dried sweet corn (mostly due to availability)
- Swap the dried cranberries for one cup of fresh sliced strawberries.
- Use a no- or low-oil salad dressing rather than the pesto vinaigrette.
- Substitute one pound of grilled chicken breast for the black beans and corn.
- Add more arugula to each salad.
nutrition info disclaimer
All recipes on this website may or may not be appropriate for you, depending on your medical needs and personal preferences. Consult with a registered dietitian or your physician if you need help determining the dietary pattern that may be best for you.
The nutrition information is an estimate provided as a courtesy. It will differ depending on the specific brands and ingredients that you use. Calorie information on food labels may be inaccurate, so please don’t sweat the numbers too much.
“To taste” means to your preferences, which may have to be visual to follow food safety rules. Please don’t eat undercooked food x
Nutrition
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Hello! I’m Summer, a registered dietitian and home chef who loves to cook, eat, and create recipes for you! Every recipe on this site has been tested by me to help ensure your success in the kitchen. All eaters are welcome here 🙂
Nice job, Summer, bringing the Wildflower Bread experience to those of us east of the Mississippi. The substitutions are improvements. Good choices, all of them.
The ingredient where you really didn’t have a choice (the corn) is completely understandable. Obviously, a restaurant hailing from the land of the Zuni and Apache would know a thing or two about corn. Obviously, they’ve had a millennia-long head start perfecting all the varieties.
Oh, totally off-subject, but are the radish flowers edible? Most aren’t, but more than a few blooms still are eater-friendly, even delectable. In my opinion, chive flowers are particularly nice.
I love chive blossoms! Yes, you can eat the radish flowers, but I tend to focus on the leaves because there are so many!