Southwest Quinoa Salad

This healthy, refreshing, vegan Southwest quinoa salad works great as a lunch, light dinner, or even a picnic.  It’s made with simple ingredients like red bell pepper, jalapeño, red onion, cilantro, black beans, avocado, and lime juice.  Adding fresh lime juice and fresh cilantro brightens up the summer quinoa salad, making it light and flavorful.

How to Make Southwest Quinoa Salad

Cook ½ cup of quinoa according to the instructions on the package, and let it cool. While it’s cooling, prep all of your other ingredients.  Frozen corn can be thawed by placing it in a colander and running warm water over it.  Break up frozen chunks and you’ll feel the kernels thaw while the running them under the water. 

Finely dicing the red onion and jalapeño ensures you don’t get a giant piece of them while you’re eating the quinoa salad.  Add all of the ingredients to a large bowl and stir gently to combine.  I think the salad tastes better served immediately, but if you’re prepping this ahead of time, wait to add the avocado until ready to serve. 

As always, I hope you enjoy this Southwest Quinoa Salad with avocado and black beans!

More Summer Recipes

• Strawberry Avocado Salad
• Chickpea salad sandwich
• Curry chickpea salad
• Curry chickpea salad wrap

Southwest Quinoa Salad

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

• Author: Allie
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 4-5 servings 1x
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

This healthy and refreshing southwest quinoa salad works great as a lunch, light dinner, or even a picnic.  It’s made with simple ingredients like red bell pepper, jalapeño, red onion, cilantro, black beans, avocado, and lime juice.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• ½ cup uncooked quinoa rinsed
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn, thawed if frozen
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes halved
• ¼ cup red onion finely diced
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• 1 jalapeno finely diced
• ¼ cup cilantro finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 avocado diced

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Instructions

1. Cook the rinsed quinoa according to the instructions on the package.
2. Fluff the quinoa and let it cool to room temperature, then mix in the rest of the ingredients. 
3. Stir gently to combine.

Notes

If prepping ahead of time wait on adding the avocado until ready to serve.

• Category: main course
• Method: stovetop
• Cuisine: American

Keywords: quinoa salad with black beans, quinoa salad with avocado, vegan quinoa salad