Description
This Southwestern Quinoa Salad Recipe makes for a great vegetarian or vegan main or side dish. Make a big batch on the weekend and use it for quick pack-and-go lunches or stress-free dinners.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup dry, uncooked quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded, chopped
- 1 jalapeno, seeds, minced
- 3 tbsp chopped, fresh cilantro
- 2 limes, zested and juiced
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- heavy dash garlic powder
- dash cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Cook quinoa. Rinse quinoa and combine with water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil and simmer on low till water absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. I used a non-stick pan so it wouldn’t stick to the bottom. Reserve 1 cup of quinoa (I reserved 1 cup so I could use it in another recipe. It would probably be fine to just add all the quinoa to this recipe if you didn’t have another way to use the reserved quinoa, but I encourage you to try it as a breakfast hot cereal – check out tomorrow’s post for details on how to morph it). Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl (preferably with a lid) place cooled, cooked quinoa, beans, bell pepper, corn, jalapeño, and cilantro and mix gently to combine.
- In a small bowl combine lime zest, lime juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Whisk to combine (like you would for a dressing).
- Pour dressing over the quinoa mixture and stir to combine.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving, to allow flavors to combine.
- Enjoy!
