How To Make Mexican Quinoa Salad with Avocado
This Mexican quinoa salad is high in protein, high in fiber, and quick and easy to prepare, making it the ideal weekday lunch option! It is loaded with flavors from fresh lime juice, avocado, black beans, tomatoes, cumin powder, etc. It is also vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free.
What ingredients do you need to make a Mexican quinoa salad?
It has healthy ingredients and it tastes delicious.
- Quinoa: 1 cup uncooked quinoa or 3 cups cooked quinoa
- Lime/Lemon Juice (1/4 cup), Fresh Lime gives the best flavor.
- Extra virgin olive oil or Avacado Oil (1/4 cup).
- black pepper
- Cumin powder
- Cayenne pepper
- Corn (11 oz can): drain and rinsed or use frozen and thawed corn.
- Quinoa: You can use red, white, or tricolor quinoa for this recipe. It will be easier if you make the quinoa the day before you’re planning to make the salad. You can use vegetable broth instead of water when cooking quinoa for more flavor.
- Bell pepper is so good for you as they are high in vitamin C, and fiber, and delicious. I like to cut the bell pepper about the same size as black beans so all pieces are about even sizes.
- Avacado, use 1 or 2 small avocados.
- Tomatoes: You can use any tomatoes but the best variety is the one that doesn’t lose its shape and is sweeter like cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes. Slice into bite-size pieces.
- Red onion: You can use white onion but red onion is milder and sweeter. If you don’t like an onion you can replace it with a scallion or green onion
- Black Beans (19 oz can): drained and rinsed. I like to drain and rinse black beans from the can in case it has too much salt on them. Use canned black beans or homemade black beans
- Fresh Cilantro: It adds that Mexican flavor to the salad. Here is a guide to storing Cilantro for longer. If you don’t like the flavor of these fresh herbs you can add 3-4 green onions. Use the white part of the scallion and a couple of inches of green parts. The white part has the most flavor but the green part also has a good flavor.
- Salt
How To Make Mexican Quinoa Salad
Mexican Quinoa Salad
This mexican style quinoa salad is loaded with flavours of fresh lime, cilantro, olive oil, black beans, corn, tomatoes, bell pepper. It is super easy to make, healthy and so delicious. It will become your family favourite
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa or 3 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 can black beans
- 1 cup corn canned or frozen and thawed
- 1 avocado Add extra one more Avacado if you like more protein.
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes (chopped) Add 1/2 cup extra if you like more flavour from tomatoes.
- 1/2 cup bell pepper
- 1 small red onion 3/4 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/4 cup lime juice about 2 fresh limes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper optional
Instructions
Cook Quinoa
- If you already have 3 cups of cooked quinoa you can skip this step and use the cooked quinoa. Otherwise, follow this step. Cook quinoa: Rinse 1 cup quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and place it in a saucepan. Add 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp salt into the pan. The ratio is one cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water. Bring the water and quinoa to boil on medium-high heat without the lid. When the entire surface of the water starts to boil, bubbly and foamy, stir it with a spatula or wooden spoon for any sticky grains. Turn the heat to medium-low. Make sure to put on a timer and cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes check to see if all the water has been absorbed and the grain is tender, fluffy, and translucent. If there is no water at the bottom of the pan then turn off the heat. Remove the pan from the heat and cover the cooked quinoa. Let it rest for at least 5 minutes. Let it cool completely and set it aside.
Prepare Dressing
- Combine lime juice, 1/2 tsp salt, cumin powder, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and olive oil in a small bowl or measuring cup and whisk together.
Mix All Together
- In a large serving bowl combine the onion, tomatoes, corn, bell pepper, black beans, cooked quinoa, and fresh cilantro
- Drizzle the dressing that was prepared earlier. Toss all together until everything is mixed very well. Add 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper and add extra salt if needed. You can serve this salad right away but for best flavour let the salad rest for 10 minutes or longer.
- You can store this in the fridge up to 2 days. This quinoa salad doesn’t stay fresh in the fridge longer since the avocado will turn in to brown and the tomatoes become soggy.
Lemon/Lime Sqeezer
One of my favorite kitchen tools is now available on Amazon
How To Store This Quinoa Salad with Avacado?
You can store this in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. This quinoa salad doesn’t stay fresh in the fridge longer since the avocado will turn in to brown and the tomatoes become soggy.
How To Make this quinoa salad Mexican ahead of time?
Quinoa Salad is a party favorite. Most part of this recipe can prepare ahead of time but it is best shortly after mix together. You can cook quinoa and prep all the vegetables except avocado and tomatoes ahead of time and keep them in the fridge separately.
If you cut avacado too early it may lose its color and freshness, and also the tomatoes may get soggy. When you are ready to serve the salad cut avocado, and tomatoes and mix all together with seasonings.