This vegan Southwestern Quinoa Salad features pump grape tomatoes, lively corn and orange bell peppers, protein-packed black beans, refreshing cucumber and a creamy avocado dressing. And it’s naturally gluten-free!
Pinterest is a life-changer, isn’t it? I used to have to scroll through hundreds of bookmarks to find saved recipes. Now, whenever I’m looking for inspiration – for food, for fashion, or for the home – I can just go to my Pinterest boards and find just the thing I’m looking for. Love it!
This Southwestern Quinoa Salad recipe was inspired by a Southwestern Pasta Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing recipe that I pinned a while back. Those tastes and colors looked too good pass up! But if you’re a long-time reader, you know that I put quinoa in pretty much everything. So I decided to modify the recipe by making it into a quinoa salad instead.
The result is a beautiful salad made up of fresh Southwestern ingredients: creamy avocado, plump grape tomatoes, lively corn and orange bell peppers, protein-packed black beans (and quinoa!), refreshing cucumber, zesty lime, and of course, lots of cilantro (fresh coriander).
The dressing is so thick and creamy, you could also use it as a dip. I can picture myself digging some corn chips in there. Mmm..!
Recipe Notes β Southwestern Quinoa Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
- I replaced the pasta in the original recipe with quinoa. For day-to-day salads, I prefer using quinoa over things like pasta and couscous, mainly because I like the protein-punch that quinoa provides, and also because I feel better when I eat gluten-free. 1 cup of quinoa (once cooked), along with all the veggies made a large salad, enough to feed 4 people.
- I played with the veggie combination by increasing the grape tomatoes, removing the red bell pepper, increasing the orange bell pepper, decreasing the red onion, and adding cucumber.
- I veganized the dressing in the original recipe by replacing the buttermilk and Greek yogurt with silken tofu and tahini. It was just a bit too thick, so I added 3 tbsp of water to get things moving. I didn’t have a jalapeΓ±o on hand, so I used 1/8 tsp of chili powder. I kept the 1/4 tsp of cumin because I can’t get enough of the stuff. Otherwise, I pretty much just halved all the ingredients, and it was more than enough to create a perfectly creamy quinoa salad.
Want more Mexican recipes?
- Oven-Baked Mexican Quinoa Casserole
- Refried Bean Tostadas
- Easy Tex-Mex Quinoa
- See all my vegan Mexican recipes
Southwestern Quinoa Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
This Southwestern quinoa salad features pump grape tomatoes, lively corn and orange bell peppers, protein-packed black beans, refreshing cucumber and a creamy avocado dressing. Vegan & Gluten-Free!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: Mexican, Southwest, Tex-Mex, Vegan
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 small punnet (200g) grape tomatoes
- 1 orange bell pepper, diced
- 1 large avocado, peeled, seeded, and diced
- 1/2 cup diced cucumber (seeds removed)
- 1/2 cup sweet corn (canned or frozen/defrosted)
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 lime, for juicing over the salad
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (fresh coriander)
Creamy Avocado Dressing
- 1 ripe avocado, peeled and seeded
- 1/4 cup silken tofu
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro (fresh coriander)
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 tablespoon chopped green onion
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 tsp chili powder
- Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place the quinoa along with 2 cups salted water in a medium saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to the lowest heat setting. Simmer until water is completely absorbed and quinoa is fluffy, about 20 minutes.
- While the quinoa is cooking, make the Creamy Avocado Dressing. Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
- In a large bowl, combine quinoa, black beans, tomatoes, bell peppers, avocado, cucumber, corn, red onion. Pour dressing over quinoa salad and stir until salad is well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the salad, so the avocado doesn’t brown. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve at room temperature or chilled.
Notes
Adapted from: http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/southwestern-pasta-salad-with-creamy-avocado-dressing
Keywords: bean, cilantro, cumin, food processor, gluten-free, high-protein, make-ahead, mexican, nut-free, quinoa, soy-free, stove top, summer, under 30 minutes, southwest, tex-mex, vegan, salad
Delicious! And the dressing is so good, I plan on making it on its own just to have on other things.
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I made this for a recent get-together and it was a hit with everyone (even the carnivores). Looking forward to trying your other recipes π
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Actually, scratch what i said yesterday about the cilantro. After letting the salad chill and sit overnight, its perfection. I wouldn’t change a thing. Great recipe!
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This was good. A little labor intensive and cilantro heavy, but good overall. I will make again just with less cilantro because I can only do cilantro in small doses. Thank you!
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Hi there,
I’m wondering if this salad can be made ahead and used the next day and still be awesome? π
Deb
SO sorry for the delay. Yes I think a day in advance would be fine, but I would add the diced avocado the day-of (just so it doesn’t brown).
Just made this tonight. It’s so good! Thank you!!
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This is amazing! I added black olives. I love the dressing. I hope it will keep I doubt the kids will eat it and I want more tomorrow. It tastes so fresh and is really helping me with my desire to go vegan again. Love how creamy the dressing is. I boiled the tofu first because I do not like it raw, still worked great but I needed a little more water.
Thank you
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I intended on giving this 5 stars but when I selected “submit comment” the last star disappeared! I would have given it 6 stars if I could!
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Oh my goodness, this was absolutely amazing and will become a go-to in our home. This is my first time visiting your site and I can’t wait to dig into more recipes!
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Made this tonight for the first time — and will definitely make again and share with others. It was wonderful! Thanks for sharing it.
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Great recipe. We added mango…and absolutely loved it.
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Absolutely delicious! I love the avocado tahini dressing – soooo creamy. I am not vegan (yet), but I’m shuffling in that direction, but the sour creaminess of yogurt is my downfall as a dressing (ottolenghi style). The creamy lime bite of this is superb! I’ve tried a few of your recipes and I love them all – yum yum yum!
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My sister made this salad the other day and it was wonderful. Can’t wait to make it myself. Just started using quinoa and wasn’t sure how to use it but this is amazing.
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Yay! Welcome to the wonderful world of quinoa π
This looks fantastic. I’m curious though as to what food processor you own. I’m in the market to buy a small one and yours looks perfect.
Thanks!
Great question! My man treated me to this big Breville food processor for Christmas. I love it, but I do find it to be really big, heavy, and a lot of work to clean for day-to-day meals.
This is my all-time favorite food chopper and immersion blender. Almost all of the recipes on this site where made using it (and those that I used my big one could be used with it instead). It’s cheap, easy to clean, and versatile (so it’s great for small kitchens).
Hope that helps π
Awesome thanks! Just ordered the little one right now :).
Hi Angela, I always enjoy trying new recipes from your website but this one is my favourite – for now. It was kind of tricky to find canned black beans here in Germany so I used borlotti beans the first time I made this dish which was also delicious. Thank you for sharing all those great recipes, my whole family loves them!!!
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I’m so happy to hear it! Any beans will work if you can’t easily find black beans (they’re hard to find in Sydney as well). Thanks for taking the time to write π
I made this tonight and I must sayβ¦another great recipe! Thanks for sharing π
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So glad to hear it! Thanks so much for trying it and for taking the time to write π
I must tell you that I made your latest Quinoa salad last Friday evening and that your father liked it. Thank you for a colourful and tasty meal. That’s just what we need to cheer us up this long cold winter. Maman
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AWW Thanks mom. You’re so sweet. I learned from the best π
ooh great idea Angela, I actually have a whole jar of tahini on hand!!! I want to make this today except hubby is in kitchen hanging up crown moulding. may have to wait till tomorrow.. looks amazing:)
Crown molding – lucky you! Let me know what you think of the salad π
This looks amazing Angela, i cannot wait to try this. I love how your recipes always have ingredients that i have in my pantry!!! we must have similiar pantries!!!! I am going to make this weekend.. looks so yummy!!! My only thing is I don’t like to eat tofu due to soy and not sitting well with me.. do you think I can leave the tofu out and it would just be thinner?? or maybe add vegan sour cream or soemthing else instead?? just wondering?? I hate to even ask for a substitute suggestion since your recipes ROCK!!!!
By the way, I made the coconut curry lentil soup again for a second time.. it is so nummy!!! My favorite!!! Also my daughter asked to make the raw coconut cookie dough balls again.. another favorite in our family!!! Thanks so much for creating another recipe for us. I agree, I have a HUGE stock of quinua in my pantry and could eat it everyday!!!! π
Good to hear from you, Jill! I tend to use very similar ingredients week-to-week, so that’s why a lot of my recipes use the same things. I like to keep things simple π
You know, I was originally just going to use more tahini for the sauce, but switched to tofu at the last minute. So feel free to use a couple more tablespoons of tahini and adjusting the water as needed. Vegan sour cream would also work (although most commercial ones are soy-based).
Glad to hear that my soup and cookie dough balls have become staples in your house. Thanks for taking the time to share all these kind words with me π
Hi Angela,
I have been meaning to get on here and tell you how much your site has helped us with our decision to go vegan.
Every recipe we have tried works exactly as described and tastes amazing.
When we decided to go vegan we wanted to be healthy aswell and your recipes are exactly what we meant… It’s also wonderful to see some vegan desserts.
So thank you for taking the time to share your vegan lifestyle, seems you’ve helped alot of people.
Cheers!
Courtney & Graeme.
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Hi Courtney – Thank you so much for your kind words. And congratulations on going vegan! I’m so honored that my humble little recipes have helped you on this journey π
You had me on “Southwestern” the fact that quinoa followed shortly after only made it sound even better, and that sauce, ah! It looks heavenly π
Thanks for passing on the inspiration, I hope I get to make this soon π
Have a lovely Wednesday! x
Thanks very much Jules! Hubby was away this week, so I got to eat the whole thing to myself π
This looks fantastic! I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks Stefanie π