Avocado Quinoa Salad is a refreshing and savory dish composed with cucumbers, tomato, red onion, cilantro, and lime juice. An excellent plant-based lunch or side dish!
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Avocado Quinoa Salad
This Avocado Quinoa Salad is vibrant, zesty, and tasty, and the ingredients remind me of what I usually add in guacamole. This quinoa salad is perfect on days when I want to eat meatless for lunch. I’ve published a lot of quinoa salad recipes over the years, and I love them all, but this one could be my new favorite!
I’ve received a lot of requests for additional vegan and vegetarian dishes, so I want to provide at least one new plant-based meal each week. Quinoa, an edible plant seed, is high in fiber and protein, making it extremely healthy for the body. It’s also gluten-free and ideal for adding to salads.
Avocado Quinoa Salad Ingredients
- Quinoa: I prefer red or tricolored quinoa.
- Avocado: If you’re meal prepping this salad, mix everything together and add the avocado immediately before serving.
- Cucumber
- Tomatoes: I used a huge beefsteak tomato, but cherry or grape tomatoes will suffice.
- Red onion
- Jalapeño: For a spicy salad, leave the jalapeño seeds and ribs in. Remove them if you like more mild foods.
- Fresh cilantro: If you dislike cilantro, leave it out.
- Dressing: olive oil, lime juice, and salt.
How to Cook Quinoa for a Salad
The key to preparing the best quinoa salads is to cook the quinoa correctly. No mushy quinoa for me! I prefer red or multicolored quinoa and prepare a batch in my Instant Pot (see Perfect Instant Pot Quinoa) to use throughout the week in bowls, salads, salmon burgers, and so on. When preparing quinoa on the stove, I use less water than advised. For one cup of quinoa, I use 1 3/4 cups of liquid.
What to Serve with Avocado Quinoa Salad
This healthful quinoa salad is ideal for a vegan lunch, but it can also be served as a side dish for supper and pairs well with any protein, such as Cilantro Lime Chicken. It serves four. To serve a larger gathering, double this recipe and add the avocado immediately before serving.
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- Quinoa Vegetable Soup
- Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Bars
- Italian Wedding Soup
- Skillet Cajun Spiced Fish with Tomatoes
Recipe Card
Avocado Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa red or tricolor
- 8 ounces haas avocado from 2 small, diced
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 ripe beefsteak or heirloom tomato diced
- 2 mini cucumbers diced
- 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/3 cup chopped red onion
- 1 jalapeño sliced thin with seeds
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients in a dish and consume straight immediately.
- Taste for salt and lime juice, and adjust as necessary.
- If meal prepping, mix all of the ingredients except the avocado, then add when ready to eat.
- To make extra servings, simply multiply the recipe.
Notes
This nutritious quinoa salad makes an excellent vegan lunch for two or a side dish for four with any protein. To serve a larger gathering, double this recipe and add the avocado immediately before serving.
Yields 3 1/4 cups.