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Loaded with fresh and healthy ingredients, this vegan Southwest quinoa salad is all kinds of delicious. Made with roasted sweet potatoes, black beans and avocado, it’s fresh, zingy and full of flavor.
Ingredients & substitutions
- Olive oil: Used for roasting the potatoes and also to dress the salad. Feel free to substitute with avocado oil.
- Quinoa: Use tri-color quinoa for this recipe for extra, which is a mix of white, black and red quinoa. It has a great mix of textures and flavors. You can use also use white quinoa.
- Sweet potatoes: Peel and cube the sweet potatoes, season and roast them. Roasting really brings out the natural sweet flavor.
- Black Beans: Drain and rinse the beans well before using. Black beans work well in this recipe, but you can switch out to red kidney beans.
- Corn: You can use frozen, canned or fresh corn off the kernels for this salad.
- Vegetables: Bell pepper, red onions and avocado.
- Lime juice: No Southwest salad is complete without lime juice. Use fresh rather than bottled for the best flavor.
- Seasonings: Salt, cumin, chili powder, black pepper and fresh cilantro.
How to make southwest quinoa salad
Cook the sweet potatoes
- Peel and chop the potatoes, season and place on a lined baking sheet.
- Roast until golden brown.
Cook quinoa and assemble the salad
- Simmer the quinoa until cooked. Let sit and fluff.
- Add all of the salad ingredients to the quinoa.
- Combine and season to taste.
Tips for making the salad recipe
- Be sure to rinse the quinoa before cooking. Quinoa has a natural casing that can taste bitter and soapy. Rinse it in a fine mesh sieve until the water runs clear.
- Toast you quinoa before adding the liquid. This helps to bring out the natural nutty flavors for a really delicious dish.
- Dice the sweet potato into small cubes. This will cut down on cooking time. Cut them into similar sizes so that they cook evenly.
- Add in some shredded chicken or chickpeas for a fuller meal. This Southwest quinoa salad is filling as it is with 28g of protein, but you can easily add in some extra protein if you like.
Frequently asked questions
This quinoa salad is delicious served as soon as you’ve made it so that the quinoa and sweet potatoes are still warm, or, you can make it ahead of time and serve chilled.
If you want to make this more than a day or two ahead of time, it’s best to leave the avocado out, as this will start to brown. Without the avocado, it will keep well covered in the fridge for up to 4 days.
You can easily enjoy this Southwest quinoa salad as it is as a lunch, or spoon it over some fresh greens like spinach, lettuce or arugula. It makes a great side too to accompany grilled chicken or salmon.
This Southwest quinoa salad is so easy to make and bursting with fresh flavors. It makes for a great vegan main dish, or a delicious accompaniment to a main meal. However you serve it, you’re going to love it.
More salads to try:
- Vegetarian Tuna Salad
- Caprese Pasta Salad
- Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad
- Caesar Salad
- Avocado Blueberry Salad
- Mediterranean Potato Salad
- Vegetarian Cobb Salad
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Southwest Quinoa Salad recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe. We would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots, share it on Instagram so we can repost on Stories!
Southwest Quinoa Salad
Video
Ingredients
- 3 ½ tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 cup uncooked tri-color quinoa rinsed and drained
- 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
- 2 medium sweet potatoes cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1 ½ teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- black pepper to taste
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 (10 ounce) bag frozen corn thawed
- 1 bell pepper stemmed, seeded, and diced
- ¼ red onion finely chopped
- 1 avocado pitted and chopped
- 1 lime zested and juiced
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
Roast sweet potatoes
- Preheat oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss sweet potatoes, 2 tablespoons oil, ½ teaspoon salt, cumin, chili powder, and black pepper. Arrange on prepared sheet and roast until golden brown, 25-30 minutes, mixing potatoes halfway through.
Cook quinoa
- Heat ½ tablespoon oil in a medium save pot over medium high heat. Add quinoa and toast until fragrant, 2 minutes.
- Add 1 ¾ cup water and ½ teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and reduce to a gentle simmer and cover.
- Cook for 15 minutes, remove from heat (while keeping the pot covered) and let stand for an additional 5 minutes. Fluff and keep warm.
Assemble Salad
- To pot of cooked quinoa, add roasted sweet potatoes, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, beans, corn, pepper, red onion, avocado, lime juice, zest, and fresh cilantro.
- Season to taste with kosher salt and black pepper. Mix and serve immediately or let cool and serve chilled.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Great flavor and good way to get a lot of veggies. We ate this warm the day of and as a cold leftover. Both were very tasty. (I served the avocado on the side.)
Yay, so happy you liked it both warm and cold! And avocado on the side is perfect. Thanks, Christy!
Looks good, I’ll have to try it soon. In the description you state 28gm of protein per serving but the nutrition facts state 18gm. Is the 28gm for a different serving size?
Hi Sajida, thank you so much for pointing out this mistake! The nutrition facts are correct, it is 18 grams per serving. I updated the description to show the correct amount.
Delicious, colorful, and so healthy! I will be doubling this recipe next time. Thank you for a great vegetarian & GF dish!
Yay! So happy you liked it, Susan!!
This is delicious!
Thank you so much!
Hands down, this is one of the tastiest salads I’ve had in a very long time and my husband is in total agreement as well! Thank you Yumna!
This quinoa salad looks wonderful. Is the 829 calories per serving? Or is that the entire recipe?
Thanks!
Hi there, thanks for flagging this I noticed the nutrition facts were a bit off so I adjusted them to properly reflect the recipe. That said, the listing is for one serving. Hope this helps!
Sooooo good!
So happy you enjoyed it!