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Make Salad with QUinoa!
This Quinoa Avocado Salad is one I like to meal prep in advance (and usually add the avocado before serving). It’s made with protein-packed quinoa, tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions with a bright and fresh vinaigrette. And because it’s lettuce-less, it actually stays fresh for a few days so it’s a good one to bulk prepare.
Make the quinoa avocado salad as a side dish or turn it into a full meal by adding Grilled Shrimp, Shredded Chicken or Air Fryer Tofu – it will quickly become a lunchtime staple!
Happy Cooking!
– Yumna
Quinoa Avocado Salad Ingredients
- Uncooked Quinoa: Unless the package of quinoa says it’s pre-rinsed, give it a good rinse in a fine mesh colander before cooking with it. Quinoa has a natural bitter coating, but it easily rinses away. You can also use cooked brown rice or another grain instead.
- Water and salt: Cooking the quinoa with salt flavors it from the inside out. You can skip the salt though if you used broth instead of water
- Tomatoes: Grape, cherry or roma tomatoes.
- Cucumbers: I like to use Persian cucumbers because they have fewer seeds than garden cucumbers, which means they won’t make your quinoa avocado salad watery. You can also use English cucumbers.
- Red Onion: You can soak the red onions in ice water to take away some of their bite if you want a milder onion flavor or even soak it in the dressing, which I like to do!
- Ripe Avocados: Here’s how to pick avocados.
- Cilantro: If you’re not a fan of cilantro, I recommend substituting another fresh, soft-stemmed herb like parsley, dill, or mint.
- Dressing: I make it with extra-virgin olive oil here, red wine vinegar and lime juice (you can use one or the other if you’d like), Dijon mustard along with oregano, salt and pepper.
How to Make Quinoa Avocado Salad
Quinoa Avocado Salad
This vegan Quinoa Avocado Salad is made with simple ingredients and a tossed in a tangy dressing. It’s a protein-packed salad that works for lunch or dinner
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
- 2 Persian cucumbers chopped
- ¼ red onion chopped
- 2 large ripe avocados chopped
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
Dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ½ lime juiced
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Place the quinoa in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Toast for 5 minutes, or until the seeds start to make popping sounds. Add the salt and water, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and keep covered for an additional 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and transfer to a large salad bowl to cool.
- To make the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, Dijon mustard, oregano, salt and pepper.
- When the quinoa is cool, add the tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, avocados and cilantro. Pour the dressing on top and stir gently to combine. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Notes
Storage: Store any leftovers in an airtight container. They will last about 3-4 days in the fridge. If you’re not planning to finish the salad all in one day, it’s best to add the dressing only to the portion you’ll be eating.
Make Ahead Tips: You can make the dressing up to 1 week in advance and use it when ready for the salad.
Nutrition
Calories: 305kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 21g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 14g, Sodium: 418mg, Potassium: 596mg, Fiber: 7g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 381IU, Vitamin C: 13mg, Calcium: 37mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian
Cuisine American
Course: Salads
If you try this Quinoa Avocado Salad recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, please rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe.
Recipe Variations
- Make Quinoa Avocado Bowls: Use inspiration from my Mediterranean Hummus Bowl or Chicken & Quinoa Bowl and use the quinoa avocado salad as a base for a meal bowl. A scoop of hummus, pita chips, and falafel can turn this simple salad into a restaurant-style meal!
- Give It a Mediterranean-Style Spin. Leave out the avocado, swap the lime juice for extra red wine vinegar, and add kalamata olives, roasted red pepper, and chickpeas.
- Make It Tex-Mex. Add rinsed and drained black beans, then swap the cucumber for thawed frozen corn. Leave out the Dijon from the dressing and instead add taco seasoning for flavor.
- Add More Protein. A can of rinsed and drained white beans or chickpeas will add some extra protein to this quinoa salad with avocado while keeping it vegan!
Recipe Tips
- Chop the vegetables finely. Because the quinoa looks like a fine grain, I love chopping the vegetables pretty small so that every bite has a little bit of all the vegetables and enough quinoa. It’s no fun grabbing a bite from this quinoa avocado salad and just getting a large tomato.
- Don’t skimp on the ingredients. Because there are so few ingredients in the salad, be sure to use the best quality produce you can find (especially those avocados!). And it’s important that you use extra virgin olive oil because that’s the base for the dressing that really pulls it all together.
- Add the avocado and mix before serving. Like all salads, it’s best to toss the dressing right before you serve the salad. In this case, the salad will hold up well if tossed in advance, but it’s best to add the avocado fresh right before serving to prevent it from browning.
- Chill before serving. Because the quinoa has been cooked, it’s best to let it get to room temperature before mixing with the vegetables. Then, I recommend chilling it in the fridge for at least half an hour before tossing and serving.
Serving Ideas
- Crispy Air Fryer Tofu vegan
- Air Fryer Falafel vegan
- Lentil Cakes vegetarian
- Almond Crusted Chicken
FAQs
How do I store quinoa avocado salad?
Store any leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3-4 days. If you’re not planning to finish the salad all in one day, it’s best to add the dressing only to the portion you’ll be eating right away.
Why is my quinoa always mushy?
If you have bad luck with quinoa, it’s probably because you added too much water. I like a 1:1.5 ratio of quinoa to water.
The recipe looks good and I can’t wait to try it
Yay! I hope you love it!
Wow very good
Thanks, Tezeta! So glad you liked it!!
Love it! I did try with dijon and was a bit to strong for me, so now I used “normal” mustard. I will make it again every month.
So happy you liked it, Sanja! A more mild mustard sounds great!
I’m OBSESSED with this salad and make it weekly. I recently swapped red onion for half a shallot (basically minced) and let it breakdown in the dressing while I prepped the other stuff. Also added feta cheese this time. The dressing makes it, truly!
So happy this is a go-to salad recipe for you now! Love your tweaks too, they sound so good!!
Could you please suggest an alternative for fresh cilantro? Looking forward to trying this recipe!
This recipe is so good, when I made it it tasted really good, I can’t even explain it.
So happy you liked it!
I’m not a super fan of quinoa but since I had some left, I decided to try it. It came out so great! I really enjoyed it! The flavor of the quinoa is super improved with the avocado. Thanks!
So happy you enjoyed it!
This salad is refreshing, packed with vegetables that are good for your health. This is one salad I can eat on a weekly basis and not get tired of. It’s got veggies that are probably are in your fridge. Definitely an amazing salad for dinner or lunch.
Thanks so much, Sonia!