Southwest quinoa salad with avocado dressing

This vegetarian southwest quinoa salad is super simple and delicious. Mexican spiced quinoa with veggies, cotija cheese, and a spicy avocado dressing. YUM!

Hi, Rhubarbarians! Are you ready for some Mexican spiced quinoa, all the awesome veggies, salty cheese, and the most amazing avocado sauce of your life?

A quinoa salad with southwest flavors

We love this one! The quinoa is heavily spiced with Southwest inspired flavors and the dressing is a blend of spicy green chiles, avocado, cilantro, and sour cream. Oh yes.

We made this quinoa super flavorful by cooking the quinoa with toasted spices, so it absorbs the flavor of the spices while it cooks.

The veggies are kept fresh and crunchy, and then everything gets tossed with the dressing. YUM!

Have you tried our protein-packed grapefruit quinoa salad?

Like a vegetarian taco bowl

This is really one awesome salad. That’s not red quinoa up there! That’s white quinoa cooked in Southwest spices. Red New Mexico chile powder and cumin create a super spiced protein in the quinoa. We were trying to mimic that heavily spiced ground taco beef that’s normally in taco salads, but you know, vegetarian.

Quinoa taco meat. It works.

This quinoa, although too heavily spiced on it’s own, totally rocks mixed with all the other goodness going on.

The spicy avocado dressing

The star of the show here really is the dressing. It’s gotta have green chiles to be a true Southwest salad, so we blended those with avocado, sour cream, and lime juice. You just blend it all together, thin with some water, season to taste with salt and pepper. Quick, easy, delicious.

How to make it

• Get your quinoa going: Toast the spices in a saucepan and then add the water and quinoa. Stir together, bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until nice and fluffy.
• Make the dressing: You’re going to want a food processor or blender for this. All you do is add your ingredients and puree until smooth. Season to taste with some s&p. MAGIC.
• Toss it all together with the veggies.
• Enjoy.

Southwest quinoa salad recipe

5 from 5 votes

Print

Southwest quinoa salad with avocado dressing

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

30 mins

 

This vegetarian southwest quinoa salad is super simple and delicious. Mexican spiced quinoa with veggies, cotija cheese, and a spicy avocado dressing. YUM!

Course: entree, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: American, Mexican

Keyword: vegetarian

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 323 kcal

Author: Trish Bozeman

Ingredients

FOR THE QUINOA

• 1 Tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
• 1 Tbsp New Mexico chile powder or other chile powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup dry quinoa

FOR THE AVOCADO DRESSING

• 1 large avocado, pitted and peeled
• 1 Tbsp sour cream
• 2 Tbsp canned green chiles
• 2 medium limes, juiced
• 1/3 cup water
• salt and pepper

FOR THE SALAD

• 2 ears corn, kernels removed from the cob
• 1/2 can black beans, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cop chopped green onion
• 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese
• 1 large handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 slices fresh lime for serving (optional)

Instructions

FOR THE QUINOA

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the 1 Tbsp chile powder and 1/2 tsp cumin, and toast until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add 1 cup water and the 1/2 cup of dry quinoa. Stir and increase heat to high. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and set aside.

FOR THE AVOCADO DRESSING

1. Meanwhile, combine the avocado, 1 Tbsp of sour cream, 2 Tbsp of green chiles, the lime juice from both limes, and ⅓ cup water in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste and blend in.

FOR THE SALAD

1. In a large serving bowl, combine quinoa, corn, beans, bell pepper, green onion, cheese, cilantro, and tomatoes. Toss with dressing and season with salt and pepper to taste.

2. Serve with lime slices to squeeze onto salad. (optional)

Nutrition Facts

Southwest quinoa salad with avocado dressing

Amount Per Serving

Calories 323 Calories from Fat 153

% Daily Value*

Fat 17g26%

Saturated Fat 5g25%

Cholesterol 18mg6%

Sodium 493mg21%

Potassium 739mg21%

Carbohydrates 35g12%

Fiber 10g40%

Sugar 3g3%

Protein 11g22%

Vitamin A 1040IU21%

Vitamin C 78.6mg95%

Calcium 147mg15%

Iron 3.4mg19%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

If you make this recipe, please let me know on social media or in the comments below! Leave a star rating in your comment or tag me on Instagram with #Rhubarbarians.

Thank you so much for reading and supporting Rhubarbarians and the brands that I recommend. If you’re looking for a group of people cooking vegetarian recipes through the seasons, join us on Facebook in our vegetarian and vegan recipes group!

Hope you enjoy this veggie loaded salad!

Trish

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