A tasty, nutrient-dense dinner, this quinoa avocado salad is spiced with cumin and lime juice.
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup water
- ⅓ cup red quinoa
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup diced cucumber
- ¼ cup diced red onion
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin seed
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves
- 1 avocado – peeled, pitted and sliced
Instructions
- Bring water and quinoa to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender and water is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Spread into a medium bowl and refrigerate until cold, about 30 minutes.
- Stir tomatoes, cucumber, and onion into cooled quinoa in the bowl. Season with lime juice, cumin, salt, and pepper; stir to combine.
- Divide spinach leaves onto 2 plates and top with quinoa salad. Garnish with avocado to serve.
- Rinse quinoa thoroughly before cooking to remove the bitter coating.
- You can use regular quinoa instead of red quinoa (they taste the same).
- You can find quinoa in the organic or bulk food sections of most grocery stores.
Reviews
Adding my 2 cents to this excellent recipe. Not a fan of cucumbers or cumin so omitted those but did not miss. Versatile recipe that could be customized to taste. Served with Honey Garlic Shrimp and used the sautéed butter as a ‘dressing’. No wonder it was delish!
Awesome recipe. Added a little shredded Mexican cheese over the quinoa salad and served on mixed greens.
Delicious and easy.
Will definitley make this again. Different taste for us and we both liked it a lot I had Tr-Color Quiona–didn’t matter. May add to it next time (we like a lot of different veggies)
Wouldn’t mess with the recipe at all! It’s perfect and one of my favorite dishes I’ve made so far!!
added lemon juice and rice vinegar, red pepper, shallot, fresh cilantro left out the cumin might add pine nuts or walnuts next time. delicious
We love this! I am not a fan of cucumber tho so I sub in a fresh jalapeño instead. Thanks for posting!
So good!
Toasted the quinoa for 5 minutes. Added chopped spinach and olive oil and a bit more cumin. Got rave reviews at holiday party potluck.
Lime juice and cumin make it amazing, with all combos of vegetables
First time making quinoa and I enjoy it. I will be experimenting on my own versions of other people’s inspiring recipes!
So fresh, healthy and flavorful. I added feta
Had to add olive oil to cut the lime, otherwise great!
Didn’t use Avacado, added 1 cup canned chickpeas instead. Used cayenne pepper as I didn’t have cumin seeds. So good.
I made small adjustments..I used regular quinoa, onions instead of red onions and lettuce – basic what I had in my fridge. It was really good! Next time, I’ll follow the recipe to compare with my version of it!
thumbs up all the way
This is delicious, and atkins friendly I believe. I didn’t use as much onion and tomato and that cuts the carbs down. Also on the atkins 40 you can have quinoa. I love having something yummy and healthy
Made this as directed and it is delicious. The lime juice and cumin do not overpower the nutty taste of the quinoa plus the cool cucumber and tomatoes, crunchy red onion and creamy avocado all combine beautifully. Other recipes that I have made using quinoa have heavy dressings that make it soggy but that is not the case here. Quinoa stays light and fluffy.
This is an easy, delicious, and very refreshing salad. I added half of a minced jalapeño to the dressing, which worked well. The recipe says it makes two servings, but it’s more like one serving if you’re eating it as an entree. You can probably reduce the amount of avocado, too. This would be a spectacular lunch or dinner for those summer days when it’s too hot to think.
Love this salad. It’s quick and easy to make. I also like to add feta cheese and crushed walnuts for a crunch. So yummy.
Like some of the other posters, I added a few things, but only because I had them. I thought the salad was exceptionally good. I added carrots, radishes and when I served it, I crumbled a little bacon on top, which I had on hand. Hubby loved it.