Southwest Vegetable Quinoa Salad is a light and refreshing vegetarian salad perfectly paired as a side dish with grilled meat, or served on it’s own for a healthy and filling lunch recipe!

Southwest Vegetable Quinoa Salad

This Southwest Vegetable Quinoa Salad is full of crisp tomatoes, onions, green chilies and fresh sweet corn along with creamy avocados for lots of great flavor and texture. This easy vegetarian side dish is dressed in a light Cilantro Lemon Vinaigrette which really brings a brightness to the dish. If you swap the honey out for sugar in the dressing, it is a vegan, dairy free and gluten free recipe that is sure to cover all of your bases at your next party!

I love how versatile this Southwest Vegetable Quinoa Salad is. It pairs amazingly well with a grilled steak or chicken breast, or it can hold it’s own as a satisfying lunch option. The best part of this dish is that it can be made well in advance and the flavors will only get better with time. No need to be slaving in the kitchen before you are heading out to the picnic. Make this ahead of time and you are good to go!

I added green chilies into the salad for a little bit of a zip. If you love spice, jalapenos would be an even better option! I even made it with some chopped up roasted poblano peppers I had leftover once and it was fantastic! you can certainly leave out the peppers all together if you are looking for a bit tamer dish. Regardless, this Southwest Vegetable Quinoa Salad is a healthy recipe that is sure to make it into your rotation!

Don’t forget to make your quinoa in the Instant Pot to make life even easier! The Instant Pot truly makes some of the best quinoa ever. It comes out light and fluffy with a great toasty flavor and it’s about impossible to screw up. I love when you can set and forget an ingredient like that in an already easy recipe, for a great time saver.

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5 from 6 votes

Southwest Vegetable Quinoa Salad

Southwest Vegetable Quinoa Salad is a light and refreshing vegetarian salad perfectly paired as a side dish with grilled meat, or served on it's own for a healthy and filling lunch recipe!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Servings: 6 cups

Author: Danielle Green

Ingredients

• 2 c. cooked quinoa
• 2 c. cherry tomatoes halved
• 2 avocados chopped
• 2 cobs of corn cut off the cob
• 1/3 c. finely diced red onion
• 1 can chopped green chilies
• 3/4 c. cilantro lemon vinaigrette
• pinch of salt

Instructions

• Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl and store refrigerated up to one week. Serve chilled.
• You may need to add additional vinaigrette as it sits for a little extra moisture.
• *To make this vegan, swap the honey for sugar in the vinaigrette recipe.

Nutrition

Serving: 1grams

More healthy quinoa salad recipes!

Fruit & Quinoa Salad with Citrus Poppy Seed Dressing