Summertime Quinoa Salads!

Hi everyone!! The boys and I are in Chicago this week enjoying a fun little event I’ll tell you all about when I get home! We are having a GREAT time in the Windy City!

While I’m away, since Summer is HERE, I thought I’d share 2 of my FAVORITE quinoa salad recipes that are perfect for all of those family parties going on in the summer. These salads are chilled and full of great flavor. Take a look….hope you enjoy!

This is the Chipotle Lime White Bean and Corn Quinoa Salad…..I LOVE this one 🙂

It’s got some chipotles and adobe sauce in the dressing, so it’s a tad bit spicy…YUM!

Here’s the Feta Mandarin Asian Quinoa Salad. LOVE it, seriously takes 5 minutes to put together!

[ziplist]

Feta Mandarin Asian Quinoa

1 Cup uncooked quinoa

1/4 Cup “Feast from the East” Sesame Dressing from Costco (this is such a great dressing)

1/4 Cup green onions, chopped (the green parts)

1/2 Cup crumbled feta cheese

1/2 Cup red bell pepper, chopped

1/4 Cup fresh chopped cilantro leaves

1. Prepare quinoa according to package directions. Transfer to a large bowl. Mix in dressing, onions, feta, peppers and cilantro. Cover and chill until serving.

8-10 servings

_____________________

Chipotle Lime White Bean and Corn Quinoa

1 Cup uncooked quinoa

3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt with parsley

1 teaspoon adobe sauce (from can of chipotle peppers)

1 can yellow corn, drained

1 can white beans, drain and rinsed

1/2 Cup fresh chopped cilantro leaves, chopped

2 chipotle peppers, chopped

1/2 Cup red bell pepper, chopped

1/4 Cup green onions, chopped (the green parts)

1. Prepare quinoa according to package directions. In a small bowl whisk the lime juice, olive oil, salt, parsley and adobo sauce. Pour into quinoa and mix in corn, beans, cilantro, chipotle peppers, red bell pepper and green onions. Cover and chill until serving.

8-10 servings

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Have a great rest of your week and weekend! See you soon 🙂

 

Two bowls of cold quinoa salads.

Feta Mandarin Asian Quinoa/Chipotle Lime White Bean and Corn Quinoa

If you're a fan of light lunches, check out these Quinoa Salads! They're full of sweet, savory, and/or spicy flavors - just pick your favorite and dig in!
Course: Lunch, Salad
Cuisine: American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings: 16
Calories: 139kcal
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Ingredients

Feta Mandarin Asian Quinoa:

  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • ¼ cup "Feast from the East" Sesame Dressing from Costco (this is such a great dressing)
  • ¼ cup green onions chopped (the green parts)
  • ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
  • ½ cup red bell pepper chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro leaves

Chipotle Lime White Bean and Corn Quinoa:

  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic salt with parsley
  • 1 teaspoon adobe sauce (from can of chipotle peppers)
  • 1 can yellow corn drained
  • 1 can white beans drained and rinsed
  • ½ cup fresh chopped cilantro leaves chopped
  • 2 chipotle peppers chopped
  • ½ cup red bell pepper chopped
  • ¼ cup green onions chopped (the green parts)

Instructions

Feta Mandarin Asian Quinoa:

  • Prepare quinoa according to package directions. Transfer to a large bowl. Mix in dressing, onions, feta, peppers and cilantro. Cover and chill until serving.

Chipotle Lime White Bean and Corn Quinoa:

  • Prepare quinoa according to package directions. In a small bowl whisk the lime juice, olive oil, salt, parsley and adobo sauce. Pour into quinoa and mix in corn, beans, cilantro, chipotle peppers, red bell pepper and green onions. Cover and chill until serving.

Notes

Each recipe makes 8-10 servings (that's why it says 16 servings above). 

Nutrition

Calories: 139kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 168mg | Potassium: 165mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 399IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 1mg
Keywords: asian quinoa salad, cold quinoa salad, quinoa salad recipes, summer quinoa salad

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27 Responses
  1. Marsha Eibert

    I was introduced to quinoa in Bolivia a number of years ago when I was visiting my sister who lived in LaPaz at the time. It’s a great grain, and I love finding new ways to use it. Your Asian salad looks great, but I didn’t see Mandarin oranges in the list of ingredients. I’m guessing you stir in 1 can, drained, but was hoping for your comments to verify. Thanks for sharing your recipes and ideas.

  2. Kim (Liv Life)

    Quinoa has become one of our new favorite grains! Can’t wait to try the Chipotle Lime Salad. Thanks for the post!

  3. Jen @ How To: Simplify

    This salad is perfect to have during these warm summer months. I would love to have one for dinner tonight!

  4. Cookin' Canuck

    Very fresh and pretty summer salad. I always love to hear about new ways to use quinoa.

  5. Fuji Mama

    LOVE quinoa salads. I love how they are so light, yet grab onto flavors so well! These look FAB!

  6. holly

    Can you share where you bought your quinoa? They don’t sell it at any of my local stores. I’ll pick some up on my trip to CA next week.
    Thanks!!!

  7. Nury

    Wow! these recipes are awesome! I was recently talking to my husband about Quinoa and asking him what it was? since I have never tried it before, -but nor has he! so he didn’t know what to tell me. We want to try it though, we love trying new foods, -exotic ones mostly- I know we will love it because we recently tried millet, a new addition to our diet and we found the flavor just lovely, which I am sure will be the case with Quinoa 🙂

    Thanks for the recipes!

  8. marla {family fresh cooking}

    Jenny, these are my kind of salads. Love ’em both…..it would be tough to decide on just one. Perfect for Summer. xo

  9. Jessica @ How Sweet It Is

    Both of those sound incredible! I love quinoa salads – now I need to try these!

  10. Beth

    Woo Chicago! Are they still buzzing from their Stanley Cup victory?! I sure hope so! They deserved it!

  11. Andrea

    Oooh-thanks! I have made the Sesame Mandarin Quinoa salad you posted in January many, many times now (and just passes the recipe on to the umpteenth person on Monday!)

    Have fun in Chicago! I live just over an hour west of there. Great city!

  12. Sues

    Oh, yum!! I’ve been on a super huge quinoa salad kick! This one looks delicious and I love your little serving pots 🙂

  13. the country cook @ Delightful Country Cookin'

    These look excellent! I look forward to trying them – I’ve only ever made hot quinoa dishes, and I’m thinking it’s time to branch out.

  14. Diane Jarvis

    These look great! I am always looking for a good cold summer salad and these are perfect. Do you think that any asian/sesame type of dressing will work if we don’t have the Costco stuff? Thank you!

  15. Stephanie

    I love quinoa and will have to try these recipes! I have always eaten it plain! This is great ! Thanks 🙂
    Stephanie

  16. Jessica Kuntz

    I just was on the lookout for quinoa and some good recipes, so this is perfect! I can’t wait to find some and try these salads. Thanks for all the unbeleivable recipes . . . I love them all!!

  17. DomestiChick

    I am a huge quinoa fan. Just made a breakfast style quinoa with nuts and dried fruit this week that I loved. I’ll have to try these salads! (To balance out your ice-cream themed treats lol.)

  18. Debbi Does Dinner Healthy

    These look fantastic! i love quinoa, I just posted a salad on my blog a few days ago too! Thanks for some new great ideas!

  19. Niki

    Oh yay! I hope you’re having a great time in my home city!!! I love Chicago and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else ever again! There is seriously a new place to go everyday!

  20. Kim in MD

    These both look amazing! I don’t eat quinoa as often as I should. These will definately inspire me to eat it more often!:-)

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