Southwestern Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Cilantro

Luckily this Southwestern Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Cilantro is loaded with healthful ingredients, because it was hard to stop eating it! Use more thinly sliced green onion if you’re not a cilantro fan. And if you’re cooking for people who might be suspicious of quinoa, I promise everyone will love this salad. Use the Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.

Click here to PIN Southwestern Quinoa Salad!

Lots of people are becoming fond of the South American seed product called quinoa (keen-wah). I knew quinoa had become mainstream when I noticed you could buy a giant bag of it at Costco, and although I resisted for a week or two, eventually I bought one of those huge bags and stored it in the freezer. I’ve made a lot of tasty things with my big bag of quinoa, but this Southwestern Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Cilantro is probably my favorite quinoa dish so far.

Besides the cumin-lime-chile flavors in the dressing, I loved this because the crunch of the red pepper, the softness of the beans, and the slight chewiness of the quinoa was such a nice combination of textures.  The salad stayed good in the fridge for days, so it would be perfect to make on the weekend and take for lunch during the week.  And if you haven’t tried quinoa yet, this may be the recipe that will turn you into a quinoa fan.

Of course this lovely salad with quinoa is my meatless offering for this week’s Meatless Monday post, and since it’s one of the world’s healthiest foods, quinoa is perfect for anyone who’s a health-conscious eater.  My quinoa salad is adapted from Santa Fe Quinoa Salad at Food and Wine, but I switched out the ingredients a bit and added a lot more seasonings to the dressing.

Check the label to see if your quinoa has to be rinsed and rinse if needed,  Then combine the quinoa and water with a little salt and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Fluff the quinoa with a fork and let it cool while you prep other ingredients. Drain one can of black beans into a colander, rinse until no more foam appears, and let them drain until they are dry. Chop up a red bell pepper into small pieces (about the same size as the black beans.) Stir together the lime juice, Spike seasoning, ground cumin, ground Ancho chile pepper, and black pepper and then whisk in the olive oil to make the dressing.

Thinly slice the green onions. Wash, dry, and chop the cilantro. When the quinoa is fairly cool, stir together the quinoa, diced red pepper, black beans, and sliced green onions so they are well combined. Then stir in enough of the dressing so all the ingredients are moistened. (Save any extra dressing to add after the salad has been refrigerated.) Gently stir in the chopped cilantro and serve.

Make it a Meal:  This salad would make a lovely side dish for something like Quick and Easy Spicy Broiled Shrimp or Cuban Flank Steak.

More Tasty Ideas with Quinoa:

Quinoa Salad with Avocado, Radishes, Cucumbers, and Cumin-Lime Vinaigrette from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Stuffed Tomatoes with Quinoa, Soft Tofu, Basil, and Shallots from White on Rice Couple
Quinoa Side Dish with Pine Nuts, Green Onions, and Cilantro from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Black Bean and Quinoa Salad Stuffed Peppers from Everyday Southwest
Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad with Parsley and Mint from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep  to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

Print Recipe

Southwestern Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Cilantro

Yield: 4-6 servings

Total Time: 35 minutes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Southwestern Quinoa Salad is meatless and loaded with healthful ingredients.

Ingredients:

Salad Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup quinoa (rinsed if needed, check the package)
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped into small dice
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Dressing Ingredients:

• 2 T fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1 tsp. Spike Seasoning (optional but highly recommended)
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground Ancho chile pepper (or use regular chile powder if you don’t have Ancho)
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Check the quinoa package to see if it needs to be rinsed (it often does) and rinse in a fine-mesh strainer if needed.
2. Combine quinoa, water, and salt and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed.
3. Fluff quinoa with a fork and let it cool while you prep other ingredients.
4. Drain the beans into a colander placed in the sink and rinse well with cold water, until no more foam appears.
5. Let beans drain until they are quite dry (or pat dry with paper towels if you want to speed it up.)
6. Cut out the stem and remove seeds from the red bell pepper and cut into very small dice (about the size of the black beans.)
7. Slice the green onions into thin slices and wash, dry, and chop the cilantro.
8. When the quinoa is fairly cool, combine quinoa, black beans, diced red bell pepper, and sliced green onion in a bowl.
9. Add enough dressing to moisten all the ingredients.  (You probably won’t need all the dressing, but save the extra to stir into any leftover salad that’s been in the fridge.)
10. Gently stir in the chopped cilantro and serve.
11. This keeps very well in the fridge for several days.
12. The salad absorbs the dressing when it’s refrigerated, so it’s best with a little more dressing stirred in when you’re eating the leftover salad.

This recipe adapted from Santa Fe Quinoa Salad at Food and Wine.

All images and text ©Kalyn Denny for Kalyn's Kitchen.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Even though quinoa is a seed and it’s a low-glycemic ingredient, this Southwestern Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Cilantro would be limited to phase 2 or 3 for the South Beach Diet and is probably too high in carbs for traditional low-carb diet plans.  But quinoa is gluten-free, vegan, low-fat, and high in protein, fiber, and nutrients, and in this salad it’s combined with other low-carb ingredients.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

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