Healthy, vegan and perfect for summer, this vibrant quinoa salad is loaded with cherry tomatoes, soft buttery avocado chunks, sweet corn and tossed with simple homemade lemon basil vinaigrette.
Absolutely in love with this easy, summer-screaming, picnic style quinoa salad for so many reasons. Its basically what I eat when I want to eat something clean and healthy, specially after a (home) workout. Also ideally perfect to prepare for meatless Monday dinner or lunch. Quick, easy and loaded with so much freshness, I think I have the answer to how to make quinoa interesting...
This avocado tomato quinoa salad is so vibrant and colorful, that makes it so pretty, certainly something to take to house parties (pot luck) or carry to outdoor barbecue grill brunches when serving a large crowd.
The best part about this summer quinoa salad? (Apart from the fact that its vegan, gluten free and dairy free) => The homemade basil and lemon vinaigrette that makes it so special.
I had been shying away from eating raw foods and leafy things since the past 3 months, but with MAJOR lifestyle shift to clean and healthy eating, I had to fit yummy salads in my diet. I braved and finally made the pesto-like homemade basil vinaigrette with just five basic ingredients and that really elevated the salad, making it extra flavorful.
How to make vegan lemon basil vinaigrette?
Ingredients for homemade basil vinaigrette salad dressing
- Fresh basil leaves: Roughly 2 cups of fresh basil leaves - washed, cleaned and dried.
- Garlic: Just about 1 medium sized clove or roughly 1/2 tbsp
- Olive Oil: For thinning the basil pesto/ vinaigrette - about 1/4 cup
- Seasoning => Salt & Chilli Flakes: Salt + 1 tsp of chilli flakes for added spicy flavour
- Maple Syrup: 2 tsp for some sweetness - you can use honey or sugar as well.
- Lemon Juice: Citrus addition for the tanginess and that extra punch for your salad making this recipe so zesty. About 2 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Method to make vegan basil vinaigrette salad dressing
Simply add all ingredients to a blender/ grinder or food processor and blitz until a smooth vinaigrette is ready. This is probably the first time I'v made basil vinaigrette without parmesan or any cheese, but trust me, its so good and fresh. Pour into a glass bowl to be mixed with the cherry tomato, corn and avocado Quinoa salad.
So the dressing is ready, lets talk about the salad now. You guys, this cherry tomato and corn mixture - is a salad on its own!! Just add some olive oil, salt and pepper and throw a bunch of some freshly chopped basil leaves, you have a delicious corn and cherry tomato salad ready. So SO good and look how pretty.....
How to make Sweet Corn, Cherry Tomato, Avocado Quinoa Salad?
To prepare the quinoa salad, simply bring all your ingredients together:
- cooked and cooled down quinoa
- refrigerated and made ahead lemon basil vinaigrette
- halved cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes)
- thawed and lightly boiled, cooled down sweet corn or fresh corn direct from the cob
- chunks of avocados (diced or cubed)
All you've got to do? Add everything to a large mixing bowl. Mix and refrigerate, but pause & take a deep breath and praise yourself for creating this, not-so-boring summer quinoa salad that has so much flavor and so much texture- ALL IN ONE.
There you go, you made a yummy quinoa summer salad. Hope this makes you love quinoa more like I do now. I've added this refreshing quinoa salad bowl recipe to my diet for post workout meals. Plus its so zesty, that I even enjoy it for breakfasts to kickstart my morning with an energetic low-calorie meal with a large glass of iced coffee. Just kidding, I mean DALGONA- (no compromises here)
Possible variations/ additions?
- highly recommend roasted almonds, just like I did in this yummy and fresh arugula chickpea salad
- or just any nuts or seeds to add crunchy nutty texture to the salad
- candied walnuts - adapted by my recipe for roasted beetroot and rocket leave salad with goats cheese
- highly recommend replacing corn with grilled corn and adding beans.
- feta or parmesan cheese - this recipe is naturally vegan, but adding cheese would non-veganise it, still making this vegetarian
- grilled or oven roasted peppers and broccoli
- oven baked crunchy tofu? yes, please pretty please!!!!
- what to do if you dont like quinoa? Replace it with couscous for this summer salad recipe.
What to serve with quinoa salad?
Homemade soft dinner rolls or these yummy garlic bread sticks - YES PLEASE.
More salad recipes to try:
- Mango Avocado Summer Pasta SaladArugula Chickpea Salad
- Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad
- Thai noodle (Asian) salad with peanut sauce dressing
- Grilled Corn and Beans Feta Salad
- Refreshing Quinoa Salad with Pomegranate and Corn or click here for ALL SALAD RECIPES.
Sweet Corn, Cherry Tomato, Avocado Quinoa Salad
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Salads
- Method: Salads
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Healthy, vegan and perfect for summer, this vibrant quinoa salad is loaded with cherry tomatoes, soft buttery avocado chunks, sweet corn and tossed with simple homemade lemon basil vinaigrette.
Ingredients
For the Sweet Corn, Cherry Tomato, Avocado Quinoa Salad
- 1 cup quinoa (see note 1)
- 1 cup corn (see note 2)
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes or chopped up regular tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped basil leaves or spinach or kale - any kind of leafy stuff
- 2 avocados (diced or cubed)
For the lemon basil vinaigrette dressing
- 1 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1 clove of garlic or 1/2 tbsp
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- 2 tsp maple syrup (see note 3)
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa as per package instructions - let cool and refrigerate for upto 1 hour.
- Cut the cherry or grape tomatoes in halves, mix with corn and keep aside.
- Prepare the basil lemon vinaigrette by blending/ grinding all dressing ingredients - or add them to a food processor. Adjust the seasoning and transfer to a bowl to be poured over the salad.
- In a large mixing bowl, add cooled, fluffed up quinoa, cherry tomatoes, avocados, corn and pour 3/4th of the dressing. Give it a toss. Add more dressing if needed. Refrigerate the salad for about 1-2 hours before eating or serving cold.
Notes
Note 1: How to cook Quinoa? => I washed and rinsed quinoa, then added it to a saucepan with 1 1/2 cup of boiling water. Let that come to a boil with quinoa. Simmer, cover and let cook for 20 mins. Then fluff up with a fork and let that cool down to room temp. Finally, transfer the cooled down quinoa to refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the salad and the dressing.
Note 2: Corn => I used frozen corn for this recipe. Simply measured 2 cups and transferred it to a large glass bowl, added water completely covering the corn kernels. Then microwaved for about 3-4 minutes. Drain the water and use the corn for the recipe. You can of course use fresh corn for this - direct from the cob.
Note 3: Maple Syrup => Can be easily replaced with honey, jaggery or sugar - basically simply added for some sweetness in the lemon basil vinaigrette dressing.
Keywords: vegan, vegetarian, quinoa, salad, lemon, basil, pesto, healthy, gluten-free, avocados, tomatoes, corn
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