Latin Inspired Quinoa Salad

Quinoa, kidney beans, red onion, serrano pepper, avocado, cotija cheese, cilantro, & lime - all delicious ingredients you'd find in Latin dishes especially Mexican ones.

This vegetarian recipe is a perfect mix of refreshing and spicy. You can make yourself this salad when you're not too hungry but need something nourishing to fill you up.

You have all of the protein & fiber you need in one bowl. It also makes for a great BBQ salad and a meal-preppable salad for school or work! So, let me show you how to make it!

Yields: 1-4 (you could serve this for multiple people or it could be a meal prepped salad for several days)

Prep time: 20 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

This recipe is gluten free and vegetarian. It can easily be made dairy free/vegan if you opt out of the cotija cheese.

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Ingredients:

Quinoa:

1 cup of white quinoa

¼ TSP turmeric

Black pepper to taste

½ tsp salt

1 ¾ - 2 cups of boiled water

Rest of salad:

1 can of red kidney beans, drained & washed

1 can of white kidney beans, drained & washed

3 mini bell peppers or ½ bell pepper (any color) finely diced

1 Serrano pepper finely diced

½ red onion finely diced

½ avocado finely chopped

¼ cup fresh cilantro finely chopped

2 limes

4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp salt

Cotija cheese to garnish

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Instructions:

1. First, grab a 1 cup of white quinoa and thoroughly rinse it.

2. Then, grab a small saucepan and place it on the stove top. Add the quinoa in and pour in your already boiled water. 1 3/4 -2 cups of water per 1 cup of quinoa.

3. Season the quinoa with turmeric, black pepper, and salt. Mix, reduce the heat to medium heat, cover the pot with a lid.

4. The quinoa will be done once all of the water has been soaked up.

5. Turn the stove off, keep the lid on the pot, and allow the quinoa to cool for about 5-10 minutes. This way it fluffs a bit.

6. While you are waiting for the quinoa to cook/cool, grab a large serving bowl.

Prepare ingredients 1-7 under "rest of salad". Add them into the bowl.

7. When the quinoa is finally cooled down, scoop in ¾ of the cooked quinoa into the serving bowl and save the rest. Mix all the ingredients together.

8. Let's make the dressing: in a small bowl pour in 4 TBSPs of olive oil, the ½ TSP salt, and juice of 2 limes. Mix and pour onto the salad. Mix the salad well and serve! Garnish with cotija cheese if you'd like. Enjoy!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I did, so if you do, please leave me a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I always read through my suggestions and comments, so please let me know your thoughts. If you have any questions you can feel free to DM me here or through Instagram. Speaking of Instagram - please tag me in all of your creations! I love seeing how the recipes come out and seeing how talented you all are. Sending my love.

xoxo,

Jasmin D the RD