This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy
Mexican Quinoa Salad is a healthy, easy recipe with quinoa, black beans, corn, avocado, and a cilantro lime dressing. Perfect for meal prep, side dish, or bring to a potluck!
Fresh, colorful, and packed with bold flavor, Mexican Quinoa Salad is a delicious way to enjoy a healthy, satisfying meal. Fluffy quinoa is tossed with black beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado, and a cilantro lime vinaigrette dressing.
This salad is perfect for meal prep, easy lunches, or serving as a side at gatherings. It’s loaded with texture and fresh ingredients, and it comes together quickly with simple pantry staples. It is great on its own, you can add more protein to it, and it goes with just about anything!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post for the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card.
- Quinoa – you can use red or white quinoa
- Chicken Broth – I cook quinoa in broth to give it more flavor, but you can just use water as well
- Black Beans – drain and rinse a can of black beans
- Corn – I use frozen corn, but if you use canned, just drain it first
- Tomatoes
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Jalapeno
- Cilantro Lime Dressing – I cut my Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette dressing in half for this recipe and it works really well to bring the flavors together. The recipe is in the recipe card below.
This quinoa salad is super versatile and you really can mix up what vegetables you add!
Mexican Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 1/2 cup quinoa, uncooked
- 2 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
- 15 oz black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- 1/4 fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette
- 1/2 cup oil, vegetable or avocado oil is best
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice
- 2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 clove garlic, sliced
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Rinse quinoa under cold water until the water runs clear.
- Bring the chicken broth to a boil, and quinoa and cook as directed on the package. Once tender drain and rinse with cold water.2 1/2 cups Chicken Broth, 1 1/2 cup quinoa
- In a large bowl combine all the cooked quinoa with the tomatoes, black beans, corn, avocado, cilantro and jalapeno.15 oz black beans, 1 cup frozen corn, 1 avocado, 1 cup grape tomatoes, 1/4 fresh cilantro, 1 jalapeno
- In a food processor, pulse together all of the dressing ingredients, except for the oil. You might need to scrape down the sides a couple times. Once smooth, slowly stream in the oil to combine.1/2 cup oil, 1/4 cup cilantro, 2 Tablespoons lime juice, 2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar, 1 clove garlic, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Pour about half of the dressing over the quinoa salad and mix to combine. Taste and add more dressing if desired. You can serve immediately or store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How To Make Mexican Quinoa Salad
- Prep Quinoa. The first step is to rinse your quinoa. You want to run it under cold water until the water is clear. Quinoa can be kind of bitter if you skip this step. Bring the chicken broth to a boil, add the quinoa and cook as directed on the package. Once it is tender, drain and rinse with cold water.
- Make Dressing. To make the dressing pulse together all of the dressing ingredients, expect the oil in a food processor. Scrape down the sides if necessary. Slowly stream in the oil to completely emulsify and combine.
- Make Salad. Once the quinoa is cooked add to a large bowl. Top with black beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro and jalapeno. Pour over about half of the dressing and mix to combine.
- Taste. Taste and add more dressing if desired. You can serve immediately or store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Recipe Tips & Suggestions
- Mix-Ins. Get creative and add whatever veggies that you and your family enjoy. Bell peppers, zucchini, different beans, skip the corn…whatever you like works great.
- Make Ahead. This is a great dish to make ahead. It is delicious served cold. So you can make it in the morning and bring to a potluck or use as meal prep for the week.
- Add Protein. You can mix in grilled chicken to make this a high protein meal. Or serve alongside your favorite Grilled Pork Chops for an easy dinner.
- Dressing. I like the cilantro lime dressing with this, but Avocado Dressing is also really good. I have used that many times, I just thin it out with a little milk to make sure it can mix with the salad well.
Storage
This is great served cold, so you can make ahead and just store covered in the fridge until you are ready to serve. It will last for 2-3 days in the fridge.
This Southwest Quinoa Salad is loaded with flavor and a great way to get veggies into your family with flavors they know and love already!
Quinoa’s fun to play around with and I love the ingredients you tossed in there. Creamy avocado dressing makes me swoon! Yum!
Loving this Quinoa salad and the flavor profiles are making my mouth water! Delish!!
Love this! I still haven’t tried quinoa, I’m very behind the times. But I know will like it and I know I will love this. That avocado dressing… yum!
What a bright and flavorful salad! I can’t wait to try this dressing.
Ooh I want this now! Looks awesome – I’ve pinned it to make soon 🙂
This sounds so good and healthy too! I love mexican anything, but make it healthy and I’m totally on board!
This is perfect for my new obsession with quinoa. It looks great and is even better that you added avocado. You cannot go wrong with that.
Oh yummy! Definitely going to keep this in mind for our next cookout =)
What a seriously delicious salad! Hope you had a fantastic 4th!
This Mexican Quinoa Salad looks so yummy & colorful. This is a great recipe for quinoa. I never thought of pairing quinoa with avocado. Thanks.