This cold Vegan Quinoa Salad is going to quickly become one of your favorite go-to lunch preps! It’s quick, filling, and packed with plant-based nutrition that will leave you feeling satisfied and healthy. All you need is 7 ingredients, plus a homemade spicy dressing!
Key Components of a Good, Hearty Salad
We wanted to share a new salad on the blog that was hearty enough to enjoy as a complete meal or main dish, yet simple enough to throw together on a Sunday night for easy vegan meal prep or a quick weeknight dinner.
When building a hearty salad, you always want to include plant-based protein, fresh vegetables, carbs, healthy fats, and a delicious dressing to tie it all together. Quinoa alone is a complete protein and contains all of the essential amino acids. It’s a hearty superfood that is a great base for any vegan salad!
Quinoa: Either white quinoa, red quinoa, or tricolor quinoa will work well here. Each type of quinoa is similar in nutritional information and is high in protein.
Red bell pepper: Use store-bought roasted red peppers or homemade roasted red bell peppers. If you’d like to make roasted peppers from scratch, try this simple roasted red peppers recipe, or use our method from our Roasted Red Pepper pasta!
Corn: Roasted corn kernels will add additional flavor, but you can use fresh or frozen corn in a pinch, too! Learn How to Grill Corn in the Husk for ultimate flavor!
Herbs: We love using fresh parsley or fresh cilantro. Choose your favorite, or switch it up and use another fresh herb of choice.
Beans: Red kidney beans are creamy, high in protein, and absolutely delicious in cold salads. Black beans or chickpeas would be another great choice.
Vegan feta cheese: Adds tangy, creaminess to the salad that ties all the flavors together. We love making homemade vegan feta cheese, but you can also find it from vegan brands such as Violife, Follow Your Heart, or Trader Joe’s.
Dressing: We made a homemade dressing made with hot sauce and acidic flavors like red wine vinegar and lime juice. It’s simple to make and perfectly ties the flavor combinations in this vegan quinoa salad together.
Grain variations: Quinoa is quick cooking and naturally high in protein, but if you’d like to swap the quinoa for another grain, farro, couscous, or bulgur wheat are great plant-based alternatives.
Use your favorite fresh veggies: If you love spice, swap the roasted red peppers for a mild pepper, such as roasted poblanos or Anaheim peppers. You can also use any other flavorful, crunchy vegetable, such as fresh cucumber, diced zucchini, diced Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, or diced sweet potatoes.
Add leafy greens: If you want to make this salad more traditional, you can serve it on a bed of your favorite greens such as fresh spinach, kale, or arugula. You can even add finely cut fresh green or red cabbage for a hearty crunch!
Cook the quinoa. Rinse the uncooked quinoa in a fine sieve until the water runs clear. Transfer to a pot and add either 2 cups of water or vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer until all water is absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for another 10 minutes before uncovering and fluffing with a fork.
Prepare the dressing. In a small bowl or glass jar, whisk the olive oil, lime juice, red wine vinegar, agave, hot sauce, garlic, salt and black pepper together.
Toss together the salad ingredients. Place the cooled, fluffy quinoa, diced red peppers, red onion, corn, fresh herbs, kidney beans, and feta cheese in a large bowl. Drizzle with the dressing and toss until uniform.
Season and serve. Adjust the seasonings to taste, then serve the vegan quinoa salad immediately or refrigerate until ready to enjoy!
Leftover quinoa salad will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Freezing is not recommended.
This salad is meant to be enjoyed at room temperature or chilled, however, if you prefer to eat your salad lightly warmed, we’d recommend storing the additional salad ingredients and dressing separate from the quinoa. Warm the quinoa in the microwave with 1 tablespoon water to fluff up again, then toss the quinoa salad ingredients with the warm quinoa.
This cold Vegan Quinoa Salad is going to quickly become one of your favorite go-to lunch preps! It’s quick, filling, and packed with plant-based nutrition that will leave you feeling satisfied and healthy. All you need is 7 ingredients, plus a homemade spicy dressing!
Ingredients
Dressing
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Juice from 1 lime
â…“ cup red wine vinegarÂ
½ tablespoon agaveÂ
2 tablespoons Hot Sauce
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of black pepper
Remaining Salad
1 cup dry quinoa
2 cups water
6 oz roasted red peppers, dicedÂ
½ red onion, finely diced
1 cup roasted corn kernels
1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro or parsley
1 can (15 ounces) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Rinse quinoa in a fine sieve until water runs clear. Drain, transfer to a pot with your liquid of choice, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to a simmer until water is absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat for 10 minutes, then uncover and fluff with a fork. Set aside to cool.
Add all of the ingredients for the dressing into a small bowl or jar and mix until uniform.
To a large bowl, add the quinoa and all of the remaining ingredients, as well as all of the dressing. Toss until uniform. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.Â
Disclaimer: This page may contain affiliate links, which simply means that we earn a commission if you purchase through those links, but your price remains the same. Thank you for supporting Sweet Simple Vegan!
Omg this was so flavorful! I am training for a spartan race next week and saw this pop up and immediately said to myself I must make the quinoa recipe! I love how quick and simple it is as I am pressed for time on weekends. Looking over it I realized I forgot the agave and didn’t have red onion but subbed a yellow onion and since I am kind of a spice wuss only added 1 Tbsp of hot sauce (have 2 bottles of cholula so yeah used that) anyways I can’t wait to eat this all week at work! Plan to make the pasta later!
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Omg this was so flavorful! I am training for a spartan race next week and saw this pop up and immediately said to myself I must make the quinoa recipe! I love how quick and simple it is as I am pressed for time on weekends. Looking over it I realized I forgot the agave and didn’t have red onion but subbed a yellow onion and since I am kind of a spice wuss only added 1 Tbsp of hot sauce (have 2 bottles of cholula so yeah used that) anyways I can’t wait to eat this all week at work! Plan to make the pasta later!
★★★★★
I used Cholula too and came here to say it was a fantastic substitute! So glad I tried this recipe.
★★★★★