Summer Quinoa Salad with Herbs
A refreshing, flavor packed salad that's great as a side or on its own!
Equipment
- 1 Medium Saucepan
- 1 Strainer (fine mesh) for rinsing quinoa prior to cooking
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Whisk
- Small bowl for mixing the dressing
- Large Salad Bowl
- Tongs or utensils for mixing salad ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 & 1/3 cup Quinoa
- 2 & 1/3 cups Water
- 1 Red Bell Pepper diced
- 1 English Cucumber diced
- 1 cup Grated and Shedded Carrot
- 2 Scallions finely chopped
- 1/4 cup Cilantro finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Mint finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Thai Basil (or sub regular basil) finely chopped
Dressing
- 1.5 tbsp Avocado oil or Olive Oil
- 2.5 tsp Red Boat Fish Sauce
- 2 tbsp Coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
Instructions
Quinoa
- Rinse quinoa throughly under cold water.
- Add quinoa and water to saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered with lid, until water has been completely absorbed (15 to 20 minutes).
- Remove from heat and allow to sit with lid on for 5 minutes.
- Remove quinoa from pot. If making the salad immediately, place quinoa in fridge to cool for 20-30 minutes before assembling salad.
Dressing
- Combine fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, salt, red pepper flakes and oil in a small bowl and whisk to combine and dissolve sugar. Set aside.
Salad
- Combine cooled quinoa, red pepper, cucumber, carrots, scallion and herbs in bowl.
- Pour dressing over contents of bowl.
- Toss well to combine.
- Chill in refrigerator prior to serving.
- Keeps well in the refrigerator for several days.
Notes
Add a protein, such as grilled chicken or shrimp, to make this a main course salad.
There are a number of recommended quinoa to water ranges out there. Many recommend 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa. I've found that 1.75 cups of water for every cup of quinoa works well for me and provides fluffy, not soggy, quinoa. Start with the directions on your bag of quinoa and adjust from there. Experiment with what ratio works best in your kitchen!