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You are here: Home / Recipes and Cooking Tips / Southwestern Quinoa Salad

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

April 26, 2012 by Alea Milham 1 Comment

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This Southwestern Quinoa Salad recipe is delicious served warm or chilled!

This Southwestern Quinoa Salad recipe is a fast and easy twist on traditional taco salad recipes. Serve over greens, corn chips, or in a tortilla bowl.

 

Just when you thought it was safe to come back…I have another quinoa recipe. If I were smart, I would have spread all these quinoa recipes out over a couple of months. But why stop with torturing my family…

Seriously, my husband and kids have all been really good sports about not just eating quinoa, but eating quinoa salads night after night. I still have not heard a single complaint. I think it is because I have worked to use a different flavor palate with each recipe, but it could just be that they realize it would be a lot more work for them to cook for themselves and so they are humoring me.

Quick and Easy Southwest Quinoa Salad Recipe

This is a fast and easy recipe. Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl and toss. It was quite tasty even before adding the dressing.

This recipe calls for a couple of ingredients that you can make yourself instead of using packaged items. Here are the recipes if you wish to save money and make these items yourself:

Catalina Dressing Recipe
Taco Seasoning Mix Recipe
How to Quickly Cook Black Beans in a Pressure Cooker

Southwestern Quinoa Salad Recipe

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients:

  • 1½ cups quinoa
  • 3 cups water
  • ½ pound hamburger
  • 1 can olives, drained
  • 1¾ cups cooked black beans (or 15 oz. can, drained) (preparing black beans)
  • 1 can corn, drained
  • 1 pint grape tomatoes
  • ½ cup onion, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, thinly sliced

Dressing Ingredients:

  • ½ cup Catalina dressing (homemade Catalina dressing recipe)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons taco seasoning (DIY taco seasoning)

Directions:

  1. Add quinoa and water to a large pot. Cook over a medium-high flame until it reaches a boil. Lower flame, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
  2. While the quinoa is cooking, brown the hamburger. Drain the fat.
  3. In a small bowl, combine dressing ingredients.
  4. In a large bowl, combine quinoa, hamburger, beans, olives, corn, tomatoes, and onion, and celery. Toss to mix thoroughly.
  5. Drizzle dressing over the salad. Toss to evenly coat.

Printable Recipe for Southwestern Quinoa Salad

Quick and Easy Southwest Quinoa Salad Recipe
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Southwestern Quinoa Salad

Southwestern Quinoa Salad Recipe
Course Lunch, Salad
Cuisine American
Keyword Southwestern Quinoa Salad Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes minutes
Total Time 30 minutes minutes
Servings 8
Calories 310kcal
Author Alea Milham

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients:

  • 1½ cups quinoa
  • 3 cups water
  • ½ pound hamburger
  • 1 can olives drained
  • 1¾ cups cooked black beans or 15 oz. can, drained*
  • 1 can corn drained
  • 1 pint grape tomatoes
  • ½ cup onion diced
  • 2 celery stalks thinly sliced

Dressing Ingredients:

  • ½ cup Catalina dressing **
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons taco seasoning ***

Instructions

  • Add quinoa and water to a large pot. Cook over a medium-high flame until it reaches a boil. Lower flame, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
  • While the quinoa is cooking, brown the hamburger. Drain the fat.
  • In a small bowl, combine dressing ingredients.
  • In a large bowl, combine quinoa, hamburger, beans, olives, corn, tomatoes, and onion, and celery. Toss to mix thoroughly.
  • Drizzle dressing over the salad. Toss to evenly coat.

Notes

*Preparing black beans
**Homemade Catalina dressing recipe
***DIY taco seasoning

Nutrition

Calories: 310kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 402mg | Potassium: 506mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 565IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 78mg | Iron: 3mg

More Quinoa Recipes:

How to Cook Quinoa

Quinoa and Avocado Salad

Broccoli and Quinoa Salad

 

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About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

Comments

  1. Judy@Savoring Today says

    April 27, 2012 at 6:27 am

    I like how colorful it is, which is a great way to shop and cook–by color. The more color we can incorporate into our meals, the more well-rounded and nutritious it is for us. Well done.

    Reply

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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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