Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

This Vegan Mediterranean Quinoa Salad is super quick to make and keeps well for several days in the fridge, making it an ideal contender for your next potluck, picnic, barbecue or other any social gathering where you’re expected to bring food…

This is a super simple yet crazy tasty salad that you can totally serve any time of the year, and that goes good with just about anything, too! 

It’ll be your best friend for picnics, potlucks, barbecues, or any other social gathering where you are expected to bring food. Indeed, this quinoa salad will remain good and keep looking fresh for a few days, so you can totally make it way ahead of time. In fact, it’s probably better that you do, as it becomes tastier after a good sit in the fridge. Well, you might not want to push your luck, but 1 or 2 days is totally acceptable. 

Plus, since it calls for very simple ingredients that can usually be found year round, you’ll have no problem whipping it up whenever you feel like it. 

And although I tend to think of it as a great side dish, it would also make for a pretty awesome meal on its own… 

Like I said, this salad is super simple to make… basically just prep all your ingredients and throw everything in a great big bowl. There’s no need to be fancy and separate everything like I did, either. Simply send everything straight to a large mixing bowl as you prep. And you don’t even have to be super exact with the quantities, either. Feel free to add a little more, or a little less of everything, to suit your own personal preferences… 

The only one thing that is fairly important when making this salad is that you be sure to use some day-old cooked quinoa, or at least quinoa that’s had a chance to cool completely in the fridge and dry out a little. If you were to use quinoa that’s been freshly cooked and still warm, it would make your salad kind of sticky and soggy, rather than all fluffy and airy and filled with all kinds of pleasant individual “pop-in-your-mouth” seeds.  

If you didn’t have any day-old quinoa on hand but still wished to make this salad in a pinch, you could always cook some fresh — about a cup and a half — then spread it across a large baking sheet and place it in the fridge to cool for about 60 minutes before using it.

As for the corn kernels, I know I say it all the time, but if you’re using frozen, there’s really no need to cook it first: simply rinse it under cold running water until it’s completely thawed and then drain it well. (And by all means, buy an actual bag of frozen corn, don’t go picking your corn kernels out of a bag of mixed diced vegetables like I did… Yeah. I actually did that. True story!) 

Once all your ingredients have been prepped and added to your mixing bowl, simply give them a gentle toss until everything is well combined and evenly distributed. 

Technically, you *could* serve your salad immediately, but honestly I strongly recommend that you put it in the fridge for a couple of hours, or even better yet up to the next day, to allow all those beautiful flavors to meld and fully develop.

If you can even wait that long… 

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5 from 3 votes

Vegan Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes minutes

This Vegan Mediterranean Quinoa Salad is super quick to make and keeps well for several days in the fridge, making it an ideal contender for your next potluck, picnic, barbecue or other any social gathering where you're expected to bring food...

Servings: 12 as a side dish

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

• 6 cups cooked day-old quinoa*
• 1 - 14oz can black beans, rinsed and drained well
• 2 cups corn kernels, fresh, frozen** or canned, drained well if applicable
• 2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 2 Lebanese cucumbers, diced
• 1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

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• 1/3 cup lime juice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions

• Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir delicately to combine.
• Place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or up to overnight to allow flavors to meld before serving.
• This salad will keep well for 4-5 days in the refrigerator.

Notes

*If you didn’t have any day-old quinoa on hand, you could always cook some fresh — about 1-1/2 cups— then spread it across a large baking sheet and place it in the fridge to cool for about 60 minutes before using it. 

**If using frozen corn, there's no need to cook it first; just rinse it under cold running water until it's completely thawed and then drain it well.

Nutrition

Calories: 163kcal, Carbohydrates: 31g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 380mg, Potassium: 416mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 281IU, Vitamin C: 8mg, Calcium: 39mg, Iron: 2mg

Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Author: Sonia! The Healthy Foodie

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