This Black Bean Salad with quinoa, corn and avocado is quick, easy to assemble, and full of fresh Southwest flavors- perfect for casual summer gatherings, potlucks, and BBQs. Vegan and Gluten-Free! Video.
Whatever breaks open our heart, mind or body can be the very invitation we need in order to look more deeply and be surrendered more thoroughly to the process that transforms our illusions. Love can use anything, including suffering, in the service of awakening. ~Dorothy Hunt
With soaring temperatures here in the Northwest, we’ve been turning to salads for dinner.
This refreshing Southwest-inspired Blackbean Quinoa Salad fits the bill and requires very little cooking. It keeps for up to 4 days in the fridge and is a nice thing to have on hand when it feels just too hot to cook.
Southwest Black bean Quinoa Salad | Video
What you’ll need for Black Bean Quinoa Salad:
- quinoa
- black beans
- red onions
- scallions
- tomato (or bell pepper)
- corn ( fresh or frozen, or sub zucchini)
- avocado
- cilantro
- lime
- olive oil
- salt and seasonings
Step 1: Cook the quinoa
Step 2: Char the corn. You can use fresh corn cut right off the cob or frozen corn. Char in a dry skillet.
Step 3: Chop the veggies and herbs.
Feel free to use vine-ripened tomatoes or cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes. Use both scallions and red onion.
Step 4: Rinse and drain the black beans. You can also use dry black beans, cooked ahead and cooled.
Step 5: Combine all the salad ingredients in a bowl.
Step 6: Add lime, zest, olive oil, spices and salt.
Chipotle powder and smoked paprika give the salad great flavor.
Taste and adjust seasonings, remembering that the beans and quinoa will soak up some of that salt and lime.
Refrigerate until ready to serve. Then add the avocado!
Step 7: When ready to serve, fold in the avocado. You’ll end up with about 6 1/2- 7 cups of salad.
Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro. Serve the Southwest Blackbean Quinoa Salad on its own or over a bed of dressed greens.
This hearty Black bean salad will keep up to four days in the refrigerator -a tasty healthy treat for midweek meals.
Enjoy this healthy vegan salad and let us know what you think in the comments below!
xoxo
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- Favorite Quinoa Salad
- Quinoa Chicken Salad
- Our BEST Quinoa Recipes
- Cuban Black Beans
- Roasted Chile Relleno with Black Beans
- Carrot Salad with Quinoa and Almonds
- Lemony Chicken Arugula Quinoa Salad
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Black Bean Salad
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6-7 1x
- Category: salad, vegan
- Method: tossed
- Cuisine: southwest
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Southwest Black Bean Salad with corn, quinoa, tomatoes, scallions, cilantro, lime and avocado- a tasty vegan salad that can be made ahead.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 can rinsed and drained)
- 1 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes, diced (or sub sliced cherry or grape tomatoes, or 1 red bell pepper)
- 1 1/2 cup corn (fresh or frozen, frozen roasted corn is great here), charred
- 1/2 cup sliced scallions
- 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2–3 teaspoons lime zest
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice, more to taste
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/8–1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder (or 1–2 teaspoons adobo sauce from canned chipotle, or 1–2 teaspoons finely diced jalapeno)
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 large avocado, diced
Instructions
- Rinse quinoa well to remove bitterness, drain, and place in a small pot with the water and oregano. Bring to a simmer, cover, cook on low heat until all the water is gone and quinoa is tender about 15 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes, fluff and cool.
- In a dry skillet, char the corn kernals over medium-high heat until lightly charred.
- In a large bowl, add black beans, tomatoes, charred corn, scallions, red onion, cilantro, and toss in the room temp quinoa. Add the dressing ingredients to the bowl; olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, maple, garlic clove, cumin, coriander chili powder, smoked paprika, chipotle powder, salt and pepper.
- Give a good stir and adjust seasonings, adding more salt and lime and chipotle powder to taste. Keep in mind the salad will soak up some of that salt as it sits, as will the avocado.
- Once satisfied, gently fold in the diced avocado. ( Or wait to add until right before serving.)
- Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro.
Notes
To add more heat, feel free to add finely diced jalapeno. To make this less spicy, leave out the chipotle and perhaps substitute with a little more smoked paprika.
If making this ahead, add the avocado right before serving and make sure to adjust seasonings, salt and lime right before serving.
Serve this on its own or over a bed of dressed greens.
Feel free to embellish with pumpkin seeds, crumbled queso fresco, sun sprouts or microgreens.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 273
- Sugar: 5.3 g
- Sodium: 669.4 mg
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 35.1 g
- Fiber: 8.8 g
- Protein: 8.2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This is a fantastic salad. The sauce really makes this recipe shine. I definitely will be making this again.
Glad you liked this Sherry!
This is easy and delicious!!
Awesome to hear!
Loved this recipe, the dressing has nice flavor recipe and kick. I added a cut up jalapeño when charring the corn. Thanks for another delicious recipe Sylvia!
Sounds delish Christine!
So tasty! I expected it to be good, but I didn’t expect to love it this much. It’s part of my regular lunch rotation now. I put it over super greens lightly dressed in a honey balsamic dressing. I cut the cumin down to 1/4 tsp. Thanks!
I’m glad you enjoyed it so much!
Absolutely delicious! I added leftover honey lime marinated chicken and it made an amazing dinner salad.
So happy you enjoyed this!
Delicious! I multiplied by 4 since I was taking to a big party. When I picked up my bowl later it was clean. Nothing left. It had rave reviews. Was distracted and didn’t put the avocado in at all. No loss. Put red pepper and tomatoes in. Really excellent.
Great to hear Lori!
😋
Can’t wait to try!
Really tasty! I didn’t have quinoa so I used brown rice and it was just as delicious.
Perfect Danielle! Glad you made this work with brown rice!
I thought this would be good but it was GREAT!
YAY! Thanks Makeda!
Another fantastic dish. I’ve tried about 10 or so recipes from this site and all of them I’ve made several times. I’ve recommended it to a lot of friends. Thanks for posting such quality content.
You are so kind Carolyn! Thanks for sharing- always appreciated!
Thanks once again Sylvia
Another winner of a dish. So light and fresh . A real crowd pleaser.
Love your food.:):)
Thanks Roger, appreciate this!
This is SO good! As is, it’s delicious, but I slightly increased of few of the spices to taste. I didn’t have any maple syrup so I subbed honey. And I had a can of corn on hand, so I drained and charred it. Thank you! This is a great recipe!!
Perfect Virginia! Thanks!
I served this quinoa black bean salad for lunch with friends on my back porch. It was delicious as well as beautiful to look at! I added cucumbers for an extra bit of crunch. Thank you for your awesome recipes that I can always count on.
Glad you enjoyed this Deb!
Another winner Sylvia. Made today and forgot the avocado when I served. Still so good and will add the avocado tomorrow when we eat the leftovers. 😃
Perfect Jan!
TASTY AND EASY, THANKS AS ALWAYS!!!!!!
Thanks Anna!
Delish! I added crumble impossible meat cooked with onions as we are camping & hiking to bump up the proteins…
Thanks for the recipes, always a hit for sure😋
Sounds perfect Marilaur!
My family of 4 loved it! We have to big eaters and so I made a 1 and a half recipe. We totally finished it off. Delicious AND healthy. Will definitely make again.
Awesome Mary!
Just made this …loaded with healthy ingredients that taste phenomenal! Holds up in the frig (hooray!) and perfect for summer eating.
Glad you like this Lisa!
Soooo good! I thought we would have leftovers, but, alas… I’ll just have to make it again soon. My husband is already asking how the dressing can be adapted for a backpacking meal. 🙂 Wonderful balance of flavors!
Great to hear Sheri!
Delicious! Had no Mexican oregano, subbed marjoram. Soaked red onions in the lime juice for 5 minutes.
Plan on having this all summer.
Perfect- so happy you liked it!
Just made this – wow! Awesome! Seasoning is wonderfully balanced. I had to fight myself to leave some for the rest of the family…Many thanks, Sylvia, as always!
Thanks Heather!
I forgot to request notification if you reply to my question of a moment ago.
Hi Mary! You could simply dress the greens with olive oil, lime or lemon juice, salt and pepper- keep it simple. 🙂
You mention to serve over dressed greens. I wish that I had a better culinary imagination – what would be a good dressing for our garden greens that would work well with this recipe?
Hi Mary! You could simply dress the greens with olive oil, lime or lemon juice, salt and pepper- keep it simple. 🙂
Quinoa salad and Black beans… Friends are comming over and I don’t want to Cook ! This is the perfect recipe and will be good for discovery !!
Awesome Micheline!