Description
Southwest Black Bean Salad with corn, quinoa, tomatoes, scallions, cilantro, lime and avocado- a tasty vegan salad that can be made ahead.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 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