Southwest Quinoa Salad

This Southwest Quinoa Salad is simple and delicious. It is filled with simple ingredients – chilled quinoa, crispy soy chorizo, black beans, veggies and a creamy southwest dressing. This recipe is perfect for a BBQ, picnic or meal prep! Delicious flavors, simple ingredients and easy to make!

Step One: Prep the Quinoa & Soyrizo

Ideally, you will use leftover quinoa for this recipe. It will keep the prep time short and the quinoa will already be chilled.

But, if you need to cook the quinoa from scratch, here is how I like to do it:

• Rinse the dry quinoa under water until the water turns clear – just like with rice.
• Add the rinsed quinoa to a sauce pan with 2 cups of liquid – I prefer broth for more flavor, but water works too.
• Bring to a boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer for 20-ish minutes. The liquid should be absorbed and the quinoa should be cooked through.

For the soyrizo, I like to add it to a non-stick skillet and let it brown for 5-10 minutes. I cooked mine without any oil and it browned nicely. Set it aside to cool.

Step Two: Make the Dressing

The dressing is similar to the dressing I use in my Southwest Pasta Salad, but I lightened it up slightly.

Here is what you need:

• vegan mayo
• non-dairy yogurt – unsweetened
• ketchup
• green chiles
• low sodium soy sauce
• yellow mustard
• apple cider vinegar
• cumin
• smoked paprika
• pepper

Add everything to a bowl and mix to combine. Give it a taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.

Step Three: Assemble & Serve

To assemble, add the chilled quinoa, soyrizo, red onion, bell pepper, black beans, tomatoes, corn, jalapeño and cilantro to a large bowl. Drizzle over 3/4 of the dressing and toss everything to coat.

Finish off the salad with some avocado chunks and the rest of the dressing. If you are making this ahead of time, I would hold off on adding the avocado until right before serving.

And now, you can dig in! This salad is healthy, delicious and filling. Great for vegan meal-prepped lunches!