Fresh Summer Salad with Quinoa and Black Beans

A fresh, healthy, and hearty salad that comes together quickly and easily. Quinoa salad with black beans and fresh vegetables is a perfect summer side dish for a BBQ or a perfect light lunch.

Dear friends, where has summer gone?! How is it mid-August and time to start thinking about school again? We have really tried to make the most of summer this year but even still time seems to pass too quickly now that the boys are bigger.

We are still clinging to summer for a little longer at our house, we don’t go back to school for a few weeks, the pool is still open and we have one more trip planned. Summer please don’t go!

At least we still have a few more months of nice weather around here, which means even when we go back to school and the old routine…the grill is still open, and quick and easy side dishes are needed. Let me know if you give this one a try.

How to Cook Quinoa

For 1 cup of quinoa, you want 2 cups of water. If you want more flavor you can add a pad of butter to the water, salt the water, or throw in some bullion. Or you could substitute the water for bone broth.

If you want to make less, you can easily use 1/2 cup dry quinoa with 1 cup of liquid. When it’s done, 1 cup dry makes about 3 cups of cooked quinoa.

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 cups broth, or water
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil or butter

Equipment

• Medium-sized pot with a lid

Instructions 

• Add the broth or water to the pot and the salt. Turn the heat to high and add the quinoa.
• You can add in extra flavors if you want — garlic powder, onion powder, saffron, etc. Stir, and bring to a boil.
• Lower to medium heat and cover, cooking for 15 minutes. Stir once every 5 minutes to ensure all the quinoa is being thoroughly cooked also so none of the quinoa stays on the bottom long enough to be burned. No need to stir it too often. Just allow it to cook.
• When all of the water has been absorbed, the quinoa is finished cooking. Your quinoa should look fluffy and the seeds should be puffed up.
• Remove the quinoa from the heat, and use your fork to fluff the quinoa a bit. This process helps to lighten the quinoa and releases some extra flavor. Leave the quinoa in the pot, off of the hot stove top, for about 5 minutes since the residual heat of the pot dries any excess liquid.
• After the quinoa is cooked you can add more flavor at this point if you would like. We like to toss ours with a little butter, but seasonings or parmesan cheese are great too if you are using this as a side dish on its own.

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans Ingredients

You can really put any veggies in this dish that you like, but this combo has been our favorite. Fresh cucumber, grape tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, red onion (microwaved for 10 seconds or so to mellow their flavor), and sweet corn. Putting it all together is a cinch! Just put the quinoa on to cook, chop your veggies, and mix up the dressing. Let the quinoa cool, combine the ingredients,

and put it in the fridge so the flavors can marry. That’s it!

RECIPE

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