Avocado Blueberry Quinoa Salad

A refreshing salad packed with fresh ingredients such as fresh corn, red onion, tangy feta cheese, crunchy pistachios, topped with cilantro, and lime dressing. This vegetarian quinoa salad is perfect for a warm summer day as a quick meal for lunch; plus, it will stay good in the fridge for up to 5 days!

Ingredients

For the Salad:

  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 firm but still ripe avocado, sliced or diced
  • 1 cup of blueberries
  • 1 cup of sweet corn (preferably fresh off the cob)
  • 1/2 cup finely diced red onion
  • 1/2 cup feta
  • 1/2 cup chopped pistachios
  • 1/2 cup diced cilantro

For the Cilantro Lime Dressing

  • 1/3 cup packed cilantro leaves
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 jalapeno, seeded
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

For Garnishing

  • Extra cilantro, pistachios, feta, and red onion

Instructions

  1. First, make your quinoa. Add water and quinoa to a medium pot and place over high heat; bring mixture to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and cook for exactly 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the pot from heat and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Then cover and allow quinoa to sit in the pot for 10 minutes.
  2. While the quinoa is cooking, make your cilantro lime dressing by adding the ingredients to a blender: cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, jalapeno half, and salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
  3. Once your quinoa is done, add it to a large bowl. Add in the avocado, blueberries, corn, red onion, feta, pistachios, and cilantro.
  4. Pour dressing all over the quinoa salad and toss to combine. Garnish with extra cilantro, pistachios, feta, and red onion if you'd like. Serve at room temp or cold. Salad will stay good for 3-5 days in the fridge. Serves 4-6. Nutrition info based on 6.

Recipe courtesy of Monique - ambitiouskitchen.com.