Quinoa Black Bean Salad With Mango

This quinoa salad with black beans, mango, and herby cilantro is a filling meal prep lunch full of a lot taste! It’s simply recent components mixed with nutty quinoa in a easy however zesty purple wine French dressing dressing.

Who else likes to cook dinner as soon as and revel in ready-to-eat lunches in the course of the week? Similar! For this reason you also needs to do that make-ahead-friendly chickpea salad, bulgur salad, and dense bean salad.

Quinoa black bean salad in a large stoneware serving bowl.

Immediately’s quinoa black bean salad jogs my memory a whole lot of my Southwest quinoa salad, this time with juicy mango chunks and a recent, zesty purple wine French dressing because the dressing. It’s plant-based and straightforward to make, both on the day or forward of serving. The recipe is tremendous versatile, too, so when you’ve got veggies within the fridge that you just’re wanting to make use of, this may simply be your subsequent meal!

Why I’m Loving This Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

Layers of taste. This salad has creamy black beans, savory tomatoes, and citrusy cilantro, tossed with nutty quinoa in a easy dressing. The flavors actually shine in each chunk.
Recent components. I like juicy, sweet-tart mango recipes like my mango hen, guacamole, and the mango salsa in my salmon tacos. It brings the identical scrumptious power to this quinoa salad with black beans.
Made for meal prep. This quinoa black bean salad retains within the fridge for days, and it’s nice for packed lunches, potlucks, events, and nearly any meal you possibly can consider.

Ingredients for Quinoa Black Bean Salad.

Components You’ll Want

These are the components I add to my black bean quinoa salad. I prefer to get an excellent number of flavors and textures. Scroll to the recipe card after the put up for the printable recipe with the total ingredient quantities and directions.

Quinoa – You may make this salad with white, purple, black, or tri-colored quinoa. You might must rinse the quinoa earlier than you cook dinner it, see beneath. Boil-in-a-bag quinoa is completely okay to make use of.
Mango – Peeled and diced. Select a ripe mango that yields just a little once you squeeze it (just like an avocado). Additionally, give it a sniff near the stem. Ripe mangos will scent candy and fruity!
Tomato – Diced. I like to recommend eradicating the seeds from the tomato for finest outcomes. It’s also possible to use cherry or grape tomatoes as an alternative, through which case, merely halve them and skip the seeding step.
Scallions – Trim off the ends earlier than slicing up the scallions. You would additionally use one other delicate salad onion, like diced candy Vidalia onion, purple onion, or inexperienced onion.
Recent Cilantro – When you’re delicate to cilantro, be at liberty to substitute it with parsley, basil, mint, or one other recent herb of your selecting.
Black Beans – When you’re utilizing canned beans, rinse them underneath chilly water and drain them effectively afterward. You possibly can swap black beans with pinto beans when you’d like.
Oil, Vinegar, and Salt – I make a easy French dressing dressing with olive oil, purple wine vinegar, and salt. That’s it! Swap purple wine vinegar for white wine vinegar or cider vinegar if wanted.

Quinoa black bean salad in a large serving bowl with salad tongs.

Why Rinse Quinoa?

A number of store-bought quinoa comes pre-rinsed, but when yours doesn’t, you’ll want to scrub the quinoa underneath chilly water earlier than you begin. Lengthy story brief, quinoa has a pure coating, known as saponin, which might make the grains style bitter. To rinse the quinoa, add it to a fantastic mesh strainer and go it underneath working water earlier than you boil it.

bowls of quinoa salad with black beans and mango.

Quinoa Salad FAQs

What else can I add to this salad?

Get inventive with totally different add-ins and components! Attempt including diced avocado, bell peppers, candy corn, feta cheese, or chopped pecans or walnuts.

Can I exploit one other dressing?

Certain! When you’d like to alter up the dressing to your quinoa salad, I’d counsel Italian dressing or, for a creamy possibility, strive avocado dressing.

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Instantaneous Pot – This makes cooking quinoa tremendous fast and straightforward. Simply 1 minute underneath stress and also you’re finished.
Pot with Lid – When you’re cooking the quinoa on the stovetop, you’ll want a sturdy pot.
Advantageous Mesh Strainer – For rinsing quinoa earlier than cooking. This helps take away the pure bitterness.
Mixing Bowls – One for the dressing, one for the salad. I like utilizing a big bowl to provide the whole lot room to combine.

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Cook dinner the quinoa.** Rinse your quinoa underneath chilly working water. Place it within the bowl of an Instantaneous Pot together with 1 1/2 cups water. Add a pinch of kosher salt. Seal and cook dinner on MANUAL for 1 minute on excessive stress. As soon as your Instantaneous Pot beeps, let it do a pure launch for 10 minutes, then rigorously launch the remaining steam. Fluff your cooked quinoa with a fork, then put aside to chill.
Make the French dressing dressing. In a medium bowl, whisk collectively the olive oil, kosher salt, and purple wine vinegar. Put aside.
Assemble the salad. In a big bowl, mix the cooled quinoa with the mango, tomato, scallions, cilantro, and black beans. Give the dressing one other fast whisk, then pour it over the salad and gently combine the salad with a big spoon.
Serve. Let the salad sit for quarter-hour in order that the quinoa can absorb a number of the taste from the dressing, then serve. You possibly can serve this salad heat or chilly, whichever is less complicated.

** When you don’t have an Instantaneous Pot, you possibly can cook dinner your quinoa on the range as follows: Place 1 cup of rinsed quinoa in a medium pot together with 2 cups of water and a pinch of kosher salt. Deliver to a boil over medium warmth, then cut back to low, cowl, and simmer for quarter-hour. Take away from the warmth and let the pot sit for 10 extra minutes. Fluff the quinoa with a fork and put aside to chill.

Dietary data is an estimate and offered as courtesy. Values might range in keeping with the components and instruments used. Please use your most well-liked dietary calculator for extra detailed data.

Stovetop Technique

Add the quinoa, 2 cups of water, and salt to a pot. Deliver the pot to a boil, then simmer over low warmth for quarter-hour. Afterward, take the pot off the warmth and let it sit for 10 minutes whereas the remaining liquid absorbs.

Overhead view of quinoa black bean salad in a large serving bowl with salad tongs. By diethood.com

Storage Ideas

Retailer leftover quinoa black bean salad in a coated container within the fridge for as much as 4 days. It’s nice to take alongside for lunch on busy days or make forward for a celebration. I prefer to stretch this salad even additional and blend it with leafy greens, like kale, spinach, or arugula.