
Whew! After a Super Bowl Sunday full of great friends, great laughs, and um…all of my favorite not-so-healthy processed dips and chips…thought it would be good to begin the week on a healthier note!
So gathered all of these yummy, colorful veggies to create this delicious quinoa salad. I saw a photo of the recipe on a blog months ago and could not get over how gorgeous it was! Love the colors, love the fresh, light ingredients, and love how simple it is to make!! The chipotle-lime dressing was an especially delightful finish.
So if you’re looking for a bright, fresh recipe to fend off the winter blues…or just a fabulous meal yearround…would highly recommend this one!

Corn & Black Bean Quinoa Salad

Ingredients
- 1 cup red quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup black beans (or 1 (15 oz.) can, drained)
- 1 ear corn, grilled and kernels cut from cob (or 1 (15.25 oz.) can, drained)
- 1/2 red pepper, diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced (or 1/2 tsp. chipotle powder)
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 2 tsp. hot sauce (optional)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Simmer the quinoa in the water until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
- Mix the quinoa, black beans, corn, red pepper, jalapeno, green onion, and cilantro in a large bowl.
- Mix the oil, lime juice, chipotle in adobo sauce, cumin, hot sauce (optional), salt and pepper in a small bowl.
- Toss the salad in the dressing, and serve.
Notes
Ali’s Tip:
Feel free to use this recipe as a base for other salads! In place of the quinoa, you could easily insert some other whole grains, lettuce, rice, or pasta. :)




Light and refreshing salad that has become one of our favorites! I just made it again today. Wonderful!
This salad looks wonderful. I have been thinking about trying some new quinoa recipes, and I also have some corn in my freezer from last summer that I need to use up. I’m bookmarking this one to give it a try!
Your salad looks amazing! This s one of my favorites. It is so quick and easy and nice and tasty and healthy.
that’s one heaping pile of deliciousness, ali. i love it.
I just finished making this and OMWord it’s fantastic!!!!
Gorgeous! How can you not feel great after eating something so colorful and refreshing?
This looks delicious! I just bought a huge bag of organic quinoa from Costco. Although the quinoa I purchased isn’t red….will that make a big difference in the recipe?
I’ve made something similar to this for awhile but use barley instead of quinoa. It is my favorite summer time salad – just love all the bright colors and it just tastea so fresh & healthy!
this looks absolutely stunning. I will have to make it. I want to make it. wow its so pretty.
Oh my goodness, I want to wear a dress that is basically all the colors of this salad. It’s gorgeous!