Crunchy Thai Quinoa Salad features a colorful mix of veggies tossed with healthy quinoa and delicious, creamy almond dressing for a quick and easy vegan lunch, dinner or meal prep!
Calling all quinoa lover’s, I have another delicious quinoa salad for you!
You may already be familiar with this Garden Quinoa Salad, Kale Quinoa Salad, Greek Quinoa Salad, Apple Harvest Quinoa Salad, or easy Lemon Quinoa & Chickpea Salad!
This crunchy Thai Quinoa Salad is full of color, texture and flavor, and is another great addition to the growing collection of heart healthy, quinoa salads on TSV!
What’s to love? It’s:
- quick, easy and ready in about 30 minutes.
- loaded with healthy fiber and protein.
- great for weekly meal prep.
- grain free, gluten free, and oil-free.
- simple and delicious!
So without further ado, let’s get to it!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Quinoa is cooked and tossed with a variety of colorful veggies then drizzled with a creamy nut butter dressing creating an irresistible salad that is sure to be a new favorite to your quinoa routine.
Here is everything you will need:
- Quinoa – use white or tri-color
- Red bell pepper
- Cucumber – use regular, English or 2 – 3 Persian cucumbers
- Carrots – use shredded for ease
- Red cabbage
- Green onions
- Cilantro
- Lime
- Nut butter – peanut, cashew, almond, or sunflower butters all work great
- Ginger
- Tamari – sub with soy sauce, namu shoyu, or coconut aminos
- Pure maple syrup – can sub with coconut nectar or date syrup
How To Make Thai Quinoa Salad
Making this quinoa salad is super easy, requiring only a few steps. For the full printable recipe, see the bottom of this post.
- Make the almond-lime dressing. Whisk together the peanut butter, lime, ginger, tamari and maple syrup in a small bowl.
- Cook the quinoa. Cook on the stovetop or use this Instant Pot Quinoa recipe.
- Prep the vegetables.
- Assemble salad. Add the chopped vegetables to the bowl with the quinoa (shown above), give a good toss to combine.
- Top with dressing. Drizzle with the dressing (shown below), or what until your individual portion is served.
And now you are ready to enjoy!
Top Tips
- Nut allergies? For those who have nut allergies, when making the dressing use sunflower butter.
- Add more protein. For more fiber and protein, add 1 ½ cups of edamame or chickpeas.
How To Store Leftovers + Meal Prep
- Refrigerator: Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in a covered container.
- Meal prep: This quinoa salad is great for weekly meal prep! For easy, toss the salad with the dressing before storing. You may even like to double the dressing to have some on the side for drizzling overtop when serving.
More Healthy Salad Recipes
- Farmer’s Market Salad
- Raw Vegan Taco Salad
- Quinoa Salad with Orange, Cranberry + Mint
- Thai Crunch Salad
- Easy Lemon Asparagus Pasta Salad
- Crunchy Romaine Salad + Almond-Lime Dressing
If you try this quinoa salad recipe or have a question let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.
PrintCRUNCHY THAI QUINOA SALAD
Crunchy Thai Quinoa Salad features a rainbow mix of crisp and crunchy veggies tossed with a creamy almond dressing for a healthy vegan lunch, dinner or meal prep!
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 - 6 1x
- Category: Entree, Salad
- Method: simmer, mix
- Cuisine: Thai
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried quinoa
- 1 ¾ cups of water
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 large red bell pepper, cored and diced
- 1 cucumber, diced
- 1 cup carrots, diced
- ¼ red cabbage, shredded
- 2 – 3 scallions, thinly sliced
- ½ cup cilantro (lightly packed), chopped
- handful of peanuts or cashews, optional
- 4 tablespoons nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew, or sunbutter)
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon tamari, nama shoyu, soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 1 inch knob of ginger, minced or grated
- 1 – 2 limes, divided
- mineral salt, to taste
Instructions
Quinoa: In a medium pot, add quinoa, water, and garlic powder, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove cover, fluff with a fork and let rest for 10 minutes. Alternatively, if you have a pressure cooker, this Instant Pot Quinoa Recipe is super easy!
Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the nut butter, pure maple syrup, tamai, ginger, juice of 1 lime. Add a little water, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed to thin. Taste for flavor, season with salt to taste.
Assemble salad: In a large mixing bowl, add the cooked quinoa, bell pepper, cucumber, carrots, cabbage, scallions, and cilantro. Drizzle with the nut butter dressing and toss to combine. Alternatively, toss the quinoa and veggies, and add dressing once plated.
Serve: Spoon into individual bowls, top with optional crunchy nuts and squeeze of lime.
Serves 4 – 6
Store: Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 – 5 days.
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JESSICA says
This recipe is amazing. I will be adding this to the rotation often. Great flavors. Added a little Sriracha. Delicious!
★★★★★
Valarie says
Super yummy! I will definitely be doubling up on the dressing next time the flavours are perfect, and to my surprise even my extremely picky toddler ate his full plate! Thanks for another great recipe to add to my rotation :)
★★★★★
Amy says
Absolutely delicious. I used farro instead of quinoa because it’s what I had on hand. I also grilled some eggplant, cubed it & threw it on top. What a beautiful dish. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
Amanda says
Made it for some picky family, and it was a hit! Leftovers are great too! Delicious and nutritious.Thank you for sharing
★★★★★
AJ says
This was amazing. I used peanut butter and soja sauce. I will definitely make extra sauce next time. I could have slurped it up with a straw it was that good. I didn’t really measure the cilantro but I would add more next time. I’d just used what I had. Even my 12 year old liked it. Will be making this regularly, especially in the hotter summer months.
★★★★★
Cheryl says
This is amazing. Will definitely be making again. Yum!
★★★★★
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
So glad you love it, it’s one of my favorites! Thanks for sharing, Cheryl!
Indi says
I made this today for lunch and absolutely loved it. I’m so glad I have leftovers for tomorrow. The sauce really makes it. It was so filling and fulfilling ;) I followed the recipe exactly. I didn’t have any cilantro or scallions so I left them out.
★★★★★
michelle says
This was SO good!! Made with crunchy peanut butter. Will definitely make this again. Thank you!
★★★★★
Alisa says
Delicious! Made as instructed (used almond butter). My vegan husband and my non-vegan son both loved it! So refreshing on a hot day!
★★★★★
Inge B. says
I just love your quinoa salad recipes! They’re becoming staples in our family. I just made this and made 1.5 times of the sauce because it was not enough. I don’t have red cabbage at hand and used thinly sliced Napa cabbage as a substitute. Works perfectly well.
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Thank you Inge, so glad you’re enjoying them! I love your use of napa cabbage and extra sauce, perfect!
Veganorganicgirl says
I made this last night and it was so delicious I could have eaten the entire bowl. I didn’t have soy sauce so I used soy free teriyaki sauce and it worked perfectly. I foll0wed the recipe exactly and shredded the carrots as well. Thank you for this!
★★★★★
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
My pleasure, so glad you loved it! You’re sauce sounds great too, thanks for the inspiration and feedback!