Crunchy Thai Quinoa Salad
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!
Why We Love This Recipe
Calling all quinoa lovers, 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 in your quinoa routine.
Here is everything you will need:
- Quinoa – use white or tri-color
- Red bell pepper – feel free to sub with yellow or orange peppers
- Cucumber – use regular, English, or 2 – 3 Persian cucumbers
- Carrots – use shredded for ease
- Red cabbage – shred your own or buy pre-shredded for ease
- Green onions
- Cilantro
- Lime
- Nut butter – peanut, cashew, almond, or sunflower butter all work great
- Ginger – use fresh grated or ginger paste.
- 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. The full printable recipe is at the bottom of this post.
- Make the almond-lime dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, lime, ginger, tamari, and maple syrup.
- Cook the quinoa. Cook on the stovetop or use this Instant Pot Quinoa recipe.
- Prep the vegetables.
- Assemble the salad. Add the chopped vegetables to the bowl with the quinoa (shown above) and toss to combine.
- Top with dressing. Drizzle with the dressing (shown below).
And now you are ready to enjoy!
Salad Tips
- Nut allergies? When making the dressing, use sunflower butter for those with nut allergies.
- Add more protein. Add 1 1/2 cups of edamame or chickpeas for more fiber and protein.
How To Store + Meal Prep
- Refrigerator: Leftovers can be stored in a covered container for up to 5 days.
- Meal prep: This quinoa salad is great for weekly meal prep! For ease, toss the salad with the dressing before storing. You may even like to double the dressing to have some on the side for drizzling over the top 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.
CRUNCHY 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
- Category: Entree, Salad
- Method: simmer, mix
- Cuisine: Thai
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried quinoa
- 1 3/4 cups of water
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 large red bell pepper, cored and diced
- 1 cucumber, diced
- 1 cup carrots, diced
- 1/4 red cabbage, shredded
- 2 – 3 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup cilantro (lightly packed), chopped
- handful of peanuts or cashews, optional
- 4 tablespoons nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew, or sun butter)
- 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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Would it be possible to freeze this salad? Looking for a good lunch recipe for day 5 or 6 on a river trip.
The cucumbers will not do well with freezing. You can try omitting them, adding extra bell peppers if you like. The salad without cucumbers can be frozen and left to thaw in the fridge overnight. I hope that helps. Enjoy!
I made this yesterday. It was wonderful. I plan to make it many times in the future. The flavors were very sophisticated. Thank you for this fabulous recipe.
Delicious! Added edamame for protein. Chicken would be good too. The dressing is amazing.