This Southwest Quinoa Bowl is healthy, delicious, and easy to make. This high-protein vegan salad is great for meal prep or to bring to a potluck. Massage kale leaves together with avocado and lemon, and top with black beans, corn, red onion, red bell pepper, and tomato!
Less than thirty minutes are all that stand between you and this tasty bowl - give yourself an evening off from cooking tonight by whipping up this salad! Another salad that makes a great main course is Southwest Salad with Cilantro Jalapeno Cashew Dressing. It's also perfect for meal prep!
This high protein gluten-free Southwest Quinoa Bowl is full of fresh flavors, wholesome ingredients, and it doesn't take long to make. It's as easy as assembling the ingredients in a mason jar or glass container.
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What is quinoa?
A tiny ancient gluten-free grain with a fluffy texture and slightly nutty flavor, quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is known as a superfood these days. It was the Incan civilization's staple food. Quinoa is a good source of plant protein and iron, lysine, magnesium, and potassium.
There are many varieties; red, white, and black are the most common. For this recipe, I've selected a mixture of all three, called tri-color quinoa. To learn more about quinoa, here is an informative article.
Ingredient notes
- Tajin Classic Seasoning (optional, highly recommended) - a mildly spicy Mexican seasoning made of dried lime, sea salt, and dried ground chili pepper.
- Corn - you can use fresh or frozen. Thaw frozen corn quickly under running water in a colander.
- Quinoa - for this recipe I used tricolor quinoa.
- Avocado - use half an avocado for every two cups of kale
- Kale - for this salad I used curly kale; use whichever type of kale you prefer.
Instructions
- Rinse the quinoa before cooking it on the stovetop, unless you have some that you previously prepared. It is essential to rinse the naturally occurring protective coating called saponin off the quinoa; otherwise, it will taste bitter. The purpose of the saponin is to keep the seed safe from birds and insects. It's worth the extra effort to rinse. I once forgot, and I won't do it again, it makes that much difference.
- Place the quinoa in a small bowl filled with water. Swish the quinoa with your fingertips and pour the water out, keeping a small fine sieve to catch any quinoa that falls out. Then put the quinoa in a small saucepan with vegetable broth, cover, and a boil.
- Once it is boiling, turn the heat down to low, keep the lid on, and cook for 15 minutes. Once done cooking, let the quinoa sit for an additional five minutes off the heat and gently remove the lid and fluff. A wooden fork works well for this.
- While the quinoa is cooking, massage the kale with avocado, lemon juice, and sea salt in a large bowl. Rubbing the kale between your fingers for a couple of minutes breaks down the cell walls and gives it a softer, more pleasant texture. It is not a half-hour massage, it only takes a couple of minutes!
- Chop the rest of the vegetables and keep them separate.
- Rinse and drain the black beans if using canned beans.
- Thaw frozen corn by rinsing it in a colander.
Equipment
- Cutting board
- Chef's knife
- Small saucepan for cooking the quinoa
- Can opener if using canned beans
How to serve
Layer all the ingredients in a large individual bowl for each person. A bowl works best rather than a plate to keep everything together. Top with hemp seeds and Tajin seasoning if you like. This salad is delicious with this chili and lime seasoning on top!
This salad would be excellent with baked sweet potato on the side, and topped with cilantro or parsley. The beauty of this dish is that you can change it up to whatever you have on hand.
Variations
- Feel free to improvise with the fresh vegetables you have available.
- Try other grains, such as amaranth, farro, brown rice, wild rice, teff, or sorghum.
- If you don't have fresh lemon juice available, use fresh lime juice.
Top tip
Remember to rinse the quinoa before cooking it!
For meal prep, prepare the ingredients in a mason jar or glass container. Start with the avocado and kale mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients. Save the hemp seed for the topping.
Related recipes
If you make this Southwest Quinoa Bowl, let me know what you think by ★ star rating it and leaving a comment below. You can also follow me on Instagram and share your creation with me. Just tag me @resplendentkitchen and hashtag #resplendentkitchenrecipes, so I don't miss it.
📖 Recipe
Southwest Quinoa Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 cup tri-color quinoa rinsed, or regular quinoa, rinsed
- 1 ¾ cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups kale stemmed
- 1 avocado roughly chopped
- 1 lemon juiced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup canned black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen corn thawed
- 1 large Roma tomato chopped
- ½ orange bell pepper chopped or red bell pepper
- ¼ red onion chopped
- ¼ cup canned quartered artichoke hearts drained and rinsed, optional
- Tajin Seasoning optional
- Cilantro optional
Instructions
- Rinse the quinoa well. Boil 2 cups of vegetable broth. Add the rinsed quinoa and simmer for 15 minutes with the cover on. Take off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes with cover on, and fluff. Save 1 cup and the rest cool to put in the fridge for later use.
- While the quinoa is cooking, massage kale with avocado, lemon juice, and sea salt. This takes about 2 minutes.
- Place quinoa, massaged kale, black beans, tomato, bell pepper, red onion in bowl. Top with hemp hearts and black pepper if desired. Mix the ingredients.
Notes
- Top with a sprinkling of Tajin as well as artichoke hearts.
- Feel free to improvise with the fresh vegetables you have available.
- Feel free to experiment with other grains, such as amaranth, farro, brown rice, wild rice, teff or sorghum.
- Prepare in advance for meal prep or to bring to a gathering, and double or triple the vegetables. There will be enough quinoa for 6 to 8 servings.
- For meal prep, prepare the ingredients in a mason jar or glass container. Start with the avocado and kale mixture, then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix everything right before serving, reserving the hemp seed for the topping.
Nutrition
Resplendent Kitchen offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site as a courtesy. Although resplendentkitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information from online calculators, these figures are estimates.
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