Quinoa Salad with Veggies, Avocado, Cranberries and Almonds

Quinoa Salad that is easy to make, healthy and delicious! This quinoa salad is perfect for your meal prep day to have a delicious lunch or dinner for the week.

Are you looking for creative recipes to spice up your quinoa routine? We love the plant based protein in quinoa and the flavors in this quinoa salad are perfect!

I love quinoa so much.  I love that it's packed with protein and fiber and I love its nutty texture.  I was getting bored of the same old veggie- quinoa mixture I was making so I tried one that has a little bit of sweet and crunch too.

If you are looking for more delicious quinoa salads, you will love this Black Bean Avocado Salad with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette, Spiralized Beet Quinoa Salad and Caprese Quinoa Salad!

All of these would be even more delicious with my Eggnog Latte, Apple Chai Latte, Chamomile Latte and my Low Carb Bulletproof Hot Chocolate!

Also, my cookbooks are both on sale now and would make a great gift! The Everything Wheat Free Diet Cookbook and The Greek Yogurt Cookbook are both the lowest prices I have seen!

Why You Should Make This Quinoa Salad

Perfect for your meal prep day, this is one of those salads that gets even tastier after it sits in the refrigerator. We all know how important meal prep can be to help keep you on track

Tri Color Quinoa Salad with Veggies, Avocado, Cranberries & Almonds

adapted from Fine Cooking

• 2 Tbs. cranberries
• 1 cup tricolor quinoa, rinsed well
• Kosher salt
• ½  lemon
• 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
• ¼ tsp. basil
• ¼ tsp. ground cumin
• ¼ tsp. sweet paprika
• 1 medium firm-ripe avocado, pitted, peeled, and cut into ½-inch chunks
• ½ cup shredded carrots
• 1 can (BPA FREE) artichokes, rinsed, drained well and sliced
• ½ cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 2 Tbs. coarsely chopped toasted almonds
• 1 medium scallion, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. In a 2-quart saucepan, bring 2 cups water, the quinoa, and ½ tsp. salt to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is translucent and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. (The outer germ rings of the grain will remain chewy and white. Some germ rings may separate from the grain and will look like white squiggles.) Immediately fluff the quinoa with a fork and turn it out onto a baking sheet to cool to room temperature.
2. In a pan, place 1 Tbs. oil with carrots, artichokes, tomatoes and spinach.  Saute' until vegetables soften. Add sliced almonds for  1 minute and blend until well mixed.  Remove from heat.
3. Finely grate the zest from the lemon and then squeeze 1 Tbs. juice. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon zest and juice with the olive oil, basil, cumin, paprika, and ¼ tsp. salt. In a large bowl, toss the vinaigrette with the quinoa, cranberries, avocado, scallions, and almonds. Add the vegetable mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Serves 4.