This corn and black bean Mexican quinoa salad with feta is loaded with veggies, beans and hearty quinoa. It makes for a light lunch or side with dinner, and it goes perfect with those summer barbecues.
I always have cans of beans in the house. They are super tasty, super versatile, inexpensive and tasty!
This quinoa salad recipe is definitely a weekday staple for easy lunches. You’ll want to eat this because it tastes so good, but it is also seriously loaded with good stuff!
I also always have lots of vegetables in the house, sometimes too much. I mean, it’s me, hubby and Riley; how much food can we eat? Actually, less than I sometimes think.
Sometimes I may overbuy, especially when we make the occasionally trip to one of those large grocery store warehouses. And who wants to waste food? Not me! I can’t stand having to throw food out that’s spoiled! It’s absolutely unnecessary, it’s wasteful and I just feel awful about it. Who doesn’t?
This corn and black bean quinoa salad came about one day when I had a bunch of ingredients I wanted to use up and, of course, it had to taste good. Now, I make this Mexican quinoa salad on the regular. Love it so much!
Why We Love This Quinoa Salad With Feta
- It has hearty, quinoa and black beans.
- It includes lots of colourful veggies, like bell pepper and tomato.
- This salad can be enjoyed as a main or side dish.
- It comes together in minutes.
- Of course, it tastes scrumptious!
How To Cook Quinoa Perfectly
The base of this delicious salad is quinoa. I don’t know about you, but I certainly didn’t grow up eating quinoa. It just wasn’t a thing. These days though? I’m all about it and it’s a regularly stocked item in our pantry.
Sometimes the outside of quinoa can be bitter so it is recommended to rinse the quinoa under cold running water for about 30 seconds before cooking (I do this even if the package says that it’s rinsed already). Drain and then cook. Every variety or package could vary. Typically, though, it’s a 2 to 1 ratio of water to quinoa.
Bring water to a boil, cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook 10 to 15 minutes until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is fluffy and cooked. Let sit 5 to 10 minutes before removing cover and fluffing with a fork.
Tips: If you want to add a little more flavour to the quinoa, cook in veggie broth instead of water. You can also add a pinch or so of salt to the quinoa (I opted not to for this recipe, but you could totally add salt if you wish).
If you’d rather cook the quinoa in an electric pressure cooker, this is a recipe for cooking quinoa.
How To Make It
Full details are in the recipe card below, but here are the basics:
- Cook quinoa and let cool. Use ⅓ cup of dried quinoa. It will roughly triple in size to give you the 1 cup cooked quinoa needed for this recipe.
- Whisk together dressing ingredients and set aside.
- Chop veggies and cilantro. If you want to char the corn on your BBQ, do that. Otherwise, just remove the kernels from the cob.
- In a large bowl stir together the cooled quinoa, veggies, cilantro and dressing.
- You can either stir in the feta cheese or top the quinoa salad with it.
- Garnish with extra cilantro if you want.
- Enjoy!
Tips and Variations
- You can grill the corn before removing kernels or simply remove the kernels and enjoy as is. I’ve made both ways and both are delicious!
- If you only have canned corn on hand, use that (drain before using).
- Queso fresco could be used instead of feta if you prefer, or you can omit the cheese entirely.
More Easy Salad Recipes
If you make this Mexican quinoa salad recipe, be sure to leave a comment below!
This recipe was originally published in August 2015 but has been updated.
Mexican Quinoa Salad With Feta
Ingredients
Dressing
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 lime, zest and juice (about 2 tablespoons of juice)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Mexican Quinoa Salad With Feta
- 1 cup COOKED quinoa, about ⅓ cup of quinoa before cooking (cook per package instructions)
- ¾ cup corn kernels, from about 1 ear of corn
- 1 (19-ounce) can no salt added black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 bell pepper, diced (whatever colour you prefer)
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro, or parsley
- 1 chili pepper, minced
- 4 stalks green onion, chopped (about ⅓ cup)
- 1 roma tomato, seeds removed and diced (about ½ cup)
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, zest and juice of lime, cumin, smoked paprika, salt and black pepper until well combined. Set aside.
- Make the salad: Cook quinoa per package instructions. Let cool slightly. To a large bowl, add cooked and cooled quinoa, corn kernels, black beans, bell pepper, cilantro (or parsley), chili, green onion and tomato. Stir until well combined.
- Stir in dressing.
- Top with crumbled feta or stir in through salad. Serve and enjoy!Note: Enjoy immediately or properly store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 3 to 4 days.
Notes
- You can grill the corn before removing kernels or simply remove the kernels and enjoy as is.
- If you only have canned corn hand, use that (drain before using).
Nutrition (estimate only)
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and should be considered an estimate only. Ingredients can vary and Girl Heart Food makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
Tried this recipe?
If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!
