Southwestern Quinoa Black Bean Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette dressing is a zesty, spicy and refreshing summer Tex-Mex Salad recipe. This Summer salad is made with healthy Quinoa, Black Beans, Corn, Garlic, Pepper, Onions, Cucumber, Tomatoes, and Jalapenos. This is topped with a spicy and zesty Lemon Vinaigrette dressing.

Looking for a quick Summer lunch recipe or a healthy Tex Mex Salad recipe or a side dish that goes great with your grilled veggies or Steaks for dinner? Well, your hunt stops here. Here is the best and the most amazing Summer salad recipe - The Southwestern Quinoa Black Bean Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette dressing. This salad is filled with heath scores and also ranks high in terms of the taste. Don't you wanna know how it tastes so that you can make it!

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Let's talk about the Taste

Taste-wise, this Salad has a spicy and lemony freshness to it. The earthy cumin and spicy cayenne pepper make for a wonderful spicy combination, which is so wonderfully balanced with the Lemon, Vinegar, Honey and Olive Oil. The Black Beans and Sweet Corn obviously adds to the proteins and also the sweetness in this salad. While the Cucumber, Tomatoes and Red Onions beings in those favourite refreshing Summer flavours. All in all, this feels like a Summer favourite salad which you can enjoy any time of the day or store covered for a long time and enjoy when you wish to. Have you tried my Zesty Mediterranean Quinoa Salad recipe yet?

How to make Southwestern Quinoa Black Bean Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette dressing

So to make this salad we will obviously start by sorting our veggies.

Here, we will be using Green Bell Peppers, Red Onions, Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Jalapenos. So you chop these veggies and toss them into your salad bowl.

Meanwhile, you can cook your Quinoa. I have used 2/3 Cup of Quinoa for my recipe. When you cook Quinoa it fluffs up. So be careful in taking the amount you will need. So, to cook your Quinoa, first wash it in running water. Then throw it in a skillet and dry roast it for about 1-2 minutes. Dry roasting the Quinoa will give it a wonderful nutty flavour to it. Next, add in the water and cover cook for at least 10-12 minutes. If it soaks up all the water in about 4-5 minutes, you can add in more water and Cover cook it.

As the Quinoa gets cooked add it to the veggies and mix well. Also, add the Black Bean and Corn to the salad at this point.

Now, it's time to make a quick Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing. So, for this in a bowl or a Mason Jar take some White vinegar, Lemon Juice, Honey, Olive Oil, Cayenne Pepper, Cumin Powder, Salt and Black Pepper. Stir it all well or shake it well if you are making this in a Mason Jar and drizzle it over your salad. You can thin out your dressing by adding some water to it.

So, that's how you easily make this Southwestern Quinoa Black Bean Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette dressing. It's so refreshing and zesty that you'll want to grab all of it and forget about anything else.

Other variations to this recipe

This Southwestern Black Bean Quinoa salad can have a million other alterations.

• You can use other veggies such as Avocado or Cilantro or Chives in this.
• The dressing can be altered as per your taste. If you want it spicier, then you can add more of Cayenne pepper. If you want it sweet you can add more honey.
• This can also be served with Cilantro Lime dressing.