The perfect summery quinoa salad – fresh corn, buttery avocado, nutty quinoa, juicy marinated tomatoes, and tons of fresh herbs.
Corn, Avocado, and Quinoa Salad with Marinated Tomatoes
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This recipe was so good! Made as a side for a flat iron steak, and as great as the steak was, this stole the show. Looking forward to leftovers for lunch today
Megan
Do I love quinoa? No.
Do I love this luscious and juicy summery salad, which does, in fact, contain quinoa? YES.
If you are a quinoa hater – I think I can get you on board with this quinoa salad. I really do.
This gem of a salad is a win for anyone who:
- Can appreciate a really good textured salad – I mean, look at all the little bite sizey bits!
- Prefers to hang out in the sun instead of spending hours cooking (aka THIS RECIPE IS SO EASY)
- Does or does not like quinoa – we accept all
- Appreciates a good meatless meal
- Goes weak in the knees for big, juicy, summery flavor
The amount of texture and flavor here is staggering. We have quinoa and corn making the base, marinated tomatoes as the juicy crown jewel, avocado to butter things up, shallot, chives, cilantro, lime zest and lime juice to wake you ALL THE WAY up, and Cotija cheese for just the tiniest bit of something creamy / crumbly (just omit if you’re vegan).
Let me just say this: it’s been a long time since I loved a quinoa salad as much as I love this one.
And maybe just a salad in general.
Healthy, but not too healthy. Punchy, textured, and craveable at all hours. Colorful and happy. Exactly how I like to eat.
And if you keep the avocados out until just before serving, it can be a lunches-made-ahead thing that will keep the mood high all the week long.
Quinoa, you win.
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Corn, Avocado, and Quinoa Salad:
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Corn, Avocado, and Quinoa Salad with Marinated Tomatoes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 generous servings 1x
Description
The perfect summery quinoa salad – fresh corn, buttery avocado, nutty quinoa, juicy marinated tomatoes, and tons of fresh herbs. SO GOOD.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Salad:
- 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
- 4 ears raw sweet corn, kernels cut off the cob
- 1–2 cups marinated tomatoes (see recipe below)
- 1 shallot, minced
- lots of fresh cilantro and chives, minced
- 1–2 limes, juice and zest
- olive oil to taste
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup Cotija cheese (optional)
- 1–2 avocados, diced
- 1 pound cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
- 1 clove garlic, finely grated
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon freshly minced herbs (I like parsley)
- salt to taste (I use about 1/2 – 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt)
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package directions.
- Prepare marinated tomatoes.
- Toss cooled quinoa with corn, tomatoes and juice, shallots, herbs, lime juice and zest, olive oil, and salt.
- The mixture will hold up pretty well for a few hours in the fridge (or even for a day or two, if you don’t mind that it will look a little less perky). Wait to toss in your avocado and cheese just before serving for optimal freshness, and if it’s been sitting for a while, give it one more salt / oil / lime juice treatment to wake it all up. YUMYUMYUM.
Equipment
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Notes
If you’re using regular tomatoes instead of marinated tomatoes, you’ll want to add some fresh grated garlic, salt, and olive oil to compensate for the missing juices!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Toss
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: corn salad, quinoa salad, tomato salad, summer salad, salad for potluck, cookout recipe
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of incredible corn recipes. Check it out!
Filed Under: All Recipes Avocado Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Healthy Lime Lunch Meal Prep Quinoa Recipes Salads Sugar-Free Summer Tomato Vegetarian
June 30, 2020
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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This looks absolutely lovely! I can’t wait to make this myself! When I do I’ll pin and tag it!
YES! Please do! Can’t wait to see! 🙂
Great recipe! Tried it tonight with baked chicken breast. Plaudits all around.
Yay! Glad you enjoyed it, John!
It came out sooooo good! My two vegetarian kids are back home for the quarantine and me, as a meat lover, have a really small repertoire of veggie meals. So these days everyone has been cooking for themselves. And this beautiful recipe has united the whole family on one simple dinner. It made me really happy.
Instead of cotija, I used a generous handful of goat cheese, which is the most common organic cheese in this NorthWest region of Argentina.
I always enjoy your newsletters. Thank you and keep up the good work!
Yay yay yay!
I made this and it was so delicious!!
Those tomatoes are to die for!
So glad you enjoyed this salad, Maureen!
I skipped the shallots (too strong for the other ingredients) but do think chives are perfect. I used tomatoes straight from the garden with no marinating. Will definitely make again – my picky vegetarian daughter enjoyed it.
Thanks for sharing, Teri! 🙂
I made this review after I got it in my email because I’m subscribed because this is the best cooking blog ever! I made it and loved it. Added some mini cucumbers and it was amazing. The only thing I’ll say is that I would add about a half cup of quinoa instead of a full cup. I feel like a full cup took away from the amazing flavors in the salad.
Yummy! Cucumbers would be a great add-in here!
Do marinated coe canned? Jarred? Homemade?
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Just to make sure — the corn is served raw in this recipe right? I admit I’m intrigued; haven’t had raw corn before.
Yep, that’s right!
Love the use of raw sweet corn, especially when its I’m season!! The perfect healthy weeknight dinner!
Enjoy, Jacob!
I love quinoa, this is a great salad,you can customized, as your preference of veggies, thank you
Glad you enjoyed this, Marcy!
I made this last night to be a healthier substitute for grilled corn jalapeño cheese grits. I followed the recipe precisely except I lightly grilled our corn on the cob. We all loved it so much! Incredible flavor! The quinoa and avocado give this salad body and substance. As much as we love those cheese grits (loaded with cream and cheese), nobody missed them at all. Thank you for this! Outstanding!
Looks so delicious, will try it soon.
Enjoy, Kate!
I’ve made this salad twice now and absolutely love it. Every ingredient is so good for you! My husband also commented on how much he likes it. My daughter-in-law said she thinks she needs this recipe !
So glad to hear this, Julia! 🙂
Why uncooked corn?
This is just how we preferred making this salad. Cooked corn can also work, too. 😉
i wondered the same (even googled it to see if you can eat raw corn — you can!). it’s fantastic with raw corn!
I am definitely going to try this recipe – it looks like the perfect summer dish & has all of my favorite veggies!
https://alexagmarsh.blogspot.com/
Enjoy, Alexa!
I made this for a wedding last week and it was a bit hit! Really easy to multiply and I added some feta for a nice creamy kick.
big hit, not bit!!!
Yay! So happy to hear this, Marisa! 🙂
I followed the recipe and did two limes because we like lime…whew! Next time I’ll stick to one 🙂 I think it was good, but it was hard to tell under the overwhelming lime flavour (plus the extra juice made it a bit soggy).
this was phenomenal! the only thing i changed was to quadruple the amount of marinated tomatoes in this. i added a double batch (so, 4-6 cups), instead of the half batch (1-2 cups) as above and can’t imagine it with any less. so good!!
Glad you enjoyed this, Erin!
Fresh or aged cotija?
We like fresh cotija cheese.
I recently started making smoothly shakes consisting of avocado, pineapple, and banana as a form of “adult baby food,” consuming raw natural food as a source of good solid nutrition and relying less on processed foods. I love this combination of corn, avocado and quinoa. I never thought of this but I might experiment with it in the future. 🙂
This recipe was so good! Made as a side for a flat iron steak, and as great as the steak was, this stole the show. Looking forward to leftovers for lunch today
Perfect with steak, Megan!
Hi!
I want to make this, but I’m wondering on how you prepare the marinated tomatoes?
Thanks,
Andrea
Hi, Andrea! You can find our marinated tomatoes recipe here. 🙂
Oh wow. This was far from clear in the recipe. What’s the difference between the list of ingredients under the “Marinated Tomatoes” heading in this recipe and the separate recipe for marinated tomatoes?
They are the same. 😉
If we follow your directions for marinated tomatoes, is that correct? Or do we follow the other link for marinated tomatoes and add all the ingredients listed in this recipe?
The ingredients listed in the recipe card here are correct, no need to follow the link!
Great and amazing recipe thank you for sharing this mouth watering recipe with us.
Oh, wow. Lindsay! This looks so yummy!
Beautiful!
Absolutely delicious! Definitely needs the cotija to add that extra something!
🎉
Made this tonight with tomatoes and tons of herbs from our garden and it was amazing! Always love POY recipes!
Glad you enjoyed this salad, Sam!