This is the best cucumber quinoa salad recipe! It's refreshing and filling, with avocado, red onions, crunchy cucumbers, and a creamy cashew dressing with fresh herbs. Enjoy this easy quinoa salad as a deliciously light vegan lunch or dinner.
I hope you like green food because this salad is GREEN. But there's a lot more to love about this lovely cucumber quinoa salad than just the color! With big chunks of buttery avocado, contrasted with crunchy cucumbers, fluffy quinoa, and spicy red onions, it’s hard to stop at one serving. Especially when you add creamy cashew dressing! It's a vegan quinoa salad that's packed with flavor. Filling, delicious, and also a cinch to make!
What to Expect From This Crunchy Cucumber Quinoa Salad
- Satisfying crunch. Fresh, ripe cucumbers add a delicious, juicy crunch that contrasts with the other ingredients.
- Ready in minutes. Blend up the vegan salad dressing, toss it with fresh veggies and quinoa, and serve.
- Vegan and gluten-free. Quinoa is naturally gluten-free (just make sure it's certified), and the dressing is made creamy with blended cashews. It’s bright, flavorful, and full of so much flavor!
- Endlessly adaptable. Add any vegetables you'd like to this salad, bulk it up with beans, or change the dressing as you like. There are so many possibilities to make this quinoa cucumber salad your own.
Salad Ingredients
This quinoa salad with cucumber is as quick and easy as it comes. These are the ingredients. Scroll down to the recipe card for the full recipe amounts.
- Quinoa – I personally love white quinoa for this salad because it's fluffy with a mild flavor. But any type will work!
- Avocado – Look for an avocado that is just tender to the touch. Ripe avocado makes this salad nice and creamy.
- Cucumber – We're cutting our cucumbers into chunks so you get these big bursts of crunch and brightness in every bite.
- Red onion – For a little contrast in color, but also taste and texture. Red onion adds just the right amount of pop to this recipe.
Creamy Cashew Herb Dressing
- Raw cashews – Blended cashews have a silky consistency (you may recognize it from cashew cream). It's the key to creamy vegan dressings!
- Fresh herbs – I use parsley and cilantro. If you dislike cilantro, add extra parsley instead.
- Spinach – Baby spinach is more tender and blendable. If you're using frozen spinach, thaw it completely and drain the excess liquid first.
- Scallions – You could also use a mild white onion or shallot.
- Lime juice – Lemon would work nicely here, too, with a slightly different flavor profile.
- Tamari – If you're not making this dressing gluten-free, you can use soy sauce instead.
How to Make Cucumber Quinoa Salad
This quinoa cucumber salad recipe is easy peasy! I think the entire thing took me under 10 minutes.
- Make the dressing. All you have to do to make the dressing is simply whizz everything together with a touch of water in your blender until smooth.
- Assemble. Add the salad ingredients to a large bowl. Then, pour the dressing over your salad and toss it all together.
Change up the Dressing
You can swap the herb dressing with your favorite homemade salad dressing or keep it simple with a squeeze of fresh lemon, olive oil, salt, and pepper. I think this bright and zesty Green Goddess dressing would also be delicious!
Serving Suggestions
I often serve this cool and creamy quinoa cucumber salad as a side dish, or I'll scoop it over a bed of greens to stretch it a little. If you'd like to do the same, I suggest drizzling the greens with a simple olive oil and lemon vinaigrette and then adding the quinoa salad on top. It's the perfect lunch! You can bulk up the meal further by topping this salad with grilled or baked tofu or crispy chickpeas.
Make-Ahead and Storage
- Make it ahead. If you're meal prepping this cucumber quinoa salad or otherwise making it ahead of time, I recommend leaving out the avocado until you're ready to serve. The rest of the salad will hold up well in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Refrigerate. Store leftovers in the fridge for 1-2 days. After a day or so, the avocado may go brown. The salad may not look as appetizing, but the flavors will still be good.
More Quinoa Salad recipes
Cucumber Quinoa Salad with Avocado
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber
- 1 large avocado
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1/2 – 3/4 batch dressing
- Hemp seeds for garnish optional
for the dressing:
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup raw cashews
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 1/4 cup spinach
- 2 scallions
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- Salt and pepper optional
Instructions
- Slice the avocado in half and remove the pit. Cut into bite-sized pieces and scoop into a large mixing bowl.
- Slice the cucumber lengthwise down the middle. Then cut into three equal, long strips. From there, chop the cucumber into cubes and add it to the mixing bowl.
- Add quinoa and onion, and set aside.
- Add water, cashews, herbs, spinach, scallions, lime juice and soy sauce to a high-powered blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired.
- Pour about 1/2 – 3/4 of the dressing over the mixing bowl and toss to combine. If you want more dressing, go for it and add the rest!
- Serve and sprinkle with hemp seeds.
Notes
Nutrition
