If you've been looking for a new quinoa salad to try, this is it! It's the best cucumber quinoa salad recipe and it's got avocado and creamy cashew herb dressing which makes it 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, protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Filling, delicious, and also a cinch to make!
Making Cucumber Quinoa Salad
What I love about making quinoa salad is how quick it is. Especially if you keep cooked quinoa on hand as I do. Quinoa is the perfect meal prep ingredient!
For this quinoa avocado salad, you all just need a few simple ingredients:
- Quinoa: I personally love to use white quinoa for this salad because it's fluffy and not as flavorful. But any type will work!
- Avocado: find the perfect avocado for this salad so it's nice and creamy! Look for one that is just tender to the touch.
- Cucumber: we're cutting our cucumbers into chunks so you get these big bursts of crunch and brightness.
- 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 dressing: we're tossing the whole salad in the most amazing creamy dressing, which we're making at home!
Is Vegan Quinoa Salad Gluten-Free?
Most of the time, quinoa salad is gluten-free. Quinoa itself is naturally gluten-free, so the only thing you'd have to look out for is an ingredient that's added that contains gluten.
Creamy Cashew Herb Dressing
This dressing you guys. It’s SO good. And it's crazy simple to make!
Today’s creamy cashew dressing is made up of:
- raw cashews
- fresh herbs – parsley and cilantro
- spinach
- scallions
- lime juice
- tamari
It’s bright, flavorful, and full of so much flavor!
All you have to do to make the dressing is simply whizz everything together with a touch of water in your blender until smooth. Then pour it over your salad and toss it all together. It’s easy peasy! I think the entire thing took me under 10 minutes.
Storage & Serving Suggestions
For serving:
I suggest serving this as a side dish or if you want to stretch it a little bit, just do what I did. Put it over some greens!
I dressed my greens in a simple vinaigrette of olive oil and lemon juice, then added this avocado quinoa salad on top. It was the perfect lunch. And in all reality, will also be my dinner tonight. I’m all about the leftovers.
If you want to make this ahead:
store it in the fridge for no more than 1 day. Since there's avocado, you have the risk of it going brown and making the whole cucumber quinoa salad look not so appetizing!
So who’s ready to get avocado crazy with me? Let’s dive in avo-friends!
More Vegan Quinoa Salads recipes:
- Saffron Middle Eastern Quinoa Salad
- Herbed Spring Quinoa Salad
- Fall Quinoa Salad
- Almond Butter Thai Quinoa Salad
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
