This Healthy Pesto Quinoa Avocado Cucumber Salad is sooo incredibly fresh, light, tangy, creamy and full of lemon-pesto flavor. Full of protein-packed quinoa, crunchy and crisp veggies + creamy avocado, this salad has honestly become my new favorite salad for every potluck, BBQ and family get-together this Summer!
Guys, it’s been a whirlwind of a week for me. My parents and two younger sibs flew in to Paris 6 days ago and we’ve been having a blast travelling, catching up and (let’s-be-honest lol) eating all the delicacies and walking our way through Europe together!
J and I met them in Paris at Bob’s Juice Bar (haha, not joking – most random meet up spot ever but with the best fresh juices of Paris!) and we discovered parts of the city I’ve never been before plus saw a few of the must-see sites of course! If you are ever in Paris, I’d highly recommend exploring Rue Cler and Rue Montorgueil. They are both the most picturesque streets with tons of delicious foods and local stores to explore and admire.
We’ve been back in Belgium the last few days with J’s wonderful family, enjoying and showing my family a few of our favorite Belgians sites! We went on an awesome bike tour by the Belgian coast, survived the heat wave while sightseeing Brussels in the super HOT weather and have been sampling all the delicious chocolate and beer Belgium has to offer PLUS enjoying some very relaxing family BBQs 😉 We are off to Amsterdam in a couple of hours (one of my favorite cities in Europe!) and I’m so excited to show my family a few of my favorite spots over in Holland!
And on top of everything, I GRADUATED my Master’s in Anthropology with honor’s two days ago. It still feels surreal that it’s all over after two years of cramming, learning, studying and then cramming some more but it’s DONE DONE DONE! I’m so excited to see what this next chapter of life has to offer.
So let’s celebrate with this supeeeer healthy and light Vegan + Gluten Free Pesto Quinoa Avocado Cucumber Salad, shall we? 🙂 This salad is incredibly delicious and makes the perfect lunch-time salad, Summer side or BBQ dish! It’s filled with fresh tomatoes, crispy cucumbers, tangy red onions, creaaaaaamy avocado and topped off with a light homemade light lemon pesto vinaigrette, YUM!
I’m off to Amsterdam now friends! Wishng you a wonderful week 🙂
- 1 cup quinoa
- 3 heaping cups cucumber, chopped (1 larger cucumber)
- 4 heaping cups tomato, chopped (4 large tomatoes)
- 1 cup red onion, diced (2 small red onions)
- 2 avocados, chopped
- 1 cup basil
- 2 tbsp tahini
- ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
- ½ tsp sea salt
- a couple splashes of water
- Rinse quinoa very well (this takes away the bitter aftertaste of quinoa) and cook in 2 cups of water. While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the vegetables.
- Cut all the veggies (see photo for size) and toss into a large bowl.
- Prepare the lemon pesto vinaigrette by blending all the ingredients (basil, tahini, lemon juice and sea salt) together. Add in a couple splashes of water if necessary. I used an immersion stick blender.
- Once the quinoa is cooked, fluff it with a fork and rinse it under cold water to cool it down. Leave the quinoa to cool for 10 minutes covered in the fridge before adding it to the chopped up vegetables.
- Add the cool quinoa to the chopped vegetables and toss it with the lemon pesto vinagrette.
- Garnish with fresh basil. This salad tastes even better the next day once the flavors have had time to marinate!
And y’all, I LOVE hearing your feedback and seeing your delicious #CearasKitchen creations :D. If you make this healthy, vegan and gluten free Healthy Pesto Quinoa Avocado Cucumber Salad, share your photos with me on Instagram @CearasKitchen (and remember to tag #CearasKitchen so I don’t miss it!) or share it on my Ceara’s Kitchen Facebook page. Have a beautiful weekend everyone!
15 comments
Just came across your site from a pin. While the pesto-quinoa-avocado-cucumber-tomato-salad looks delicious it was your name that drew me in! My 13 year old daughter shares your name and we hardly ever see it. We pronounce with a blended ky sound at the beginning – Ky-ara. How do you pronounce it? Most people can’t say it correctly but she has learned to answer to Keira, and Key-ara.
My youngest daughter has it worse though. Her name is Caoilainn.
So yummy! I love the idea of adding tahini to the pesto. I didn’t have any basil so I added parsley and cilantro instead, plus a 1/2″ piece of fresh turmeric. So good 🙂
Do you by any chance know the nutrition per serving for this meal?
Thanks 🙂
gorgeous, fresh salad Ceara, love it! So glad to hear you are having a fantastic time with family 🙂 Have fun!
Thank you! It was such a blast!
The salad looks so refreshing and tasty Ceara! I love that you added tahini to the dressing! It looks like you are having a fabulous time with your family in Europe! I am so happy for you! Pinning this wonderful salad!!
🙂 Thank you so much for the kind words and pin, Hadia!! It was so lovely having my family here!
I love quinoa! this recipe looks delicious! the Vinaigrette sound really yummy too! pinning this to try next time I make quinoa! 😉
Thank you for the kind words and pin, Michele! 🙂
Another beautiful edible rainbow from Ceara, I love this!! Especially that vinaigrette, I’m a sucker for a lemon dressing 🙂
Thank you so much, Natalie!! I love the rainbow salads this time of year 😀
Congrats on the Master!! Wooop! That’s so cool. I hope you have the most amazing time in Amsterdam – you sure deserved it!
The salad looks beautiful! It’s so colorful and gorgeous. Perfect for the summer.
Thank you, Bianca!!!!!!!!! 🙂 Amsterdam was lovely – it’s truly one of my favorite European cities!!
Wow, that does sound like a total whirlwind. I love Amsterdam, I hope you have an amazing time!
This summer looks like the perfect addition to any BBQ.
Thank you, Dannii! 🙂