Description
This 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!
Ingredients
Scale
- 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
Lemon Pesto Vinaigrette
- 1 cup basil
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- a couple splashes of water
Instructions
- 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!
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Side
- Cuisine: American