I have had a huge bag of quinoa sitting in my pantry for months. Why haven’t I made it? Who knows? It may be because I have to rinse it. This thirty second task was turning me off, and I finally realized it was ridiculous!
It was Steve’s birthday this past weekend and we threw a Tex Mex Bday bash. We have a few friends that are vegetarian and needed a slightly healthy entree to go with the meal, so this cilantro avocado quinoa was it!
This quinoa is served like a cold salad. It keeps great in the fridge and the cilantro lime crema dressing is also delicious on tacos and leafy green salads. It’s not too many ingredients and is great for making ahead of time!
All you need is…
Dressing: 3/4 cup lime juice, 1 cup mayonnaise, 1 Tablespoon chopped jalapeño, 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper.
2 cups cooked quinoa, 2 avocados, 1 Tablespoon butter, 1 cup of corn, and 2 chopped scallions!
Make sure you cook the quinoa ahead of time. I like to cook mine in broth and sometimes I add a little Sazon seasoning. This cooks in the flavor!
Start by juicing up your limes. Go ahead and juice straight into a measuring cup and continue to add each ingredient to the cup. Then you just whisk away at the end!
Then chop up the jalapeño. Make sure to get a nice fine mince. Or you could be more efficient and just blend this whole thing in the food processor. I just didn’t feel like washing it for a fourth time this weekend.
Now choppy your cilantro.
Use a microplane to grate your garlic. You can chop it up finely too, but the microplane pulls out some serious flavor from the garlic and helps it infuse better into the dressing!
Add in the olive oil and mayo and stir, stir, whisk, whisk!!
Melt some butter in a skillet for the corns.
Get it nice and hot and add in the corn with a little salt and pepper. If corn is in season, grill it on the grill while it is still on the cob. Lop off the kernels and toss in a little butta.
I got a little over excited with the next few steps and neglected to take photographs! AHHHHHH!
Buttt…All you need to do is combine the dressing with the quinoa. Chop up the avocado and the scallions and toss them in. Then add the corn and you are good to go!
Another excellent add on is a little cotija cheese!
Even my husband ate this, and he does not like quinoa.
The END.
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 cup corn
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 2 avocados
- 2 scallions
- 3/4 cup lime juice
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 Tablespoon chopped jalapeno
- 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1. Cook the quinoa, preferably in vegetable broth and let cool.
- 2. Chop avocados into a small dice.
- 3. Heat butter in a skillet and add the corn, cook until corn is cooked through.
- 4. Chop the scallions
- 5. Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients.
- 6. Toss the quinoa with the dressing and corn.
- 7. Top with avocado and and scallions
- Dive IN!
- Optional: Add cotija cheese for a salty bite!
I'm a country girl at heart. I tried living in the city and it just didn't work. Welcome to my ramblings as a teacher and wife. 
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