Quinoa Taco Salad with Tangy Lime Dressing

If you’re looking for a refreshing, cleansing, satisfying meal, this is about as good as it gets. It combines some of the best elements of a taco salad and uses quinoa instead of tortilla chips. If you don’t overcook them, those little quinoa grains have a nice little soft crunch, which doesn’t sound like it makes any sense until you actually eat it.

This is one of those recipes that was completely inspired by what I have in the fridge, plus my love of Mexican food of all kinds, plus a recent conversation with a friend about good vegetarian meal ideas. I was desperate for inspiration, and I had all these vegetables that had been languishing unused in my fridge due to a combination of laziness and busy-ness.

Fortunately I had the presence of mind to enter the ingredients in my phone so I could make this recipe again, because my man Mike loved it. He said, “Is this dinner? This is amazing!”

Quinoa Taco Salad with Tangy Lime Dressing

Makes 2 servings. *Gluten-Free, Vegan

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Ingredients

  

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1 shallot
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 jalapeno optional
• 1 bag baby multicolored sweet peppers
• 5 mushrooms
• 2 roma tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 tsp coriander
• 2 cups chopped kale
• radishes avocado & cilantro for serving

Tangy Lime Dressing

• juice of 1 lime
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

 

• Mix ingredients for lime dressing. Dice shallot and mince garlic. Seed peppers, dice jalapeno, and slice sweet peppers into long strips, then cut the strips in half. Slice mushrooms, and chop tomatoes.
• Heat coconut oil on medium heat; when melted, add shallot and cook until fragrant, 4 minutes. Add jalapeno and peppers and cook 4 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook 5 minutes.
• Add quinoa and coriander and stir to combine. Add kale and a splash of water. Cover and steam 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the kale cooks evenly.
• Divide the quinoa mixture among two bowls and drizzle each with Tangy Lime Dressing. Top with sliced radish, cut avocado, and chopped cilantro.