Crispy Quinoa Black Bean Salad
on Apr 30, 2026
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With fantastic crunch, this crispy quinoa black bean salad is bold with Tex-Mex flavors. It has corn, tomatoes, bell peppers and avocados, all tossed in a fresh lime dressing. Enjoy this salad for lunch or serve it as a side dish for dinner. You can toast the quinoa and make the dressing in advance.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This wonderful salad has lots of personality (flavor & texture). Adding toasted quinoa to the winning combination of black beans, corn, peppers and tomatoes gives it something extra and exciting.
Once you start toasting cooked quinoa in the oven, you will get obsessed with that golden brown crunch. Think of it like a healthier version of breadcrumbs or croutons in a salad.
You can eat this spoonable, no-lettuce salad for lunch or serve it as a side dish with dinner or at a potluck. Even with it’s big flavors and ingredients, it’s a versatile recipe that plays well with other dishes.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Cooked quinoa: It’s best to cook the quinoa the night before because it has to cool before you toast it. If you simmer the quinoa and need it to cool faster, spread it across a dinner plate.
- Black beans are one of my pantry must-haves. Just open the can, dump the beans into a colander and rinse them off. Then they’re ready for the salad.
- Corn: It’s easiest to use a can of sweet corn for the salad. If it is corn season, you can slice off the kernels from a couple ears and eat them raw or roast them, which is what I do when I make this chopped romaine corn salad.
- Tomatoes: You can use halved cherry or grape tomatoes in any color.
- Bell peppers: Orange, yellow or red peppers will work in the salad. They are sweeter than green peppers, which are more bitter.
- Avocado: I wait to dice the avocado until I’m about to stir it into the salad. The lime juice in the dressing will do a good job preventing it from browning.
- Jalapeño: There are so many other ingredients that the heat from the jalapeños is subtle and not overly spicy.
- Red onions give the salad a sharp accent. I finely chop them, so they are really mixed in with everything else.
- Feta or cotija cheese: Both are crumbly and have good salty flavor. Feta is something that I always have in my fridge, so that’s what I typically use.
- Cilantro is the perfect fresh herb for these Tex-Mex ingredients. If you aren’t a cilantro person, you can leave it out. I know it’s a love-it/hate-it ingredient.
- Lime dressing: It has minced garlic, whole grain mustard, lime juice, olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper. Juice actual limes (no bottled juice) for the best flavor.
How To Make This Crispy Black Bean Quinoa Salad
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
1. Toast the quinoa. Stir it with oil, salt and pepper right on the pan and then spread it out. Give the quinoa 25-30 minutes in the oven, stirring it around every 10 minutes. It should turn out crisp and nicely browned.
2. Assemble the salad ingredients including black beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, avocados, jalapeños, red onions, feta and cilantro in a big bowl. I wait to add the quinoa to preserve its crunch.
3. Make the dressing. In a small bowl, stir the the garlic, mustard, lime juice, oil, salt and pepper.
4. Dress the salad and add the quinoa. I start with half the dressing and then I fold in the quinoa. After that, I add more dressing as needed.
Serving
This bean salad is goes with anything smoky and grilled such as barbecue tofu vegetable skewers or grilled vegetable burrito bowls. Enjoy it with other Tex-Mex recipes such as sheet pan vegetarian fajitas or baked crispy chickpea tacos. You can add tofu, chicken or salmon to the salad.
Looking for more salad inspiration? Check out my seasonal salad guide with recipes and tips on ingredients, meal prep and more.
Crispy Quinoa Black Bean Salad
Ingredients
For quinoa
- 2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Pinch of kosher salt
- Pinch of black pepper
For salad
- 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 15 ounce can corn, drained and rinsed
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1 jalapeño, minced
- 1/3 cup finely chopped red onions
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta or cotija cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
For dressing
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon whole grain msutard
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 limes, juiced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, stir the quinoa with 2 teaspoons olive oil, pinch of kosher salt and a pinch of black pepper. Spread the quinoa across the prepared pan.
- Toast the quinoa until it is browned and crisp, about 25-30 minutes, stirring it every 10 minutes.
- Combine the black beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, avocados, jalapeños, red onions, feta and cilantro in a large bowl.
- For the dressing, whisk together the garlic, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, lime juice and 3 tablespoons olive oil in a small bowl.
- Drizzle half the dressing into the salad, tossing to combine.
- Stir the crispy quinoa into the salad. Add more dressing as desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
