Blueberry Corn Salad
on Jun 27, 2022, Updated Aug 05, 2025
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Fresh and crisp, this blueberry salad has the best of everything that summer has to offer including grilled corn. It’s a wonderful mix of sweet and savory flavors with quinoa, arugula, red onions and crumbled feta all dressed in a zesty lemon vinaigrette. You can serve this recipe as a salad or a vegetarian side dish.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This blueberry summer salad celebrates peak sweet corn and berry season. It has that perfect balance of savory and sweet flavors and textures including crisp bites of corn, red onions, arugula and feta cheese.
Quinoa makes the salad filling. This superfood is packed with protein and fiber. It’s quick to cook, and it’s one of my favorite elements to add to salads to turn them into a meal. That’s what I do with this Greek quinoa salad.
This isn’t a fruit salad. It’s fruit IN a salad. I’m a big fan of fruit in savory recipes like this strawberry feta salad. No offense to fruit salads, but this is such a fantastic way to feature in-season produce.
Don’t limit berries to just baking. Colorful salads are a wonderful way to make healthy blueberry recipes.
Ingredients & Substitutions
This is what you need:
- Blueberries: Look for berries that are plump with taut skin. Even the slightest wrinkles signal that they are past their prime. Fresh berries kind of have a crisp bite to them initially, like a snap or even a juicy pop. To prep them, just rinse them in cold water in a colander and pat them dry.
- Corn on the cob should be wrapped very tightly in their husks. This helps the kernels keep their moisture and stay fresh. Avoid any ears where other shoppers have peeled back the top of the husk because this will make the corn dry out faster. The silk at the end should be a little damp. Grill the ears of corn and then slice off the kernels once they are cool enough to hold.
- Quinoa: You can use white, red or black quinoa or a blend of all three. For this salad, I like the tiny granules of quinoa, which are gluten-free, but you can also use couscous, barley or rice (brown or wild).
- Red onions are great for salads because they are crisp and mild in their onion flavor. I also love the color they add. You can use sliced scallions too.
- Feta cheese crumbled in the salad is a nice salty counterpoint to the berries. You can substitute with goat cheese instead. Or for something more strong and pungent, go for blue cheese. I like creamy cheese to go with the rest of the ingredients.
- Arugula is a peppery leaf that I think acts like salad greens and fresh herbs especially in this recipe where it’s in a supporting role rather than being the star. You can swap it with baby spinach for a blueberry spinach salad. It’s up to you if you want to add more greens than the recipe calls for.
For the Dressing:
- Chives: Finely chopped chives give the salad a light green onion finish. Torn basil would also be lovely especially if you want to go for full summer flavor.
- Lemon is the base of the vinaigrette. For any dressing, squeeze a fresh lemon. Never use bottled lemon juice.
- Olive oil: Definitely reach for high quality extra virgin olive oil for this salad.
- Garlic is subtle in the dressing, but it reinforces the overall savory tastes.
- Whole grain mustard gives the vinaigrette a little punch and also helps to keep it emulsified.
- Kosher salt and black pepper season the overall salad via the vinaigrette.
Optional Additions
- Nuts: For some crunch, try chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds.
- Avocado: Stir in diced avocados for some healthy fat that will make the salad more filling.
- Cucumbers: Add diced cucumbers for more cool and fresh flavor.
- Hard-boiled egg: Chop it to add a protein to the salad.
How To Make This Blueberry Salad
1. Cook the quinoa. On the stovetop combine the rinsed quinoa and water over high heat. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and cover the pot. Simmer the quinoa until the grains are tender, about 12 minutes or so. Let the quinoa sit covered for 5 minutes, and then fluff it with a fork.
2. Grill the corn. Fire up a gas or charcoal grill on high heat. Rub the corn with olive oil and grill it until the kernels are charred in spots. This will take 5-7 minutes. Make sure to turn the corn as it cooks. When it is cool enough to handle, slice the kernels off the cobs.
3. Combine the fresh blueberries, onions, arugula, feta and chives in a big salad bowl. Stir in the quinoa.
4. Make the vinaigrette by whisking together the garlic, mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
5. Stir the ingredients together while drizzling in the salad dressing.
Serving
Because this refreshing salad goes heavy on the quinoa and corn and not as much on the greens, I like to think of it as a side dish too. Of course you can serve it like an entrée salad and add a protein such as grilled chicken, salmon or shrimp.
Leftovers & Storage
You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days. The arugula will probably wilt the longer it sits, so add more arugula when you eat it.
If you are planning to save some of the salad, toss only what you’re going to eat in the homemade dressing. Then save extra dressing in a jar separate from the salad.
Recipe Tips
- You can lean more into leafy greens by adding more arugula or changing the type. Try romaine lettuce to turn it into a summer chopped salad.
- Make this a mixed berry salad and also include strawberries. Then I would also think about using baby spinach or a combination of both spinach and arugula.
- You can make quinoa and dressing up to 3 days in advance. Let the quinoa cool to room temperature before putting it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Keep the dressing in a jar. Let it sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, stir it and then toss it in the salad.
More Berry Recipes
Mixed Berry Kale Salad
Strawberry Cucumber Pasta Salad
Pistachio Goat Cheese Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
Blackberry Salad with Basil Pesto Vinaigrette
Lemon Blueberry Scones
Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Raspberries
Blackberry Lemon Yogurt Cake
Find more salad ideas in my seasonal salad roundup featuring leafy green salads, bean salads and pasta salads.
Blueberry Corn Salad
Ingredients
For quinoa
- 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
- 1 cup water
For corn
- 3 ears corn
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
For salad
- 1-1/2 cups blueberries
- 1/4 cup chopped red onions
- 1 cup arugula
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta
- 1 tablespoon minced chives
For viniagrette
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Combine the quinoa and water in a small saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer on low until the quinoa is cooked and has absorbed the water, about 12-15 minutes.
- Remove the quinoa from the heat. Let stand covered for 5 minutes. Then fluff it with a fork.
- Preheat a gas or charcoal grill on high heat.
- Rub the corn with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Grill, turning occasionally, until lightly charred, about 5-7 minutes. Let the corn cool slightly before slicing off the kernels.
- In a large bowl, combine the corn, blueberries, onions, arugula, feta and chives. Stir in the quinoa.
- For the dressing, whisk together the garlic, mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
- Drizzle the dressing into the salad, tossing to coat.
Notes
- Nuts: chopped pecans, almonds or walnuts
- Diced avocado
- Diced cucumbers
- Chopped hard-boiled eggs
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
delicious salad. I didn’t have any fresh corn so I substituted frozen corn and toasted it in a cast iron pan. The salad has a perfect melding of flavors. My husband and I both really enjoyed it. Thank you!
Another fantastic recipe, Paige!! I added grilled chicken, sliced almonds and avocado.
Excellent blend of complementary flavors with a perfect dressing!