This nutrient-packed Quinoa Avocado Salad only takes 25 minutes and it’s full of healthy, energizing, plant-based goodness. (Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free)
Fluffy quinoa, spinach, and sweet cherry tomatoes join forces with creamy avocado in this fresh & tasty dish. We love this combo! It’s nutrient-packed, delicious, and pleasantly filling and energizing. (Plus easy to make and it only takes 25 minutes!)
Customize Your Quinoa Avocado Salad
This is a beautifully versatile dish, so have fun playing around with different variations and flavors. Add beans or seeds for additional protein. Or change up the veggies depending on what’s in season, or add cucumber for a little crunch. For the dressing, you can certainly use fresh lemon/lime juice instead of red wine vinegar. And fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro) are lovely as well!
This dish makes an awesome take-along lunch that you can make ahead of time and store in the fridge. It also works great for picnics, potlucks, parties, etc. Hope you enjoy as well!
Come join The Garden Grazer on Instagram and share a photo if you make this. (Also please leave a review & star rating below if you give it a try. Your feedback is greatly appreciated – thank you!)
Quinoa Avocado Spinach Power Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup white quinoa (uncooked)
- 2 avocados
- 3 oz. baby spinach (more if desired)
- 8 oz. grape/cherry tomatoes
- 3 green onions (or finely diced red onion)
- 2 1/2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
- 1-2 cloves garlic (I use 2)
- 1/8 tsp. salt (more/less to taste)
Optional additions:
- Cucumber, fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro, etc.), lemon juice, Dijon mustard, 1 tsp. dried oregano/basil
Instructions
- Rinse and cook quinoa*.
- Meanwhile, roughly chop the spinach. Place in a large mixing bowl.
- Mince garlic, and add to spinach.
- Halve/quarter cherry tomatoes, slice green onions, and dice avocado.
- When quinoa is done cooking, immediately add it to the large bowl with spinach & garlic. Toss well to combine. (The heat from the quinoa will lightly wilt the spinach and mellow the garlic.)
- Add the tomatoes, green onions, red wine vinegar, and salt to taste. Stir to combine.
- Add the avocado and lightly toss. Serve immediately or refrigerate to let flavors blend/intensify.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving (estimate)
Enjoying this Quinoa Avocado Salad? Also check out this fresh Summer Chopped Salad with Creamy Herb Dressing, Black Bean Lentil Salad, or simple Cucumber Salad!
yes! this looks so simple but incredibly delicious! Yum!
Thank you!
How many does this serve?
Hi Angie! Depends on if you’re using it as a main dish or side dish. I’d estimate main dish servings to be about 3-4, and side dish servings about 6-8. It can really vary based on your serving size preference, so I split the difference and call it 5 medium bowls 🙂
Thanks! Going to make this tonight!
Hope you enjoy!
Made this to go with some grilled chicken; fabulous!!! I also added some goat cheese. This is a GREAT salad and easy!
Thanks for sharing!
Just made this dish. It's real good! 🙂 Thanks!
I love your recipes. Have made several of them!
So great to hear that – thank you!
This is the kind of salad I could happily eat everyday for lunch. Great dish, Kaitlin!
Thank you!
This is soooo delish!! I have so much energy after eating this power salad. This is a must try!!
Great to hear!
If you are having this the next day should you eat it cold or heat it up?
Hi Sarah! I always eat the leftovers cold 🙂
I loved this salad! Even my little 7 year old liked it. Very tasty. I ended up doubling the spinach. Packing up leftovers for hubby's lunch. Thanks for the quick easy meal, the only thing I didn't have on hand was the avacado. 🙂
So great to hear! Love that you doubled the spinach 🙂
Hello, new to the site but was wondering if you post nutrition information?
Hi and welcome! The estimated nutritional content is now provided on the site! (You can find it below each recipe.) Hope that helps!
This sounds great! I would love to make it and portion it out for my lunches this week. Will it stay good refrigerated for a few days, or is it a dish that doesn't last more than a day or two?
Hi Jennie! Yes! I've kept this in the fridge for about 3-4 days before. The avocado will brown a little so if that's an issue you could leave it out and add it right before serving. I don't mind, so I just do it all in the beginning 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
I just finished making this! I had to substitute cucumber for avocado and added sugar to the dressing. I can't wait for my coworkers to try it.
So great! Thanks for sharing!
Yum! I can't wait to try this 🙂
Hope you enjoy!
We made this for dinner last night, and it was fabulous! Used red bell pepper instead of tomato, since daughter doesn't care for tomato, and it added a nice kick. Thanks for sharing this easy and delicious recipe! Doesn't hurt that it's good for you, too!
That’s a great idea! So glad you enjoyed it, thanks so much for the sweet message 🙂
Hi Kaitlin! Just wanted to say that this recipe was absolutely delicious and has filled my lunch all week. I loved this so much I had to share it with all the readers on my blog. Thank you for sharing – I cannot wait to try more of your recipes.
Thanks for sharing, Danielle!
We ate all our spinach in last night's green salad so I cubed up some zucchini. Otherwise, followed your recipe to use the rest of my leftover quinoa. PERFECT!!! mmm
Great addition! Thanks for your helpful feedback!
Just made this. AMAZING!!!
So great! Thank you!
I used WW recipe builder and came up with 8 points for 5 servings and 6 points for 6 servings.
Thanks for sharing!
OMG, this is sooooooo good! Thank you for sharing
Great to hear!
Just made this and it is amazing!
Thank you for giving it a try! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Do you think I could use Balsamic instead of red wine vinegar for the dressing?
Hi Jody! I’m guessing that’d work great too!
The sounds delicious. You sound very similar to me.:)
Hope you enjoy!
I just made this tonight–so light and refreshing! Awesome. Thanks!
So great! Thanks for the feedback!
GREAT summer salad! I LOVED it!
Yay! So great to hear 🙂
I saw this on Pinterest and I was so excited that I had all the ingredients on hand. I made it right away for lunch. It was soooo good! Thanks for the awesome recipe. I'll be making this over and over again.
Love when that happens! Glad you enjoyed!
I don't have any quinoa on hand but have everything else! Do you think brown rice would work?
Hey Jenny! I’ve never tried this with rice, but I think it could still could work 🙂
Love this! Wish you had a print button for your recipes.
Hi! You can find the “Print” button in the recipe card! 🙂
This was super good! Thank you!
So great to hear!
Enjoying every bite of it right now!! Pleasantly surprised!! Thank you!!
Awesome – thank you!
This was amazing! Even my 7 year old loved it! I doubled the spinach and added lemon … YUUUUMM! Thank you for a great recipe!
Great additions, thanks for sharing!
My family and I recently started eating more healthy foods, and this recipe was one I saw on Pinterest that I just had to try. It looked so delicious. We had this for dinner tonight and it tasted just as delicious as it looked! I added chickpeas to make it a bit more filling. Like you point out in your post, it's amazing how such simple ingredients can create such complex and delicious flavors. My daughter had three servings. I'm excited to try some of your other recipes, thanks for all the great, healthy inspiration!
That’s so great! Love the chickpea addition!
Doing a 10 Day Clean Eating Challenge and this was today's lunch. YUM! Thanks so much for sharing! (Your website and salads are playing a big part in my challenge.)
Great to hear, Natalie!
Just made this made this for dinner tonight and It was awesome!!!!!! Very light on the tummy and fulfilling at the same time. I added almonds to mine.
Great idea with the almonds – thanks for sharing!
This looks delicious! Do you have any suggestions for a substitute if I don't have red wine vinegar? Thanks so much!
Hi Leslie! Fresh lemon juice or another vinegar would be a great substitute – hope you enjoy! 🙂
i love this recipe never tried quinoa before but thanks to this i love it had to change eating habits and this works well thanks for sharing
So great!
Great recipe! I found adding fresh lemon juice prevented the avocados from turning brown if you want leftovers for the following days.
Oh and I used the tricolor quinoa which made it look even prettier!
Love that – great tips! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I was so late to shop but when I saw this recipe I was oh yeah we have all this in the cupboard and frig just need to run to the corner store for the green onions yay!I am going to have it with pollock delish can not wait thanks a bunch!
Hope you enjoy!
I made this for a picnic. It is very good. Next time I will double the spinach and add lemon juice or zest to the dressing. I love that it's good made ahead. Thanks for the recipe!
So great! Thanks for your feedback 🙂
I love this. Thank you. I sprinkle a little feta before serving. It tastes better cold.
Thanks for sharing!
I love this recipe! I make it pretty frequently and it's good to take to dinners with non vegans, as they all like it too! Also it's a super good left over.
Fun to hear the carnivores enjoy it too – thanks for the feedback!
I just made this salad for lunch and OMG…..it's AMAZING!!!!! I love every ingredient in it!! ADDICTED!!!!
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback!
Hi Kaitlin!
I just wanted to thank you for this recipe. I’ve had it in my “stash” for several years but never tried it until last week. WOW! Have we been missing out! It is so delicious and so easy. It’s now going to be a regular addition to our menu. We eat it as a main dish salad and it’s so satisfying and cool for hot, humid NC days. Thanks so much!
Hi Jackie! That’s amazing to hear! Appreciate you giving it a try and sharing your very kind feedback, thank you! Hope you continue to enjoy it throughout the summer 🙂 Take care!
A++++ Excellent!!! I have been making this salad for years. It is one of my favorites and it stores well in the fridge for a days. I usually add the avocado right before I have a serving. It is soo good, makes me feel great, I usually have some wonderful energy after I eat it. Thank you so much for such a great recipe.
AWESOME! So glad you’ve been enjoying this one. Thanks so much for the kind feedback and recipe rating – very appreciated 🙂 And good call adding the avocado right before serving! Hope you have a lovely rest of the week. -Kaitlin