Spicy Quinoa and Mango Salad is a perfect cool, light and refreshing choice for our hot summer weather. Whether you serve this salad as a main entree or as a side dish, this versatile dish is healthy and full of summer’s bounty. It also gets better the longer it sits, that is if you don’t eat it all first. You have to love a salad that really does taste better the next day.
I told you in an earlier post that I have been obsessed with mango, avocado, and tomatoes this summer. Well, this simple salad contains an abundance of those fresh ingredients, plus quinoa! I mean, how much healthier can you get? And, how much easier can it get? The only thing that has to be cooked is the quinoa, and that can be made way in advance. Once the quinoa is done you just throw everything in a bowl. After all, it’s summer, the living is easy, and your salads should be too!
Psst, not a fan of quinoa or don’t have any, leave it out. This salad is delicious with or without it.
The ingredients for Spicy Quinoa and Mango Salad are quinoa, mangos, tomatoes, avocados, scallions, hot sauce, sugar, kosher salt, ground cumin, the juice of 2 limes, garlic, and olive oil.
If you are ready to make this delicious salad, gather your ingredients.
Put the rinsed quinoa, salt, and water into a pot over medium-high heat and bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and let it simmer gently until the quinoa absorbs all the water, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Place into a large bowl and fluff up with a fork to help it cool more quickly.
To make the dressing add the hot sauce, sugar, salt, ground cumin, lime juice, grated garlic and olive oil to a mason jar and shake well. Set aside.
Looking for an easy way to chop your mangos? A mango has one long, flat seed in the center of the fruit. Once you figure out how to cut around that seed the rest is easy.
Stand the mango on your cutting board stem end down and hold firmly. Place your knife about 1/4″ from the widest center line and cut down through the mango. Flip the mango around and repeat this cut on the other side. The resulting ovals of mango flesh are known as the “cheeks.” What’s left in the middle is mostly the mango seed.
Cut parallel slices into the mango flesh, being careful not to cut through the skin. Turn the mango cheek 1/4 rotation and cut another set of parallel slices to make a checkerboard pattern.
Then turn the scored mango cheek inside out by pushing the skin up from underneath, and cut the mango chunks off of the skin with a knife.
In a large bowl, add the mangos, tomatoes, scallions and avocado and about 1/2 of the dressing and toss gently.
Add the cooled quinoa and mix well. Add more dressing, if needed.
Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to two days.
| Servings | main dish servings |
- 1 cup quinoa rinsed
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups water
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- Juice of 2 limes
- 2 cloves garlic grated or finely minced
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 mangos chopped
- 2 Roma tomatoes chopped
- 2 scallions just the white part, finely minced
- 1 avocado chopped
Ingredients
|
- Put the rinsed quinoa, salt, and water into a pot over medium-high heat and bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and let it simmer gently until the quinoa absorbs all the water, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Place into a large bowl and fluff up with a fork to help it cool more quickly.
- To make the dressing add the hot sauce, sugar, salt, ground cumin, lime juice, grated garlic and olive oil to a mason jar and shake well. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the mangos, tomatoes, scallions and avocado and about 1/2 of the dressing and toss gently. Add the cooled quinoa and mix well. Add more dressing, if needed.
- Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to two days.
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