Asian Quinoa Salad

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This healthy Asian Inspired Quinoa Salad is filled with colorful vegetables and finished with a simple Asian dressing. This easy Quinoa salad is great for lunch or dinner and can be made in advance.

Asian Quinoa Salad Recipe A quick and healthy salad that is great for lunch or dinner.

Good, Yet Good For You

I’m kind of obsessed with quinoa salads. I can’t get enough. Quinoa is a great source of protein and makes a great hearty, healthy, and delicious salad!

Last week, I was in the mood for a quinoa salad, but wanted to try something new, so I mixed up an Asian Inspired Quinoa Salad and my oh my it’s amazing! This one tops the charts! You’ve gotta try it!

Asian Quinoa Salad on plate

Quinoa & Edamame Salad

I love this salad because it’s tasty and healthy, but I also love it because it’s pretty! I love all of the bright colors. The salad has:

  • red cabbage
  • edamame
  • carrots
  • red pepper
  • cucumbers
  • cilantro

Eating the rainbow has never been so delicious! And if you need to clean out your vegetable drawer, feel free to throw in other veggies too! This salad is flexible.

Easy Quinoa Edamame Salad

Salad Dressing

I made a simple ginger soy dressing with sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, green onion, and sesame seeds. This easy dressing gives the salad a ton of flavor and it is easy to whisk up.

Note, if you need the salad to be gluten-free make sure you use Tamari instead of soy sauce because not all soy sauce is gluten-free.

Asian Salad with quinoa and edamame

Quinoa Salad For All Occasions

This salad is fresh, light, and perfect for a simple lunch or dinner. It can be made in advance, which makes it a great meal prep salad. Just don’t dress the salad until you are ready to eat.

This salad is great for entertaining because it can be made in advance and it’s gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian. I love having options for all of guests. And our little pea loved this salad too! Caleb kept picking out edamame and yelling “Ed-mommy!” This salad was a hit with the entire family.

If you are looking for a new way to cook up quinoa, try this Quinoa Salad. It is my new favorite and I think you will like it too!

Asian Salad in bowl with fork

Check Out These Other Quinoa Recipes:

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Asian Quinoa Salad Recipe

This bright and healthy Asian Quinoa Salad is great for an easy lunch or dinner. It is also great to take to parties! It is always a hit!
4.61 from 123 votes

Ingredients
  

For the Salad:

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chopped red cabbage
  • 1 cup shelled and cooked edamame
  • 1 red bell pepper chopped
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrots
  • 1 cup diced cucumber

For the dressing:

  • 1/4 cup lite soy sauce or tamari sauce low sodium
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
  • 1/4 teaspoon grated ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • Salt and black pepper to taste (taste before adding salt, you might not need any)

Instructions
 

  • Add water, quinoa, and salt to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.
  • Place the quinoa in a large bowl and add the cabbage, edamame, red pepper, carrots, and cucumber. Set aside.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, green onions, cilantro, sesame seeds, ginger, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
  • Pour the dressing over the quinoa salad and stir to combine.
  • Note-Make sure you use tamari for a gluten-free salad, not all soy sauce is gluten-free. This salad is good served at room temperature or chilled.

Nutrition

Calories: 283kcal, Carbohydrates: 38g, Protein: 13g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 987mg, Potassium: 661mg, Fiber: 7g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 3995IU, Vitamin C: 55.9mg, Calcium: 90mg, Iron: 3.9mg
Keywords quinoa salad

Have you tried this recipe?

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A delicious and healthy salad bowl filled with red cabbage, carrots, cucumber, red pepper, and cilantro. Include this Asian quinoa recipe in your signature dishes for family bondings! Try it with tamari soy sauce to be gluten-free!
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Maria

I'm Maria and my husband is Josh. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We love sitting around the table with good food, good conversation, and good friends and family! Our kitchen is always open!
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  1. It is so bright and pretty! I made an Asian broccoli slaw with a similar dressing this weekend. Love those Asian flavors!!

  2. WOW…this is stunning! So bright and colorful. And so healthy! I’m always looking for super healthy options and this is a great one. I’m glad your so obsessed with quinoa! 😀

  3. I love quinoa salads, too! I had almost this exact salad as my side dish at Bonefish Grill last night. It was delicious and all I kept thinking was that I need to recreate it at home!

  4. I have had a bag of quinoa sitting in my pantry for the past few months, not knowing what to do with it! Well I think I’ve come to the right place! That looks awesome!

  5. I can’t get enough quinoa salads right now! This one is so colorful and perfect for a summer meal!

  6. All these colors and flavors! Yum, my favorite! Oh and quinoa salads are a good obsession. Especially when they come out like the ones you have been posting!

  7. This looks like it would be nice and satisfying- photogenic colors make it even better!

  8. Maria,
    Your salad is so colorful! As much as I enjoy getting my veggies from the CSA farm share, at this time of year the predominant color in the crisper is green. Very, very green.
    I can’t wait until later in the summer, when I can truly clean out my veggie drawers and make this properly.

    Thanks!

  9. Girl, I swear you have the most colorful and YUMMY looking food on the internet – I am definitely pinning this for dinner next week!

  10. I LOVE how vibrant and gorgeous the colors of this salad are! You could make ANYONE eat this! 🙂

  11. Absolutely gorgeous, and so nutritious! Definitely saving this to try soon. Thanks, Maria!

  12. What beautiful colors, Maria! This is exactly the sort of recipe that would make anyone fall in love with quinoa.

  13. I just pinned this to make for dinner! It sounds delicious, and like the perfect quick weeknight meal! Caleb is so cute – ed-mommy!!

  14. I absolutely love quinoa! But I have never had it in a salad. I so need to try this!

  15. Oh wow. I love quinoa too but the husband does not. He wants meat..all the time. My boys were gone all day fishing and I sat around eating quinoa and watching HGTV..I kid you not. It was awesome.

  16. I share your quinoa salad obsession! And I kind of love edamame too. 🙂 Can’t wait to try this one!

  17. Love edamame so I’m happy to see it listed here! This looks so fresh and summery.

  18. This is GORGEOUS Maria!!! I love how crunchy and full of texture it is. I want a bowl right now!

  19. I have to agree that this is one of the most colourful recipes for Quinoa that I have come across. How can you not like quinoa salad with a meal like this?

  20. I’m all about Asian flavors in my salads lately! This one is gorgeous and sounds majorly delicious.

  21. please keep the quinoa salads coming! I just tried the fruit salad over the weekend and brought it to a potluck. It received rave reviews. 🙂

  22. We made this salad last night for supper. It was delicious! I can’t wait to have some leftovers today!

  23. Wow, I sawyour recipe on Pinterest and had to come and read your post! I love quinoa and asian foods so putting them together in this beautiful, vibrant salad sounds so wonderful! I have to make this recipe!

  24. Love the idea of this salad. Can it be made in the morning for service at a 7 p.m. dinner?
    Going to a friend’s country home and would like to take it all or in part made in advance.
    Thanks for all your great ideas and blogalogue.

  25. Made this tonight, it tasted wonderful. We added a bit more red pepper for some extra spice admit turned out great.

  26. How long will this keep? I’d like to make this Thursday night and serve it camping on Saturday night…

  27. Made this tonight and it’s nice a crunchy and tasty….pretty too. But I found it to be a bit too salty with the soy sauce. I added extra vinegar and ginger to balance it out, but next time I’ll use a bit less soy. I might add some kale tomorrow to change it up a bit.

    Thanks!

  28. I’ve come to learn that making a meal visually appealing really does make it more appetizing – these colors are awesome! Definitely making this for lunch this week.

  29. Hi Maria- this looks amazing…I don’t have any quinoa on hand but do have barley….seems to me that might sub well…thoughts? Thanks!!!

  30. Thanks Maria-I ended up using farro as that is what I had…thought I had barley and the salad is AMAZING!!!!! I got the farro at Trader Joe’s…they have little bags of 1o minute farro…first time I have used farro and it reminds me much of barley.

  31. Made this tonight for picky husband and me – had to sub fresh parsley for the cilantro due me being one of those rare and unfortunate people whose genes make cilantro taste like soap/hairspray, but left the rest exactly as written. Definitely quick, tasty and super healthy. Thanks for a great quinoa recipe!

  32. I love the “ed-mommy” comment.. Our little one (your little guy’s age) calls it “era-mermaid” 🙂

  33. I made this last night to take to a picnic and share, and everyone loved it. Definitely a keeper. Thanks!

  34. WOW! Who needs Chinese fried rice when you have this amazing salad? I just made a batch and LOVE it! My niece has nut allergy so I made a separate batch and excluded sesame seeds and substituted sesame oil for EVOO…..Still very delicious. This is definitely a keeper 🙂

  35. I stumbled upon your website quite by accident as I was in search of a new chocolate bunt cake. The sour cream chocolate bundt with glaze in your dessert section was a huge hit. Today I made the Asian Quinoa salad with your zucchini cheddar corn muffins and for dessert I made the lemon blueberry cookies. Everyone is raving about the food and I have been sharing your website with my coworkers and family. Thank you for posting your fun blog and sharing your kitchen skills with us. I will be visiting this site often.

  36. Delicious!! I just made this for lunch and I can’t stop shoveling it in my mouth! I too am a lover of everything Quinoa, and I love the flavour of this. It reminds me of an old recipe that had Ichiban noodles, cabbage and sesame seeds, but this one is way healthier. The only thing I changed was I left out the cilantro (as much as I try to like it, I just can’t) and substituted fresh dill. It probably changes the asian feel of the salad but was very good anyway. I may add some toasted, slivered almonds next time too. Thanks for the great recipe!

  37. Love this recipe! I can’t wait to try it. Just to let you know though- It’s not gluten free unless you substitute with gluten free soy sauce!!

  38. Delicious ! loved the dressing ! i’ve add turmeric while cooking the quinoa and it gives a bright yellow color !

  39. That looks delicous! I love how easy it is to make quinoa salads so colourful! And that dressing sounds amazing, will have to give it a try!

  40. I found this with a google search for quinoa salad – very, very good! im on a mission to show my 10yo daughter that healthy food is delicious, and this was a winner with her ( she loves cake!), so thank you for adding to my repertoire. i will keep and eye on you from now on! sarah

  41. This was the perfect side dish to butternut squash soup. It was so delicious and aesthetically pleasing as well! Thanks for sharing.

  42. This looks so good… but then everything you make does..lol. Just wondering, what do you think a few shrimp tossed in this or some pieces of chicken maybe? I was just wondering just because they go so well with the Asian flavors. Also, I don’t have any quinoa but I do have couscous. What would that be like? Any thoughts? Can’t wait to try it!!!

    1. Sure, you can add chicken or shrimp. I haven’t tried the recipe with couscous but I am sure it would be tasty!

  43. Great web site you’ve got here.. It’s difficult to find good quality writing like yours these days.

    I really appreciate people like you! Take care!!

  44. This was a beautiful salad right up until I made the dressing, but it went downhill after that. With lots of ingredients that I don’t usually have on hand, and lots of prep and chopping, I was hoping for a big bang for my buck, but was sorely disappointed. It was an interesting combination of colors and textures, but not much taste. The dressing was terrible! It was way too salty with the soy sauce, and turned everything brown! I made this for New Year’s dinner because it had cabbage, and I wanted to try something with quinoa. but I threw away a LOT of leftovers. I won’t be making this again,

  45. Hello, i think that i saw you visited my blog so i came to go back
    the choose?.I am trying to in finding issues to improve my site!I suppose its good enough to
    make use of some of your ideas!!

  46. What a delicious idea! Thanks for that, already made it and all gone within two days 🙂 Definitely will be ‘cooking’ this dish again xx

  47. I adore this recipe! First time I made it – I got 1 small bowlfull & my dh devoured the rest in appx. 24 hrs. Now I generally make double batches. I have added other veggies – snow or sugar snap peas, radishes – regular or daikon. Pretty much anything that won’t go soggy right away works. I haven’t tried it yet, but thinking water chestnuts would be good too.
    Thanks so much for the great recipe!

  48. I’ve tried quinoa and like it. This recipe sounds so good. Do you eat quinoa salads as a side or as a meal? Wondering if it is filling enough?

  49. OH MY GOSH! This salad is sooooo good!! I don’t typically like quinoa, but this recipe makes it taste so good. Highly recommend trying this!

  50. This was excellent! Only thing I changed was adding some sriracha sauce on top..

    Served it with some Asian chicken kebabs and peppers and it was the perfect accompaniment!

  51. Made this last night, it was delicious! I am not a fan of sesame so substituted peanut oil and left out the sesame seeds. I love the colors and contrasts of textures.

  52. Love this one! I did double the dressing, but that’s because I like well-dressed salads. My 3 year old ate it up!

  53. Hello, I loved this salad! I did find mine to appear darker than what yours looked like. I wondered if maybe I did something wrong? Is lite soya sauce the same thing as low-sodium soya sauce? Thanks. 🙂

  54. I didn’t think anything could top your greek quinoa salad but this did. Healthy, flavorful & colorful. My new fav. Thank you!

  55. Pinned this awhile ago and just made it for Easter dinner. First bites are AMAZING; can’t wait to taste it in a few hours after flavors have developed!

  56. This was delicious!!!! I doubled the quinoa and made extra of the dressing about 1.5 times the original amount. Love love love it!! I will definitely be making this over and over again.

  57. Just made this for the first time. It’s already one of my all-time favorite recipes! The flavors are incredible. Thanks for this perfect salad.

  58. This is probably one of the prettiest looking recipes. (And super healthy!)
    Just pinned it to try soon! Thanks.

  59. Wow! You knocked it out of the park with this recipe! I just made it and am eating right now. It’s so delicious. I already copied the recipe and put it in my recipe binder. Thanks for creating amazing recipes my whole family loves.

  60. Just made it! tried it and it was quite tasty.

    but… 10 minutes prep time? I spent just over an hour making this, including cutting up the vegetables. (does the time you list not include that? I ask because I was hoping this was a “quick” recipe, but it took me a while)

  61. This salad is delicious! We have been making it all summer. I am allergic to sesame so we just substitute olive oil and no sesame seed but it is delish!

  62. OMG – I just tried this recipe tonight and I am COMPLETELY IN LOVE WITH IT!!! It’s ridiculously good! So good that we’re waiting for the rest of our dinner to finish cooking and we can’t stop eating it!!! LOVE IT! Thank you! 🙂

  63. I just made this salad last night and it was very very delicious. I loved it. I think I will be keeping this recipe.

  64. I’ve made this before and absolutely LOVED it! Thank you!
    Wondering if you think it would be okay to make and refrigerate over night? I’ve never done that with quinoa before and not sure if that is okay to do??

  65. Made this for a labor day picnic and it was a huge hit. I had another dish with edamame so I subbed snow peas instead. Loved it!!

  66. YUM YUM YUM…. JUST MADE THIS AND ITS AWESOME

    BUT I THINK IT IS MORE LIKE SIX TO EIGHT SERVINGS THOUGH. JUST SAYI G

  67. Hi! I’m a little late to the party 😉 but I was wondering if you could tell me about how many servings this recipe makes. I haven’t cooked much with quinoa.

  68. I made this and it is very good. Only thing I added was a small can mandarin oranges and some of the mandarin orange juice to the dressing. It is so good I can’t stop eating it. It is also very pretty to serve. I will be making this one all summer. Thanks for a great recipe.

  69. How far in advanced can this salad be made? We are starting a meatless Monday and can not wait to try this beauty!

    1. I’ve eaten leftovers the next day and it is still good! If I was going to be serving it though, I would wait to dress it until ready to serve. Make the salad the day before and dress when ready to serve!

  70. Just made this, this a.m. for potluck supper tonight… so far, so good based on the couple bites I’ve tried. Just curious though, I find it on the salty side, assuming from the soy sauce… also, much darker than your photos show. I used normal soy sauce, would “lite” soy sauce have made a difference in either the colour or the saltiness?

    1. I always use lite soy sauce because I think regular soy sauce is too salty.

  71. Love this salad but the amount of ads running make it impossible to make. Think I need to print and never come back. For real. The ads will randomly play video and skip all around the page. It is terrible.

  72. I made this last night, it was so easy, colorful, and flavorful! It’s definitely going in the regular rotation. I put frozen edamame in with the cooking quinoa in the last 5 minutes to make it even easier!

  73. This recipe is great and the salad is so pretty! And healthy just in time for my New Years resolution 😉 

  74. love the recipe. i substituted the cabbage for soy bean sprouts (cooked), and used red quinoa instead which is a crunchier quinoa. 

    The dressing goes a long way! very little is needed 

  75. This sounds great! Do you think it would be a good meal to make on a Sunday and have for lunches all week? Would you prepare it any differently with that idea in mind?

    1. Some quinoas need to be rinsed before cooking. Usually on the package it will say whether or not it’s been rinsed. Another thing to try to to slightly “toast” the quinoa by putting it in the pot and cooking for just under a minute while stirring constantly over a medium heat, before adding the water. Good luck! It really is a tasty side dish.

  76. Made this tonight because it looked so delish. Love it – but word of advice: don’t sub normal soy sauce for lite soy sauce – I’m normally a strong flavor person but that’s a little too strong. My husband says our kitchen smells like an Asian war zone. Hahaha

  77. Today was my first day cooking with quinoa. This salad was so easy to put together and it is so delicious!

  78. Made this for a party this weekend and it was a hit! So refreshing, tasty and healthy. Thanks for sharing~

  79. Hey, just want to quickly say that this recipe is utterly delicious! I made it for lunch today as the boyfriend and I were working from home and we both agreed this is a winner! Flavours, freshness, dressing – everything was spot on

  80. I am making this salad to bring to a gathering that I have to travel to. Should I dress it ahead of time or is it something I should dress right before serving it?

  81. This looks delicious! Considering making this and eating on it all week for lunch to bring to work. Do you think this would keep all week? I would wait to add the dressing until prior to eating that day. Thanks!!

  82. My physician has recommended a change to a mediteranean diet to me for heart reasons I would appreciate any recipes you can direct me to I saw one of yours somewhere on the internet but have been unable to find it, called the mediteranean chick pea salad If you could send it to me I would appreciate it and any others you have

  83. 3 stars
    Great recipe! Love all of the veggies and fresh ingredients. In my opinion I would change the sesame oil to 1 or 2 tsp, not 1 tablespoon, sesame oil tends to overpower it and give a bitter flavor. 

  84. 5 stars
    Well, I didn’t have quinoa, but I have a giant bag of freekeh in my pantry so I used that instead. I also added the ends of yellow and orange peppers, as well as a couple stalks of celery lurking in my vegetable bin. Wow, it was phenomenal. What a bright, refreshing, crunchy, filling, savoury meal! Hubby and I both thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks!

  85. 3 stars
    This is a nice enough salad, but a word of warning: Use soy sauce ‘to taste’. We used 1/2 cup of lite soy sauce and it was a tad salty for us. Otherwise, nice recipe!

    1. To clarify, we doubled the recipe, thats why the half cup of soy sauce!

  86. 5 stars
    Absolutely delicious!  It’s crunchy and filling. I was scrambling because I was out of sesame oil so I substituted the same amount of peanut butter. And added a pinch of brown sugar to the dressing. It was awesome.  Don’t wait, make it! 

  87. I want to make his sales today to serve for lunch tomorrow. Would you add the dressing now  or wait until just before serving?

  88. 4 stars
    Thank you very much for a great recipe. We had it this evening and everyone enjoyed it. I will definitely make it again.

  89. 4 stars
    Very delicious and would make again, although I might try Tamari or just use less soy sauce as it was a little saltly. I also didn’t put all of the dressing on the quinoa/veg – just add to your liking. I didn’t have Edamame beans but added celery. Very versatile recipe! Served it to company with rave reviews.

  90. 5 stars
    I have made this twice already and it is delicious!  As many other reviewers have noted, it is a beautiful salad!  I doubled the amount of veggies and added 8 oz of tofu (lightly browned in a pan to made the outside a little crisp) the second time I made it.  I also added fresh avocado just before serving it.  AMAZING!   

  91. 3 stars
    This was terrific.  I doubled it to take to a BBQ.  I made it without cucumber for my own taste, still gorgeous and very tasty.  Husband and I both think it would be great for weekday lunches.

  92. 5 stars
    A friend shared this with me for lunch at work. It is crisp, light, delicious and filling all at the same time! Thank you very much Lynn!

  93. 5 stars
    Am I the only one who actually made this?:)
    Delicious salad – I added a bit of finely chopped kale, quite a bit more grated ginger, and a dot of honey.
    Had it with hubby’s freshly caught salmon (doubled the dressing, so used half to marinate fish before grilling)
    Fantastic, thanks.

  94. 5 stars
    Oops my mistake, sorry – plenty of people on here made this! I was only looking at comments on first page 🙂

  95. 4 stars
    You mentioned this could be made ahead. Should I keep the quinoa and dressing separate containers until time to eat? Thanks!

    1. No, the quinoa doesn’t have to be completely cooled. You can go ahead and mix together the salad.

  96. 4 stars
    I love the dressing you used here. All the flavors are so delicious. This would be the perfect salad to bring for lunch at work. I Love it!

  97. 5 stars
    I  made this yesterday and it was a big hit.   I’ll be making it for Memorial Day and I am sure it will please our vegetarian friends.

  98. Can you include covering the pan after you bring it to a boil? This was my first time making quinoa and I had no idea that you’re supposed to cover the pan after you bring it to a boil. I covered mine at 11 minutes after stirring it and wondering why it didn’t seem like there was enough water. It was undoubtedly a stupid mistake, but it might help others in the future 🙂

  99. 5 stars
    OMG! Made this for my veggie 16 to try something new. This was amazing forget the look it tasted amazing! 
    Thank you for a delicious salad. My meat eating hubby couldn’t stop eating it 🙂 

  100. 4 stars
    Absolutely delicious, not to mention healthy. I was feeling lazy so got a bag of broccoli slaw (broccoli, carrots & red cabbage), which I substituted for the red cabbage and carrots. I didn’t add any salt since soy sauce provided plenty of saltiness for me. I enjoyed mine with sricha, which added a bit more bite than just the red pepper. Will make this again and again and again!

  101. 5 stars
    Very tasty! This will be a weekly salad. I only made it once so far. Next week I’m adding mandarin orange segments and maybe beans!

  102. Do you happen to have the nutrition facts on this? I’m going to make it but am watching what I eat. Thanks!

  103. 5 stars
    Making this again, probably the fifth or sixth time. I love this salad! It’s so colorful, crunchy, healthy and yummy! I’ve taken it to potlucks and people always have seconds.

  104. Can you tell me the nutritional. Information on this asian quinoa salad, please…or amend the post with this information?

  105. 5 stars
    This was a lovely salad for dinner with guests. They loved it. I am using leftovers by warming in the morning for breakfasts. I added some chopped pea pods,

  106. 5 stars
    Have you tried flavoring the Quinoa with dashi or miso broth. Miso is gluten free and high in nutrients. I use it to cook my Quinoa so I don’t have to add additional salt or as much sauce. I tend to use 1 tbs of yellow miso paste to 1 ½ cup water. Yellow miso is a milder taste while red is a more smoky flavor. To make the broth, in a small bowl with water, slowly incorporate the miso by mixing it in. Pour it in your pot, add the Quinoa and cook as you normally do. It is more flavorful than using chicken broth or vegetable broth to cook you Quinoa.
    I use my miso broth for this recipe and less of the sauce as I am not big on sauce (I like to taste more of my veggies without it) and it was delicious.

    1. omg I did this with mine after reading your comment and I have never had quinoa take on as much flavor as it did with the miso. That is a GREAT idea!! I think I’ll always cook quinoa that way now. lol Thank you!!!! (and really, I don’t see a need for salt either, especially with the miso flavor)

  107. 5 stars
    Made a double batch of this salad for a family gathering, and it was really well liked. Great flavor and very easy to make. Had to travel with it, so made the dressing in a separate container, and mixed just before serving. Even tasted great the second day at lunch again. Thanks for a great salad recipe

  108. 5 stars
    Awesome, awesome, awesome.  Full of flavor.  I used red quinoa cause that’s what I had.  A real keeper!

  109. 5 stars
    Holy moly!  Not only is this beautiful to look at, it tastes even better!  I added shaved Brussels sprouts for kicks.  The  next day I had leftovers for lunch and had some chopped pecans on hand so I threw those in.  Rainbow bowls are all the rage right now because you can tailor the ingredients to your tastes.  

  110. 5 stars
    This was delicious! The one thing I would add is that when I originally made this there was a suggestion that it was good made ahead, I made it on a Sunday and it was delicious however I was excited for the leftovers to be my lunch for the week and if you have any preferences on consistentency you will be disappointed the next day. 

  111. 5 stars
    I made this salad today to take to a Labor Day barbecue. It was a big hit with the guests and complimented the smoked pork ribs in a big way.  This is now my “go to” salad. Tomorrow I’ll have the leftovers with cubed chicken breast added in. Thanks for this amazing recipe! 

  112. Is the reasoning for dressing the salad later because of the quinoa? In my experience dressing a cabbage salad early should be fine, but this would be my first time using quinoa in a salad so I’m a bit unsure. I ask because I jumped ahead and already tossed my veggies with my dressing but have not yet mixed in the quinoa and wonder if I should keep them separate or just go ahead and mix. Thanks!

    1. The oils and salt in dressings will quickly start to degrade vegetable matter. I think the quinoa base is more robust than, say, a greens-based salad, but your cucumber and other veggies will probably lose their texture and become soggy rather quickly.

  113. 5 stars
    This salad is amazing! I used sugar snap peas sliced diagonally, instead of cucumber so that it would keep longer in the fridge. Also doubled the red cabbage, since I had lots. This made the salad nice & crunchy!

  114. Delicious! Forgot to buy red cabbage at the store. We had extra veggies in the house though. My family lived it. I wanted something that didn’t need a lot of cooking. I made the quinoa in the instant pot. 1 minute at pressure. 10 min natural release and fluff with a fork.

  115. Can you tell us the serving size that goes along with the calories posted after the recipe? Not sure If it’s a cup for 283 calories. Thanks

  116. What’s the swap if using powdered ginger vs. freshly grated? How much ground ginger? This looks yummy! Thanks!

  117. 5 stars
    Hi Maria,

    My husband has never liked quinoa, but he took second helpings of this salad! Thanks so much for providing so many wonderful recipes.

  118. 4 stars
    Great start, followed some other suggestions. Used bulger wheat cooked in half water, half no salt veggie broth,as that is what i had, broccoli slaw, added lemon juice, honey and Sriracha to taste. No extra salt as trying to stay low-sodium. Huge hit! Thanks.

  119. 5 stars
    I LOVE all of Maria’s salads so I was so excited to try this one and it did not disappoint! I did make the following substitutions: we don’t eat soy so I used coconut aminos for the soy sauce and regular peas for the edamame, which both tasted awesome! I also doubled everything in the recipe except for the quinoa as I like my salads really heavy on the veggies. After tasting, I did add additional amounts of coconut aminos and sesame oil as I thought the flavor was a little light…maybe because coconut aminos are not as strong in flavor compared to soy sauce. I think this would be a perfect dinner with salmon or chicken. All in all, another winner from Maria!!

  120. 5 stars
    I love the recipe ! I didn’t have peppers I used blanched brocoli , I added 1 big table spoon of natural peanut butter 1/2 table spoon lime juice and 1 extra tbs maple syrup . Everything else according to the recipe . I also used Bragg Amino acid which is only 350 mg salt even the low sodium soy sauce is twice the salt . I wouldn’t recommend using salt in the quinoa when you cook it , there is plenty of sodium in the soy no need for more salt . Someone mentioned in the comment using miso well if your miso has salt I would not recommend this . Salt is good in small quantity ! Thanks great recipe that can be alter to your own taste .

  121. Really good. Sauce is perfected by adding a clove or 2 of minced garlic and a splash of lime juice. I also added salted cashews on top for crunch! We ate is as a cold salad and cooled quinoa first. Delish!

  122. 5 stars
    I love this recipe!! I didn’t have edamame, so I used green peas. I also added peanut butter to the dressing. I’ll definitely make this again.

  123. 3 stars
    I used tamari and measured everything exactly and it was still very salty tasting. I’m at a lost as has how to cut down the saltiness.

    1. 1) Reduce amount of low sodium soy sauce AND/ OR add a little pineapple juice to mixture. I added pineapple to the Asian sald -it was great.

    2. I love this recipe and have made it many times but I agree, the dressing can be salty (and I love salty food!). I usually keep the dressing on the side and add it as I eat it so it doesn’t make the salad soggy. I also add lime juice to the dressing if it’s really salty tasting and I think it makes a nice difference!

  124. It’s not too salty for me (using regular soy sauce – it’s what I had) but I always add extra vegetables. Daikon radish and sugar snap peas are my faves.
    First time I ever made it, my spouse finished off the entire batch, minus one small tasting bowl for me in under 24 hrs. Great recipe!

  125. 4 stars
    This was great, all the flavors and whatnot. Only thing is that mine made wayyy too much sauce and I added it all at once blindly, so I’d recommend adding it a little by little. Otherwise you end up with a soupy, but tasty, quinoa dish. I made it as directed except tamari so that it would be gluten free.

  126. 5 stars
    I see a lot of comments about saltiness. This makes allot of salad. Raw vegetables need the salt to enhance flavor. I found it just right and I used regular soy sauce! Thanks for recipe 🙂

  127. 5 stars
    We loved this salad. So fresh and tasty – and healthy! Did not have a cucumber so I added a bit of celery for the crunch. Also mistakenly tossed the cilantro and scallions in with the salad veggies instead of adding them to the dressing. I don’t think it hurt anything.
    Thank you for sharing this.