Asian Quinoa Salad
Updated February 23, 2021
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.
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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!
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.
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.
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!
Check Out These Other Quinoa Recipes:
- Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
- Greek Quinoa Salad
- Quinoa Fruit Salad
- Quinoa Salad with Mango, Avocado, & Tomatoes
- Quinoa Salad with Asparagus, Peas, Avocado, & Lemon Basil Dressing
Asian Quinoa Salad Recipe
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
Have you tried this recipe?
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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) 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.
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!
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!
Can I use rice instead of quinoa?
Yes!
This salad is perfect! But can you tell me what is a serving size?
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.
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 🙂
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.
You are welcome!