Fresh veggie quinoa summer salad is the perfect side dish to bring to a summer barbecue! The sweet and tangy flavor is perfect for a hot day.
Well, I crossed one thing off of my summer to-do list: I hosted a tie dye party. We had a few friends over, and spent the morning tie dying some shirts. We had several adults, and 12 kids here, and it was a lot of fun! We tried a few different designs out, and I was really happy with how the shirts turned out. One little tip: that dye stains. They are not lying when they say it will stain anything it gets on. That includes skin. I have an interesting looking purple and yellow patch on my left foot, and I really do not know how long it will be before it fades away.
What does this have to do with quinoa salad you ask? I made a double batch of this salad for the party! I had to feed those hungry tie dyers something, so this salad, plus chips and hummus, fruit, and cupcakes was our post tie dye meal. I made this fresh veggie quinoa summer salad for us for dinner last week, and we loved it, so I thought it would be perfect for the party! Plus the brightly colored veggies reminded me of the colorful dyes.
This quinoa summer salad keeps well overnight, but after that the quinoa starts to absorb the dressing, so it loses a little bit of flavor. Leftovers really aren’t a problem though, because everyone loves this, and it gets gobbled right up!
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Fresh Veggie Quinoa Summer Salad.
Crisp vegetables and a sweet vinaigrette make this quinoa summer salad a family favorite!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup quinoa cooked according to package directions and cooled
- 3 cups broccoli florets chopped into small pieces
- 4 green onions sliced
- 1 cup red cabbage chopped
- 1 yellow pepper diced
For the dressing:
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- ⅓ teaspoon pepper
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
Instructions
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In a large bowl, mix the olive oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Add the vegetables and stir.
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Add the cooled quinoa, and stir again until everything is coated with dressing. Season with more salt and pepper if desired.
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Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to eat.
This is such an easy and summery recipe. It’s nice and light, but very tasty! A good way to balance out those 4th of July hot dogs and burgers.
What’s on your summertime menu?
Katie
Delicious recipe!
Chelsea @chelseasmessyapron
This is totally calling my name!! Fresh veggies and quinoa are my favorite! Hope you had a great weekend Kelly :)
Kelly @ Trial and Eater
I love quinoa salads, and I love the bowl in your photograph :)
Kelly
Thanks, Kelly! I love your name! ;) The bowl was from a local ceramic sale.
consuelohoneyandfigs
Ooohh that party sounds like so much fun! And the menu sounded lovely indeed. I adore this salad: so colorful, fresh and healthy! ;)
Kelly
Thank you so much! It was a fun day!
Allison
A tie dye party!? OMG that sounds like so much fun! I’ve never heard of those but I need to host one immediately! This salad looks groovy and tie-dye-ish itself! I wouldn’t have any trouble gobbling up the leftovers either. Yum!
Kelly
Thanks, Allison! You should try tie dying, I used a kit by Tulip, and it was pretty easy!
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Your tie die party sounds like it was a blast! I love anything tie-dyed so I could definitely get on board with that! This salad sounds amazing, and I love how we’re both on veggie/salad kicks this week! :D
Kelly
Thank you so much, Sarah! Have a great weekend!
Julia
Haha! A tie dye party sounds like so much fun!! I haven’t done it in ages and used to LOVE making tie dye shirts.
This summer veggie quinoa salad looks amaaaaazing! Perfect for this time of year, and healthy to boot. LOVE it!
Kelly
Thanks so much, Julia! Yes, tie dying was super fun! I was surprised how messy it got – I didn’t remember that from years ago! :)
Lisa Howard
Your tie dye party sounds like too much fun! And this salad is perfect for what I have planned this weekend. As always, your posts are timely…at least for me. :-) Happy 4th to you and your family!
Kelly
Happy 4th, Lisa! I hope you enjoy this salad!