A quinoa black bean salad with a difference! Sweet, juicy peaches with crunchy red pepper, nutty quinoa and creamy mild black beans makes this quinoa salad one you'll want to make on repeat! Add smoked paprika pumpkin seeds and toss with a sweet peach vinaigrette for extra layers of flavour!
2tablespoonwhite wine vinegar,or champagne vinegar or lemon juice
2teaspoonhoney,or more if you like a sweeter dressing
½teaspoonsea salt
Instructions
Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
In a small skillet, heat oil, then add pumpkin seeds. Toast for a few minutes until they become fragrant and just start to brown. Remove the skillet from the heat and toss with sea salt and smoked paprika. Let them cool completely before adding to the salad.
Sweet Peach Vinaigrette
Combine all ingredients for the salad dressing in a blender or small food processor.
Quinoa Black Bean Salad
Rinse the quinoa with running water in a fine-mesh sieve. Combine quinoa and water in a medium saucepan with a lid. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and fluff with a fork. Spread it out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to cool completely. If you're not using it right away, refrigerate it.
Drain the black beans and rinse thoroughly in a sieve.
In a large bowl, combine the completely cooled quinoa, black beans, chopped red bell pepper, diced red onion, and minced jalapeño pepper. Toss with half the dressing and refrigerate until serving time.
Just before serving, toss the chopped peaches with a tablespoon of lemon juice to prevent browning. Add the peaches to the salad along with the toasted pumpkin seeds. Garnish with sliced peaches and chopped parsley. Add extra dressing if you'd like.
Notes
Toss peaches with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Add the peaches to the salad just before serving time.
In the same way, keep the pumpkin seeds crisp by adding them to the salad just before tossing and serving it.
Add extra dressing at serving time, if you'd like.