Mango Quinoa Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing
My husband recently went 28 days only eating fruits and vegetables. It was intense! I don’t think I could have done it unless I had real strong motivation. Anyway, I made him a salad every day for lunch, so I ate a lot of salads for lunch, too, that month. When you eat salads every day, you get much more creative. I found that I love something sweet in every salad–like cut up oranges, grapefruit, apple, strawberries, etc. One day, out of desperation to make a salad out of very little produce, I used some frozen mango that we usually use in smoothies. It was so good! After consulting the internet, I realized I’m kind of late to the game. Mango in salads is a popular thing already. Oh well, at least I thought I was original for a while.
That was all to say that you can make this salad year round, no matter what the cost of fresh mangoes are! Costco and other grocery stores sell frozen mango and it thaws out beautifully. You’d never guess the salad in these pictures has mango chunks that were in the freezer minutes before becoming food blog models.
This salad is my new favorite! Zingy, sweet (oil-free!) honey-lime dressing, crunchy bell peppers, sweet mango with hearty beans and quinoa…It’s a perfect spring and summer potluck recipe or a fresh main dish for a light dinner.
- 1 heaping cup mango chunks (fresh or frozen)
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion
- 1 jalepeno, seeds removed, diced small
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 avocado
- 10 oz fresh spinach (about 2 large handfuls)
- 2 Tbsp honey (or maple syrup for vegan)
- 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp garlic powder (or 2 garlic cloves, minced)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
-
If using frozen mango chunks, put them in a bowl with warm water to thaw.
-
Combine the chopped onion, diced jalepeno, chopped cilantro, chopped red bell pepper, quinoa and black beans in a bowl. Cut the thawed mango into small 1/2 inch chunks and add the to the bowl.
-
Stir dressing ingredients together and toss with salad.
-
Roughly chop spinach leaves into smaller pieces. Toss with the rest of the salad, or as I like to do when using a salad platter, put a bed of spinach beneath the quinoa salad.
Just before serving, add chopped avocado.
Meal Prep Tip: Cook large batches of quinoa or rice to use throughout the week. Also freeze small bags of 1 or 2 cup portions. You can thaw it quickly in the microwave or under hot water, so you can toss it quickly into salads like this.
Faith, this looks like the perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and tart –Thailand, meet Mexico. Can’t wait to try it!
Hmmm…I love Thai and Mexican food, maybe that’s where I got this! Thanks, Melissa!
Delicious! We are big fans of mango so this was a treat! Even our 3 year old went crazy for this! We didn’t have a ton of spinach so we also threw in some arugula and we also left the jalapeno out of the main salad mix since our toddler doesn’t like spicy. But my husband and I sprinkled the jalapenos on top of our salads. It was so yummy! And also filling. We love it! We’ll definitely be making it again!
It always makes me feel good when I hear that kids enjoy my recipes! 🙂
Also, Faith, you are a flavor genius! The different flavors in this go together SO well! Sweet and spicy and all things tasty!
It looks fantastic, I love the spicy and sweet flavors. I am sure we will love this.
I wish I had ten thumbs so I could give this ten thumbs up. So many flavors and textures meld together to make a perfect salad. I couldn’t get over how yummy the dressing was with NO OIL. I added a good sprinkle of pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Took it to a potluck and it was complimented by all.
Thank you so much for the review and for trusting that it would be a hit at a potluck! So glad you all enjoyed something so healthy.
This tastes as good as it looks!! I love all the different flavors. Even my increasingly picky 3-year-old had some, and my baby was climbing up and on the table to pick out the beans 😂. Soooo yummy!!
I would love to know the results of your husband’s 28 day fruit and vegetable only fast! Please share.
Hi Lynda! Well he’s already in near perfect health and just wanted to do it as a challenge to himself and re-set. He lost a little weight (although he’s already very thin) and felt more energy. Overall he said he’s glad he did it, although he recommends doing it in the summer and not in March, since the summer has so much bounty of affordable in-season produce. The Medical Medium has an article about the benefits of this fast.
I loved this salad!!! The flavors were amazing! I ate half the salad by myself! 😁
No problem with eating half by yourself! 🙂
I have made this salad NUMEROUS times and I get rave reviews every time, it s ssoo good, I have tried pineapple but go back to mango I m going to take it to my son s in Ky it s so light and refreshing and travels well I love this recipe this is the third time I ve made this recipe. The first time I didn t have red wine vinegar and used rice vinegar, it was very good. The second time I bought and used the red wine vinegar, it was just okay. This time I am back to using the rice vinegar, I am also doubling the sauce . I love this recipe and experimenting with Quinoa! This is my favorite!!
Good to know about the rice vinegar! I bought some for the first time recently. Thank you so much for the review, Olivia!
This was totally amazing!! 🤩🤩 adding to the fav salad rotation, we skipped the Dijon in the dressing but followed as written.