Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad

This Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad with a rainbow of crunchy vegetables is a delicious vegan and gluten free lunch or dinner! It's packed with flavor, a creamy peanut sauce, fresh veggies and plenty of filling plant-based protein.

I LOVE a good lettuce-less salad. This Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad is the perfect example. All of the flavor, none of the leafy greens. Not that I have anything against leafy greens (I love them!), but the same old salad day after day gets pretty boring.

I'm way more likely to eat more vegetables if I have an arsenal of creative, tasty, flavorful salad recipes at the ready. When in doubt, I go for this Greek Chickpea Salad. It never gets old (I eat it 2+ times a week)!

When I'm feeling a bit fancier (i.e. more prepared), I'll go for something like this vegan Thai Quinoa Salad or this Moroccan Carrot Lentil Salad. The key to a dinner salad is a filling grain or protein, a REALLY good dressing and some crunch factor.

This salad really has it all. Plus, it's vegan and gluten free! It can also be nut free if you swap the peanut butter with sunflower seed butter or tahini. Perfect for meal prep, too – it's just as good cold the next day!

Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad Ingredients

This recipe starts with a fluffy cooked quinoa base. To make perfectly cooked quinoa, first rinse the quinoa well. For this recipe, you'll only need 1 cup of dry quinoa (which makes about 3 cups cooked).

Add the rinsed quinoa to a pan with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until all of the water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork. You can also cook in vegetable broth for more flavor.

This Thai quinoa salad relies on a rainbow of crunchy vegetables, including:

• Carrots: slice into thin strips or peel them. If you have a food processor with an attachment that shreds carrots, now's a good time to use it.
• Red cabbage: to make cabbage more palatable, we quickly marinate it in some lime juice, sugar and salt. It's an optional step, but really improves the flavor. (Learn how to quick pickle any vegetable here!)
• Yellow bell pepper: you can also sub with red or orange bell pepper.
• Scallions: slice thinly. Always have more for topping!

The final component (apart from a garnishes like cashews, sesame seeds and limes) is...

The perfect creamy peanut dressing

In a bowl, whisk together peanut butter, tamari or soy sauce, lime juice, toasted sesame oil, sriracha, coconut sugar, ground ginger (can also sub with fresh, grated ginger) and (optional) sesame seeds.

Thin it out with water until it forms a creamy, delicious sauce. This stuff is seriously good. Try it with these Grilled Tofu Kebabs or in your next stir fry!

Ingredient substitutions and additions

• Allergic to peanuts (or don't have any)? Sub peanut butter with tahini or sunbutter. If you're not allergic to nuts, you can also sub with cashew or almond butter.
• Same goes for the cashews – sub with sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, etc.
• Add in cooked edamame for more plant-based protein. We buy frozen and defrost quickly before adding.
• No cabbage? Swap with more carrots, bell peppers and/or thinly sliced radishes.
• Other optional additions: snap peas, cucumber, thai basil, sprouts, napa cabbage, etc.

More favorite salad recipes you'll love:

• Taco Salad with Lentil Walnut "Meat"
• White Bean Edamame Salad
• Grilled Corn, Black Bean and Avocado Salad
• Mediterranean Cauliflower Kale Salad
• Roasted Vegetable Salad with Wild Rice
• Cobb Salad with Vegan Eggplant Bacon

If you make this Vegan Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad recipe, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.

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