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Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad

May 12, 2021 by Amber 11 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Minute Rice®. All opinions are mine alone.

Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad is a quick recipe made with fresh kale, tomatoes, corn, black beans, avocado, red onion, Cotija cheese and Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa with a cilantro lime dressing drizzle. 

May is Women’s Health Month! This has me thinking about ways I can live a healthier lifestyle and food obviously plays a huge role in this. As a busy mom, I am guilty of just tossing together meals that I think are easy or affordable and it spirals into some unhealthy habits. This Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad proves that healthy eating doesn’t take more time or more money and tastes amazing! This beautiful salad can be on the table in less time it takes to heat up those frozen chicken nuggets in your freezer. So, put the frozen food down and rethink what convenient food means! Fresh produce in an assortment of colors, go-to tummy fillers like Minute® Ready to Serve cups, simple flavors like the cilantro lime dressing featured in this salad to add real flavor!  

Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad

Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad has a fresh kale base with loads of goodies on top. Tomatoes, red onion and avocado add lots of flavor to the meal and take only minutes to prep. Black beans, corn and Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa provide those satisfying components that will keep you full and satisfied for hours. An easy cilantro lime dressing gets mixed in for that wonderful zing that makes your taste buds dance.  

Cilantro Lime Dressing

Kale can have a slight bitter taste so I paired it with a cilantro lime dressing that wakes up the taste buds with the extra zing of tart and sweet that is a really nice balance of flavors when the salad is all put together. Yes, of course this dressing is also super easy to make. In a food processor, add in some olive oil, freshly squeezed lime juice, zest from the lime, cilantro, whole garlic cloves, salt, pepper and honey. Puree for one minute and done. The dressing will stay good in your refrigerator for one week. Shake before use. 

Process

Start by heating up the Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa. One minute in the microwave is all it takes! Then, set it to the side to cool off while you prepare the other ingredients.

Wash and dry fresh produce. Chop up the kale, slice the tomatoes and onion, peel and slice the avocado.

To keep the ingredients simple, I used canned black beans and canned corn. Drain and rinse the black beans. If you happen to have some leftover grilled corn, that would be amazing in this recipe to swap for the canned.

Place all your ingredients in a bowl, sprinkle some Cotija cheese on top and finish the cilantro lime dressing. When you are ready to eat, pour in desired amount of cilantro lime dressing and mix all the ingredients together.

Minute Rice® 

Minute Rice® has a whole line of rice products that can all be prepared in 10 minutes or less. I especially love the perfectly portioned Minute® Ready to Serve cups that come in a variety of grains and flavors that help me stay on track without overeating or overthinking. Bonus that these cups cook in 90 seconds or less for a quick grab and eat while chasing after the kids or to create family friendly meals with endless possibilities on busy nights.

The Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa in todays recipe is made with a blend of two 100% whole grains. Not only does the brown rice and quinoa mixture give a nice texture when chewing but it is also supplying 55 grams of whole grains per serving! The fiber in the whole grains is what helps you feel full for longer so you can stick to a better eating plan and make better food choices throughout the day. 

Meal Prepping

 This meal is perfect for meal prepping lunch or dinners! If you are meal prepping this salad, save the dressing on the side until you are ready to eat so ingredients stay crisp and taste fresh. The Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa can be consumed warm or cold so you can add it to the salad in advance to eat cold or heat it up for one minute right before meal to have some warm bites. 

Tip

Avocados brown easily. When meal prepping and slicing avocados for later, try a little lime juice bath before adding to salad to help the avocados stay green longer. Plus, the extra lime tastes great in this recipe. 

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#ad, @Minutericeus, Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad, rice salad, quinoa recipes, minute rice recipes, 10 minute recipes, meal prep, quick recipe, summer recipe, cilantro lime dressing, healthy recipes,

Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad


★★★★★

5 from 4 reviews

  • Author: Amber
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 1
  • Total Time: 11 minutes
  • Yield: 2 servings 1x
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Description

Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad is a quick recipe made with fresh kale, tomatoes, corn, black beans, avocado, red onion, Cotija cheese and Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa with a cilantro lime dressing drizzle.

 


Ingredients

Scale

Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad

  • 1 Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa
  • 4 cups kale, chopped
  • 1/2 avocado, sliced
  • 1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup canned whole kernel corn*, drained
  • 1/2 cup gourmet medley tomatoes*, cut into halves
  • 1/4 small red onion, sliced
  • 1/4 cup Cotija cheese
  • cilantro lime dressing

Cilantro Lime Dressing

  • 2 Tablespoons honey
  • 2 small limes, juiced and zested
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, stems removed
  • pinch salt
  • pinch of ground pepper

Instructions

Southwest Kale and Quinoa Salad

  1. Remove film from Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa cup.
  2. Microwave for one minute. Remove from microwave and let cool.
  3. Wash produce.
  4. Chop the kale, slice the avocado, slice tomatoes into halves, thinly slice red onion. Place into a large salad bowl.
  5. Drain and rinse the black beans. Add to salad.
  6. Drain the corn. Add to salad.
  7. Crumble and top salad with Cotija cheese.
  8. Drizzle on desired amount of dressing.
  9. Add Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice & Quinoa.
  10. Mix everything together and eat!

Cilantro Lime Dressing

  1. In a food processor, add honey, olive oil, garlic cloves, salt and pepper.
  2. Wash cilantro and put into food processor, removing the stems beforehand.
  3. Zest one of the limes. Cut both limes in halves and then juice.
  4. Puree for 1 minute.
  5. Place into a sealable container. Store in refrigerator for up to one week. Shake before use.

Notes

*leftover grilled or roasted corn is a great substitution for canned.

*grape tomatoes may be substituted for gourmet.

  • Category: Salad
  • Cuisine: Southwest

Keywords: kale, brown rice, quinoa, Minute Rice, Southwest

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @amber_food_lifestyle on Instagram

Visit the Minute Rice® website for more no fuss meal ideas!

Click HERE. 

 

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Filed Under: Entrees, Home, Lunch, Recipes, Salads Tagged With: brown rice, cilantro, kale, lime, minute rice, quinoa, rice, rice salad, salad, southwest

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sim @ Sim's Life

    May 27, 2021 at 5:52 PM

    This really looks so fresh and delicious! The perfect salad for summer and I absolutely LOVE Kale!!!! Sim x

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Amber

      June 1, 2021 at 2:51 PM

      Thanks Sim. Enjoy

      Reply
  2. Nadalie Bardo

    May 16, 2021 at 1:07 AM

    Delicious! I just LOVE any kale salad. There’s something so fresh and tasty about a Kale salad.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Amber

      May 17, 2021 at 3:34 PM

      I love how it stays so nice and crisp!

      Reply
  3. Deb B

    May 15, 2021 at 1:38 AM

    I absolutely love Kale salad but I’ve never tried southwest kale. This looks divine! Gonna try this weekend! Yummm!

    Reply
    • Amber

      May 17, 2021 at 3:34 PM

      Enjoy Deb

      Reply
  4. Jen @ JENRON DESIGNS

    May 14, 2021 at 4:21 PM

    Great recipe, I would need to substitute out the Kale to spinach due to my kale intolerance, for me it is not a superfood LOL! Crazy dietary restriction right but I love all the other ingredients.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Amber

      May 17, 2021 at 3:34 PM

      Oh yeah, spinach would work great!

      Reply
  5. Heather @ US Japan Fam

    May 14, 2021 at 2:37 PM

    I struggle with brown rice, quinoa and kale. I don’t like their taste so need HEAVY seasoning. This sounds like it may work!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Amber

      May 17, 2021 at 3:34 PM

      The dressing adds that nice zing of lime that you may enjoy with those ingredients!

      Reply
  6. Mimi

    May 13, 2021 at 7:34 PM

    This sounds so yummy, a perfect lunch idea here! I need to try it

    Reply

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