Quinoa Black Bean and Mango Salad

A deliciously fresh summer salad with a silky smooth mango sauce. It’s such a colorful and healthy meal and also super easy to make. You’re going to want to make this Quinoa Black Bean and Mango Salad over and over again.

The only actual cooking that’s involved in this recipe, is cooking the quinoa. Convenient, right? This doesn’t mean that it’s a mostly ”raw” recipe. In fact, in this recipe we use precooked beetroots, canned black beans and canned corn. All incredibly healthy ingredients which go together perfectly and make for a beautiful looking, colorful dish. The hero of this Quinoa Black Bean and Mango salad is without question the mango sauce. It is divine. And all you have to do to make the mango sauce is to add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until silky smooth. We like to use fruit to make a sauce. For example we also like to use pineapple for our Easy High-Protein Pineapple and Tempeh Stir-Fry recipe.

• Quinoa – we use white quinoa in this recipe but you can use any type of quinoa you like.
• Canned corn – adds a lovely bite and some sweetness to the salad.
• Rice vinegar – adds some acidity to balance out the naturally sweet mango sauce.
• Mango – the base for our delicious mango sauce, but also cubed and added to the salad itself.
• Cooked beets – adds a wonderful deepred color to the salad and a slightly sweet and earthy flavour.
• Roasted peanuts – crunchy and delicious!
• Black beans – for protein, fibre and some bite. Black beans are super super healthy. Looking for more black bean recipes? Try our Chili recipe or Vegan Mexican Black Bean Wraps.

• When cooking with quinoa, always make sure to rinse and drain well before preparing your quinoa. This ensures that the unpleasant bitterness is removed.
• Also, to make sure that your quinoa doesn’t end up all soggy, it really helps to spread it out in a thin layer on a baking tray. This will help to get rid of excess moisture and will improve the texture of the cooked quinoa.
• When making the mango sauce, you really want the mango to be ripe. So make sure to test the ripeness of your mango by slightly squeezing it to feel if it’s soft on the inside. If it still feels very firm, the mango is not yet ripe.

• Peanuts – you can use other roasted nuts such as cashews or macadamia’s, sesame seeds are also a good option.
• Rice vinegar – can sub with white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.
• Cilantro – not a cilantro lover? That’s okay. This salad is still delicious without it. Or you can use fresh basil or mint instead.

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