In a month long endeavor to find the best super foods, this Lime Shrimp Avocado Quinoa Salad stands out. This quinoa salad combines Mexican inspired vegetables like tomatoes, black beans, corn, creamy avocado and finishes it off with sweet succulent shrimp. Drizzled with a honey lime dressing and you’re in for a light refreshing meal like no other.
I’ll have to admit I’m pretty excited about the food journey I’ve taken this month. I’ve introduced new flavors to not only myself, but to my family and friends as well. Living in Northern Ontario it feels like it takes a bit a lot of extra effort to track down the ‘healthier’ food options. No wonder people get tired of their green salads! Nothing feels exciting about them any more. Caesar Salad tends to be everyone’s favourite pick. Time to break out of the box! Heck, I was even excited when I created my 7 Layer Salad for the first time. If only I was able to get my hands on some of the amazing ingredients Diversivore has access too! I challenge you to check out his page and name all the food items! Some items I’ve never even heard of.
There are many days I envy my West coast food blogging friends with all the delicious foods they get to enjoy. I was told that they have the best sushi in Canada out that way. I would normally chuckle when people make claims such as this. How good can it actually be? Why would a food item taste better based purely on their geographical location?
That is of course, until I travelled to the East coast and ate lobster at this little restaurant just a few minutes down the road from our cabin. I’ve enjoyed lobster in restaurants before in my hometown and quite enjoyed the experience. However, nothing compared to the amazing taste of the lobster we had in Nova Scotia some where along the Cabot Trails.
The simple answer to my question is freshness. When people say we should eat local, they’re not only taking into consideration the economical impacts. Seriously. Eat local. The faster the food gets to your table after it’s been caught or harvested, the better it’s going to taste.
Well, that was quite the food tangent I went on. So back to this marvelous Lime Shrimp Avocado Quinoa Salad. I just love the versatility of quinoa. You can add some soup bouillon to the quinoa while it’s cooking to give it more flavor or keep it natural just the way it is and have the dressing do all the work. I picked some of my favorite ingredients from my Mexican bean salsa to go in my Lime Shrimp Avocado Quinoa Salad. You can totally change this up however, based on your own personal preferences.
Lately I’ve been trying to explore other protein options so I decided to use shrimp in this salad instead of my traditional baked chicken. But chicken would be delicious too. Totally up to you. The creamy avocado was a given as our family seems to be on a binge lately and I’ve been adding it to everything we eat. Our favorite? Smashed up in a quick and easy guacamole. So next time you’re looking for something that is a little different from your typical green salad but want to still keep it healthy, make yourself a big bowl of this Lime Shrimp Avocado Quinoa Salad. You’ll be so happy you did.
Lime Shrimp Avocado Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 limes , juiced
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 shallot , finely diced
- 1½ cups sweet corn (frozen and thawed or fresh)
- 1 can black beans
- 1 avocado , thinly sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes , halved
- ½ lb frozen shrimp , defrosted
- ¼ cup parsley , chopped
Instructions
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Cook your quinoa as per the directions on the package. Fluff the quinoa with a fork after it’s done cooking and set aside to cool.
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Whisk together the olive oil, honey, lime juice, chili powder, salt and pepper. Finely dice the shallot and mix in with the dressing. Set aside.
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Prepare all the vegetables for the salad.
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Spoon the cooled quinoa into 4 bowls and divide up the vegetables placing them on top of the quinoa. Next, add your shrimp to the bowls. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and sprinkle chopped parsley over top.
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