A super healthy “detox” quinoa and veggie salad made with all natural ingredients that are good for you and help to detox your body!
This detox quinoa salad is my favorite way to get back on track with healthier eating! It’s packed to the brim with healthy, good-for-you ingredients and it tastes amazing! It’s quick to whip together and easy to make.
For some people, the word detox might mean STARVING to death by only eating veggies and drinking juice (haha, okay my husband’s words). But with this salad, you will be amazed just how filling it is. The quinoa is packed with protein, the olive oil has healthy (and filling) fats, and the black beans also have tons of protein and fiber. These ingredients will absolutely fill you up all while cleansing your body from the inside.
Here’s a quick break-down on how the ingredients in this detox quinoa salad help detoxify your body:
- Quinoa is a low-glycemic food which mean it is slowly absorbed into your body. A slow absorption ensures you won’t have spikes in your blood sugar which affects your energy and mood (and even how hungry you feel).
- Black Beans are LOADED with fiber. Because they contain so much fiber, they get digested very slowly and during that process of digesting, you feel full for a longer period of time.
- Tomatoes have Lycopene (responsible for the red color) that is a super powerful antioxidant that assists in detoxing the body and protecting it from cancer. The antioxidants in lycopene protect the body from radical damage essentially removing toxins from the body.
- Cilantro has actually been found to detox heavy metals (such as aluminum, mercery, arsenic, lead, etc.) from your body which in turn protects just about every vital organ.
- Cumin has traditionally been used to treat all kinds of stomach problems (indigestion, nausea, diarrhea, morning sickness, stomach pain, etc.) which is great for clearing out and detox-ing your system. It’s also known for it’s immunity boosts from the vitamin C content in this spice.
- Spinach naturally boosts your metabolism, is known as a “cancer fighter,” and has a ton of iron. It’s also got a high amount of vitamin A which promotes clear and healthy skin by allowing your body to properly retain moisture.
- Lime Juice helps to flush toxins out of your digestive tract.
- Corn contains vitamin B6 which is essential for good liver function. Toxins remove vitamin B6 from the liver and so corn helps to replenish that depletion and aids in performance of the liver. It is also rich in fiber which again helps you feel fuller for longer and helps to flush toxins out of the body.
- Green onions help to rid your liver of harmful toxins.
Pretty much every ingredient is tailor made at giving your body an awesome re-set and “detox” in a healthy and wholesome way. I hope you love this salad as much as we do, Enjoy! 🙂
A simple detox quinoa salad -- such healthy and delicious ingredients that are so good for you and help detox your body.
- 1 cup quinoa thoroughly rinsed
- 2 cups water
- 3-4 ounces spinach, stems removed and coarsely chopped
- 1 can (15 ounces) corn, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 5-6 green onions, chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 large limes, juiced
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
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Follow package instructions to cook the quinoa. Transfer to a large bowl and aside to cool completely.
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To the bowl with the cooled quinoa, add the chopped spinach, rinsed corn, rinsed black beans, cherry tomatoes, chopped green onions, and finely chopped cilantro.
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Toss together.
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In a small bowl whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, about 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, ground cumin, and red pepper flakes. Pour over the salad and toss to coat.*
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Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container.
*Only add dressing to what you plan on eating in the same day. Unfortunately, this salad doesn’t sit super well with the dressing. If you are planning to have leftovers, toss only what you’ll being eating on day 1 with the dressing. Other than that, this salad can store in the fridge pretty well for up to 3 days.
More Quinoa Salads:
Yum, I love salads like this! We eat pretty healthy all the time (with indulgences – don’t get me wrong!) but I love this time of year when everyone is posting such great healthy recipes! And this looks delicious!
I love it too! So motivating to get back on track. Like your delicious couscous salad, I need to try that out next!
Happy New Year:) This salad looks great Chelsea! We usually try to eat a lot of veggies and salad but definitely over indulged on heavier meals and treats over the holidays so a detox salad sounds perfect:) Love quinoa but have never tried cooking it directly with tomato bouillon but it sounds fantastic and really flavorful!
Thanks Kelly! Happy New Year to you as well! 🙂 I’m in the same boat haha, trying to bring in more healthy meals. I love the tomato bouillon in it, you’ll have to let me know what you think if you end up giving it a try!
I’m so in need of this right now. I’ve been stuffing my face with so many horrible foods the past month, I seriously can’t bear to think about exactly how much it’s been! Great dish and great pics!
I have just recently started getting on the quinoa bandwagon and this salad looks delicious! It has everything I have committed to eating more of in my life! Thanks for the recipe!
This looks so amazing! I bet I could talk my man into eating quinoa if it came with black beans and cilantro, two of his Cuban-self’s very favorite things!
Haha! That’s the smart way to do it! Thanks for stopping by Natasha 🙂
I love quinoa, this is my kinda salad. Packed with veggies and nutrients with a “side” of quinoa! 🙂 Pinning and sharing, thanks Chelsea!
Chelsea, this looks absolutely gorgeous! I am probably the only one around that has not tried quinoa. Now, I am going to. Everything about it looks very appetizing. I’ve just never found a great recipe… until now! I’ll let you know when I make it… pinned and printing out. (=
Thank you so much Gloria! Oh I’m so excited you are going to try it and finally try quinoa! I hope you like it. My husband wasn’t sure about it at first, but he likes it now and I’m pretty obsessed with it! Thanks again 🙂
this looks wonderful and delish! beautiful styling and photos too!! thanks for sharing
Thanks so much Julianaloh, it’s a great salad to kick off a healthier 2014!
Quinoa is still fairly new to me so I love finding yummy recipes! This is so colorful, and the pictures are gorgeous! Thanks so much for linking up to Freedom Fridays ….. I’ve pinned this and shared it on FB 🙂
Thanks so much for the pin and facebook share Jamie! Have a wonderful week 🙂
I LOVE a good quinoa salad. This looks fabulous! You have rekindled my quinoa salad desires and I am going to have to do something about it soon!
Thanks Aubri! Let me know if you give this a try!
We love the tomato bouillon. We get the tomato and chicken bouillon and always use that to flavor rice and quinoa when appropriate!!
It’s so great huh?! I’m glad you’ve tried it and love it. Thanks for commenting Andrea!
Your pictures are amazing and this salad sounds wonderful, Chelsea! I’m stopping by from the Time To Sparkle Link Party. Also, I’m your newest fan on Facebook. Pinning this recipe!
Thanks so much Katie! I will head right over and check out your facebook page! 🙂
I just tried this today. My husband really liked it. Love trying new things
Thanks so much for commenting Letty! I’m glad he enjoyed it 🙂 Have a great week!
I tried this a few days ago. I was unable to find the tomato bouillion at the Navy commissary and only found quinoa that had flavors in it. I’m new to quinoa and will have to find it at another store because i love eating it. I found that this recipe was just OK. I usually love salads of this type but this one just had something missing. I experimented with different things in my individual servings to see what would improve it. I finally stumbled on it. Balsamic vinegar. a little sprinkle of that on my serving did the trick. I will be using that inthis recipe in the future.
Thanks for commenting Val! Oh that’s a great idea to add Basalmic vinegar – I will have to try it! I didn’t want to add a dressing, because generally dressings aren’t a part of a detox, but basalmic vinegar would work perfectly and not take away from the detoxifying factors of the salad. Thanks again – I’ll add that to the post!
Oh my gosh. Usually detox salads are so nasty and just bland. Even though this didn’t have a dressing, I loved it so much. It was so tasty and flavorful and felt good to eat something so completely healthy. Thanks for sharing this recipe, you have a new follower.
Haha I have definitely had some gross detox salads! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for stopping by and commenting 🙂
So yummy. Thanks for the recipe, my family really enjoyed this healthy salad.
I’m so glad they liked it! Thanks Lexy!
Just wanted to let you know your detox salad is one of my features from the blog hop! Hope you stop by tomorrow to link up any new posts you have and grab a featured button. Have a great weekend!
Thanks so much for letting me know and for showcasing that salad! I’ll definitely stop by tomorrow. Thanks again Katie 🙂
I made this and love it. It is not only delicious but very pretty with all the colors. Could you break this down as to Calories, Fat etc?
Thanks so much Cheryl, I’m glad you liked it! Okay I just crunched the numbers and have a nutrition label I’m adding to the bottom of the post!
Saw this on Nikki’s feature! Gorgeous salad & pinned! I could eat this every day! 🙂
Thanks Averie! And thanks for the pin 🙂
Oh my! I have found your website thru Recipe Girl’s crock pot post last week. I just love your recipe’s. Keep up the great work.
Oh what a fun comment to receive! Thank you so much Christien – this really meant a lot to me! 🙂 Have a wonderful week!
I am going to try this. It’s been hard trying to find healthy kidney friendly meals. I’m glad I stumbled on it.
So glad you did too! I hope you love it 🙂
I made this today and it was delish. The only thing is I put feta and balsamic vinaigrette on mine. I would recommend this to anyone. Super delish 🙂
LOVE those additions! Feta cheese is the best 🙂 Thanks for the comment Lauren!
It is a very refreshing salad and I could eat it all the time
So glad you enjoyed the salad! Thanks for the comment 🙂