Serves 6
Total time: 15 minutes* || Active time: 15 minutes
This salad is incredibly versatile. The basic is idea is something sweet, something hearty and a little sumpin’ sumpin’ to pull it all together, in this case cilantro. The dressing is super simple; a little vinegar and oil. All of these components can be filled in by you like one big culinary mad lib.
Just off the top of my head, a great autumn salad might be wheatberries, apples, pecans (toasted, if you want to get crazy), red onions and a little fresh rosemary. Or how about peaches and basil in the summer? Spring is coming and if you find yourself stumped at the farmer’s market, picture my floating head above your shoulder going “graaaaaain salaaaaaad.” It’s creepy, but effective.
This recipe was originally published in Veganomicon.
*If you don’t have cooked quinoa on hand this will take more like an hour. Cool quinoa in a mesh strainer in the freezer, stirring often to hasten cooling.
1 mango, peeled and diced small
1 red pepper, seeded and diced as small as you can get it
1 cup chopped scallions
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
1 1/2 cups black beans, drained and rinsed (a 15-ounce can)
A few leaves of lettuce for plating
Combine the mango, red pepper, scallions, and cilantro in a mixing bowl. Add the red wine vinegar, grapeseed oil, and salt and stir to combine. Add the quinoa and stir until everything is well incorporated. Fold in the black beans.
You can serve immediately or let it sit for a bit for the flavors to meld. To serve, place a few leaves of lettuce on a plate and scoop some salad onto it. It tastes good chilled and even better at room temperature.
This stuff is fucking great!
YUM!! Just made this and had to make a few substitutions for what I had….used couscous in place of quinoa and parsley for the cilantro and it still turned out great! The mango is key for this dish and I know, the cilantro would have really made it, as mango mixed with cilantro and onions is awesome! Thanks for a great website and recipe! Love all your recipes!
Great recipe!! Loved it, also keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days
Super-awesome, loved by all my party guests and myself <3 And super-simple, too!
Yummo! Fresh bright flavors perfect for a hot summer day!
I must agree. I just made this and it is effen amazing!!! I subbed good evoo for grapeseed oil, but everything else the same. Keep the excellent recipes coming 🙂
The changes I made were: evoo, cider vinegar (because those were what I had) and half of of the cilantro and scallions called for. The result tasted too much of cilantro and scallions for my personal liking so I added about 1/2 cup more quinoa. My husband thought it’s okay. My 9-year-old daughter (who loves quinoa, black beans, and mango) asked me to only mix quinoa with rice next time Next time I ‘ll try using lemon juice instead of vinegar, less cilantro and scallions, more mango and quinoa.
Amazing and easy! My meat eating husband LOVES this recipe. It’s in my rotation and I make it at least once a month. Taking it camping with us in a few weeks too!
I made this the other night, using couscous instead of quinoa, apple cider vinegar, white onion (just what I had) and fresh mint instead of cilantro. It was super yummy. I served it up at a dinner party and got multiple accolades. It was the first side to go!
just made this! lacking lettuce, I made a wrap using organic whole wheat tortillas. freakin a maz ing!
Delicious. Perfect for a (very) hot spring night. I wasn’t expecting it to be anywhere near as good as it was. Next time I might throw a few almonds and/or sunflower seeds in for crunch.
I made this for Thanksgiving and there weren’t any mangos at the market, so I subbed pomegranate and a blueberry pomegranate red wine vinegar and it was fantastic!!!
This was great. I even brought all of the leftovers for lunch leaving none for my partner
Great recipe! I made a few tweaks: added two stacks of thin sliced celery for added crunchiness; 2 diced Mango’s instead of one; one extra tablespoon of grapeseed oil & red wine vinegar; & added addition salt to our tastes.
This is so delicious. I just made it for a family party where I was the only vegan and everyone loved it!! The only change I made was I used olive oil instead of grapeseed oil, and it tasted exquisite.
We make this usually once a week! We use it for lunches and everyone is always covetous of it at work. Our only sub was olive oik instead of grapeseed.
Another winner! Brown bag lunches will be awesome this week.
Love this salad! I found a variant recipe a year and a half ago on another site ( laurelofleaves.com/2012/06/mango-black-bean-quinoa-salad ), and I substituted kiwi. Pain in the butt to peel and dice, but a great substitution for those allergic to mango!
Best.Salad.Ever.
This is my go-to recipe whenever I attend a party or potluck. Every time I make it to share with others I get requests for the recipe – literally every time! So quick and easy to make and the balance of flavors is just divine. I also will serve it over raw spinach with some avocado to make it a full meal. I encourage everyone and anyone to make this salad, cheers!
Great recipe!!!! I ate a similar dish with all my family at the Roque Rosito restaurant near the Cathedral, but they add more cilantro, don´t use red wine vinegar and the mangos are the best you can taste. LOL.
I made this last night, and I must say that this is the best caesar dressing yet!! OMG!! It’s freakin’ PERFECT! too, btw. 🙂
This is still my fave, even years later! 🙂