Thai Quinoa Salad with Peanut Sauce Recipe (Vegan Potluck)
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Jump to Recipe Watch VideoThis Thai Quinoa Salad with Peanut Sauce is crunchy, flavorful, and packed with protein. Easy, vegan, and prefect for everyone at your table.
This salad is great to meal prep for quick lunches throughout the week, and is a perfect summer side dish for a BBQ, potluck, or cookout.
This crunchy and delicious Thai Quinoa Salad with Peanut Dressing recipe makes such a fantastic meal. Quinoa salads are one of my favorite summer go-to lunches! I love a quick no-cook lunch, that I can meal prep for lunches throughout the week. This Thai quinoa and cabbage salad is a delicious, flavorful, and hearty salad that will keep you full until dinner.
This is a perfect summer salad to bring to a potluck, party, BBQ, or cookout. The sweet and savory dressing brightens the fresh crunchy vegetables in this salad. Because this salad is vegan, gluten free, and dairy free – its perfect for anyone at your table.
This Thai Quinoa Cabbage Salad Is:
- Bright
- Hearty
- Sweet and Savory
- Packed with Flavor
- Crunchy
- Versatile: You can add any fresh veggies you have on hand
- Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free
What’s In This Cabbage Quinoa Salad?
Be sure to visit the recipe card below for full ingredient amounts and recipe instructions!
- Carrots
- Red Cabbage
- Basil
- Green Onions
- Quinoa: You can use red or white! I love white quinoa, so I always have plenty stocked in the pantry! I used this fantastic white quinoa, but you can use red or multicolored. You can cook quinoa on the stove top, in the Instant Pot (my preferred method), in the rice cooker. This quinoa is a fantastic addition to salads, soups, or wraps.
- Lightly Salted Peanuts: for a yummy, nutty crunch! I like to use only unsalted or lightly salted peanuts when I cook.
- Extra virgin olive oil
- fresh garlic cloves
- Rice vinegar: I love rice vinegar, I always keep seasoned vinegar stocked in my pantry!
- Tamari: tamari is a gluten-free version of soy sauce.
- Peanut Butter: or you can substitute an almond or cashew butter instead. Like my peanuts, I only use unsalted peanut butter.
Cook Quinoa in Your Rice Cooker or Instant Pot!
Quinoa is one of my favorite grains: its hearty, flavorful, protein-packed, and filling. I love throwing quinoa into soups, salads, or chilis. Its great to eat all year long, not just for summer salads. I used to cook quinoa on the stove top, but now I use either the rice cooker or the Instant Pot.
My Perfect Rice Cooker Quinoa Recipe makes tasty quinoa in about 45 minutes, no stirring or fuss required. If you have an Instant Pot, my Quinoa in the Instant Pot is so simple and takes about 20 minutes start-to-finish!
Inexpensive Potluck Recipes They’ll Love
This salad is super inexpensive to make! Buying quinoa in bulk is a great way to save on costs, and allows you to keep a well-stocked pantry. Cabbage is inexpensive all year around, and carrots cost about $4 for a 5lb bag… of organic! This is a great way to get your veggies in, while also sticking to your budget. Eating vegan doesn’t have to be expensive, having some great staple recipes like these allow you to save your money to indulge on other things.
This is one of my favorite quinoa salads to make for a crowd – I love how hearty and delicious it is. Its also great for entertaining or to bring to a pot luck. My rainbow quinoa salad is another favorite of mine, and I make it regularly for lunches or to bring to a friend’s house.
How Do I Make Thai Quinoa Salad with Peanut Sauce?
- In a large bowl, combine the quinoa, cabbage, carrots, basil, and chopped peanuts.
- For the dressing, add the minced garlic, rice wine vinegar, olive oil, Tamari or soy sauce, agave, peanut butter, and lime juice. Seal mason jar with an airtight lid, and shake well to combine all dressing ingredients.
- Pour dressing over the quinoa salad and toss well to combine.
Dietary Modifications
- This recipe is naturally vegan, vegetarian, plant-based, and dairy free!
- To make this gluten free, make sure you are using a gluten free soy sauce or tamari in the dressing. You can also use coconut aminos which would be delicious!
- Naturally refined sugar free
More Vegan Potluck Ideas & Salads We Love!
Coleslaw Pasta Salad (Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
Pot Luck Greek Salad with Homemade Vinaigrette (Vegan, Gluten Free, Party Recipe)
Avocado Grapefruit Salad (Raw Vegan, Paleo, Whole30, Gluten Free)
Tofu ‘Egg’ Salad (Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
Vegan Tzatziki Pasta Salad (Gluten Free, Summer Side Dish)
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Thai Quinoa Salad with Peanut Sauce
This Thai Quinoa Salad with Peanut Sauce is crunchy, flavorful, and packed with protein. Easy, vegan, and prefect for everyone at your table – a great vegan potluck idea, and a fantastic quinoa salad for entertaining.
Ingredients
For The Salad
- 4 cups cooked quinoa
- 2 cups chopped red cabbage
- 2 carrots chopped or spiralized
- 1 cup Thai Basil julienned
- 1/2 cup peanuts chopped
- 2 green onions chopped
For The Peanut Sauce Dressing
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons agave
- 2 teaspoons Tamari or gluten free soy sauce substitute like aminos
- 1 lime juiced
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the quinoa, cabbage, carrots, Thai basil, and chopped peanuts.
- For the dressing, add the minced garlic, rice wine vinegar, olive oil, Tamari or soy sauce, agave, peanut butter, and lime juice. Seal mason jar with an airtight lid, and shake well to combine all dressing ingredients.
- Pour dressing over the quinoa salad and toss well to combine. Top with green onions and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 239kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 13gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gSodium: 35mgPotassium: 570mgFiber: 7gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 2401IUVitamin C: 14mgCalcium: 64mgIron: 4mg
Did You Make This Recipe?Please leave a rating and comment below, let us know what you loved about it!
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A unique and delicious dish
This recipe looks amazing and I’ll be making it tomorrow. It calls for 4 cups red quinoa cooked. Is that 4 cups of dry quinoa cooked with 8 cups of water which would yield a larger amount of quinoa. (seems to be what the recipe is calling for) or 4 cups of cooked quinoa? It would make a big difference in the outcome. Thanks
Hi Peter, that would be cooked quinoa That’s about 1.5 cups dry red quinoa and 3 cups water. Let me know how it turns out!
– Kelly
Kelly, then the recipe needs to say “cooked quinoa,” not “quinoa, cooked.” That’s a BIG difference!
Hi GS – thank you so much for pointing that out, I just made the change.
Cheers,
Kelly
great tasting and quick to prepare. It was just a little too sweet for my taste, but husband and 10yo enjoyed it. Thanks!
Beautiful and delicious
Hi your recipe ingredients state peanut butter is needed, but it’s not mentioned in your step-by-step.
Cheers!
This salad is my new favorite! I absolutely love it! Easy to make and each ingredient is magic! Thank you for a scrumptious dish that I will make again and again!!!!
Hi, Kelly. Thanks for posting this beautiful salad recipe. I plan to take it to a potluck on Saturday, where lunch will take place midday, but participants will arrive earlier in the AM (10). So, I planned to make it a day ahead. Will that work?
Thank you: Kate
Hi Kate – yes, making this ahead of time turns out great! Let me know how your guests like it 🙂
I’m planning to make this recipe, however, in the ingredients list it calls for Thai basil and in the directions it say to use cilantro. Has anyone made this recipe? What did you use?
Hello Debbie, thank you for letting me know – I’ve corrected the recipe to say ‘Thai Basil’ which is what you should include in the salad. Please let me know how you liked it!
Love your pictures and interesting commentary.