Thai Quinoa Salad with Peanut Sauce Recipe (Vegan Potluck Ideas)
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Jump to Recipe Watch VideoThis tasty vegan Thai Quinoa Salad with Peanut Sauce is crunchy, flavorful, and packed with protein – a great vegan pot luck idea that everyone (including meat eaters!) will love. This salad is quick, plant-based, and great for anyone at your table.
Loaded with fresh red cabbage, green onions, peanuts, and carrots, this delightful and crunchy salad has a yummy Asian-inspired peanut dressing. It’s great to meal prep for quick lunches throughout the week, and is a perfect summer side dish for a BBQ, potluck, or cookout.
Want more tasty vegan potluck recipes? Try our plant-based lettuce wraps, Thai mango salad with cashews, or our avocado & chickpea vegan pinwheels!
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.
Why This Recipe Works
- It’s nutty, crunchy, bright, and flavorful!
- The dressing has a wonderful balance of sweet & savory.
- Versatile: You can add any fresh veggies you have on hand.
- One of our favorite vegan/vegetarian potluck ideas!
- It makes a great lunch, side dish, or appetizer.
What’s In This Cabbage Quinoa Salad?
- Carrots, Red Cabbage, 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, cook quinoa in the Instant Pot, or quinoa in the rice cooker.
- 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!
- Maple syrup for natural sweetness.
- Soy Sauce or Tamari: tamari is a gluten-free version of soy sauce.
- Peanut Butter
Be sure to visit the recipe card below for full ingredient amounts and recipe instructions!
Substitutions and Variations
- If you don’t like or can’t eat peanuts, you can omit the nuts and substitute an almond or cashew butter instead of the peanut butter.
- Add some fruit! Mangoes, pineapple, or mandarin oranges can give you a nice sweet contrast to the savory, tangy dressing.
- Instead of cilantro, try other fresh herbs like Thai basil or fresh parsley.
- You can add diced cucumber, bell pepper, or edamame to this dish.
Inexpensive Potluck Recipes They’ll Love
This salad is a great potluck idea that is also inexpensive to make! Buying quinoa in bulk is a great way to save money, and allows you to keep a well-stocked pantry. Cabbage, carrots, and onions are fairly inexpensive all year around!
This is a great way to get your veggies in, while also sticking to your budget. We love inexpensive vegan crowd-pleaser dishes, like our old fashioned four bean salad, tahini queso dip, or our pineapple pico de gallo salsa!
This is one of my favorite quinoa salads to make for a crowd – I love how hearty and delicious it is. My quinoa salad with black beans is another favorite potluck dish of mine, and I make it regularly for lunches or to bring to a friend’s house.
How To Make This Recipe
Step 1: Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Set aside, and allow to cool.
Step 2: In a large bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, red cabbage, carrots, and green onions.
Step 3: In a medium mixing bowl, make the dressing. Add the minced garlic, rice wine vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce (or tamari), maple syrup, peanut butter, and lime juice.
Step 4: Stir the dressing ingredients well to combine. Dressing should be smooth and creamy.
Step 5: Pour dressing over the quinoa salad and toss well to combine. Top with fresh chopped cilantro.
Step 6: Top with the peanuts, and more green onion for garnish. Enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
Yes! This quinoa salad is great to make in advance, and can be made up to 2 days before serving. Once made, cover with plastic wrap or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Save any fresh herbs and any crunchy toppings (like peanuts), and add right before serving.
Absolutely, adding cooked tofu, tempeh, or edamame is a great way for get more plant-based protein in! You could also add cooked chicken or beef if you were making this for a non-vegan audience.
Not everyone loves cilantro, so you can swap it out for fresh mint, Thai basil, or fresh parsley. Any one of these herbs will give the salad a fresh flavor.
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.
- To make this recipe nut free – substitute the peanuts for cashews, and substitute the peanut butter for cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, or almond butter.
More Vegan Potluck Ideas We Love!
- Easy Chimichurri Rice
- Vegan sriracha mayo
- Sourdough discard focaccia
- Vegan chicken sandwich sauce
- Vegan kale noodles
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If you made this recipe, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
Thai Quinoa Salad with Peanut Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
For The Salad
- 4 cups cooked quinoa
- 2 cups chopped red cabbage
- 2 carrots chopped or spiralized
- 2 green onions chopped
- 1 cup cilantro julienned
- 1/2 cup peanuts 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 pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce or gluten free tamari, or soy sauce substitute like aminos
- 1 lime juiced
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Set aside, and allow to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, red cabbage, carrots, and green onions.
- In a medium mixing bowl, make the dressing. Add the minced garlic, rice wine vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce (or tamari), maple syrup, peanut butter, and lime juice.
- Stir the dressing ingredients well to combine. Dressing should be smooth and creamy.
- Pour dressing over the quinoa salad and toss well to combine. Top with fresh chopped cilantro.
- Top with the peanuts, and more green onion for garnish. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
-
- If you don’t like or can’t eat peanuts, you can omit the nuts and substitute an almond or cashew butter instead of the peanut butter.
-
- Add some fruit! Mangoes, pineapple, or mandarin oranges can give you a nice sweet contrast to the savory, tangy dressing.
-
- Instead of cilantro, try other fresh herbs like Thai basil or fresh parsley.
-
- You can add diced cucumber, bell pepper, or edamame to this dish.
- 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.
- To make this recipe nut free – substitute the peanuts for cashews, and substitute the peanut butter for cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, or almond butter.
Nutrition
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A great meatless meal
A great mix of flavors
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.