Lactose Free Quinoa Avocado Salad with Turmeric Lemon Dressing
This vibrant grain salad is a celebration of fresh produce and bold, sunny flavors — the kind of dish that looks impressive on the table but comes together with minimal fuss. Creamy diced avocado, juicy cherry tomatoes, crisp cucumber, and fragrant herbs like parsley and mint make every forkful feel bright and satisfying. The real star is the turmeric lemon dressing, which blends warm spice with zippy citrus and a hint of ginger for a finish that's anything but boring. Every single ingredient here is naturally free of dairy, so there's no swapping, substituting, or label-scanning required — it just works as written. The pumpkin seeds add a welcome crunch and a little extra staying power, rounding out a salad that can hold its own as a full meal. Letting the quinoa cool before tossing everything together is the small but important step that keeps the avocado from going mushy and the herbs from wilting. It's the kind of recipe you'll come back to on repeat, whether you're meal-prepping for the week or throwing together a last-minute lunch.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the salad
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
- 2 cups water
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, and diced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 english cucumber, diced
- ¼ cup red onion, finely diced
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup fresh mint, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup dry-roasted pumpkin seeds
For the dressing
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from about 1½ lemons)
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- 1
Combine the rinsed quinoa, water, and ¼ tsp salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes, until the water is fully absorbed and the quinoa tails have unfurled.
- 2
Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the quinoa steam, covered, for 5 minutes. Uncover, fluff with a fork, and spread onto a large plate or sheet pan to cool for at least 10 minutes, until no longer steaming.
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