I’m a big fan of quinoa and have used it in so many different ways. A substitute for my routine bowl of oatmeal, a thickener in soup and a base for these sweet potato quinoa cakes — just to name a few. This weekend I realized that despite all the different quinoa salads I’ve made, I’d never made one with fruit. Obviously that needed to change.
Mother’s Day brunch seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out a fruity quinoa creation. I looked around online for a good recipe and found this one from Oprah.com. Despite realizing that the photo featured probably isn’t of the actual recipe (it has blackberries and pomegranate arils and the recipe doesn’t call for either), I LOVED the look of the golden toasted coconut topping and decided to run with it.
I used fresh pineapple instead of canned and made a creamy dressing with avocado to flavor the salad. The quinoa did have a slight green hue from the dressing but no one seemed to mind. I kind of liked it!
Not only did the kiwi add a nice splash of vibrant green color to the salad, it also reminded me how much I like kiwi. I often forget about it when grocery shopping but it’s so tasty, high in fiber, potassium, and vitamin C, and lower in sugar than many other fruits. Gotta remember to pick more up next time I’m shopping!
So now that I have one quinoa fruit salad under my belt, you can expect to see another fruit and quinoa recipe soon. All my favorite berries will be coming into season in a few weeks so naturally I’m already dreaming of a mixed berry quinoa salad. Until then, try this one and let me know what you think. 🙂
If you enjoy this quinoa salad, you can check out my roundup of quinoa salad recipes.
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Adapted from Toasted Coconut Fruit Salad with Quinoa and Pineapple-Lime Dressing. I used pineapple chunks blended well for the dressing but if you prefer your dressing to have less pulp you can use pineapple juice instead.
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 cup unsweetened, dried coconut flakes
- 3 ripe kiwis, peeled, quartered and each quarter cut into thirds
- 1 cup diced strawberries
- 2 cups fresh pineapple chunks
Avocado Dressing
- 1/2 cup fresh pineapple chunks (or 1/3 cup fresh pineapple juice)
- 1.5 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1/2 avocado
Instructions
- Place water and quinoa into saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. Take the lid off and allow the quinoa to cool completely. Once it’s cool to touch, you can put the quinoa in a bowl and place it in the fridge to cool down even further.
- Preheat a sauté pan to medium heat. Add coconut flakes and stir constantly until they turn a golden color (this will take about 1-3 minutes). Remove the coconut flakes from the pan and allow to cool.
- In a large bowl, toss the quinoa, kiwi pieces, strawberries and pineapple chunks.
- Blend 1/2 cup fresh pineapple, lime juice and avocado in a high powder blender until smooth and creamy.
- Pour dressing over quinoa and fruit. Toss to combine.
- Sprinkle with toasted coconut right before serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 300
- Sugar: 16g
- Fat: 7g
- Carbohydrates: 56g
- Fiber: 8g
- Protein: 8g
I love anything with coconut! Looks like a great recipe.
Looks so good! I’m eagerly awaiting your 21 DAY FIX review. I’m on the fence about it! Beth
haha! Okay… I’ll post about it as soon as possible. I’m doing my after pictures tomorrow morning. 🙂
I am constantly amazed at all the different uses of Quinoa! This looks delicious!
I love all the different kinds of fruits you used! Mixing them with quinoa is such a great idea and I love anything with coconut!
Not only does this recipe look beautiful, I can’t imagine how yummy quinoa + fruit would be together 🙂 Can’t believe I haven’t tried it before! I’m also excited for berry season coming up, can’t wait for your quinoa berry recipe 🙂
Intriguing. I’m really not sure about using quinoa with fruit, in a sweet way rather than my usual savory, but again, I’m intrigued! It sounds like a fun combination.
What a pretty salad and I’m loving pineapple right now, so I’ll definitely be making this. Pinning!
So many yummy flavors and most of them are my favorite! I haven’t made quinoa in so long, because I never had many good experiences with it. I think it’s time to give it another shot. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
We haven’t had quinoa for a while either – love kiwi so this might be the way to get back into it!
this looks delicious! i’ve never tried quinoa with fresh fruit, but if it tastes half as good as your photo looks, i know i’ll enjoy it.
Interesting combination I must say…
That looks very summery, i love fresh fruit especially berries.
This is freaking beautiful! My eyes just got really happy looking at these pictures.
And now, imma make my tastebuds happy by FACE PLANTING into this! Pinned!
Thank you Taylor!! 🙂
This looks so pretty and yummy!!!! 🙂