Carrot Quinoa Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

I have been looking for a new salad dressing. I love the Honey-Lemon Vinaigrette I use in so many of my salads, but I don’t want to be a one trick pony. When I saw this Quinoa Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing on Vegangela’s blog, I was certain I would love it.

I made two salads this day to bring to a family gathering, so I adjusted the ingredients to avoid overlap. I left the cilantro out of this salad because I added it to the Broccoli Strawberry Quinoa Salad.

I used Bragg’s Liquid Aminos to make the dressing. You can use any soy sauce, or if you want it gluten-free, you can substitute Tamari sauce instead.

Carrot Quinoa Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

serves 3-4

¾ cups quinoa, rinsed
1½ cups water
1 cup grated carrots
1 medium green bell pepper (capsicum) chopped/sliced
1 cup celery in ½ inch chunks
¼ cup dried cranberries

Dressing

2 tbs smooth peanut butter
2 tbs rice vinegar
2 tbs Braggs liquid aminos
1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 small clove garlic, pressed

Bring the water to a boil, add quinoa, cover and simmer 12 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand covered until all water is absorbed. Reserve some of the carrots and peppers to garnish your salad at the end, and toss all the vegetables and cranberries with the qunioa.

Whisk together dressing ingredients and stir into your salad. Serve immediately or chill for several hours to let the flavors blend.

This recipe will make about 4 cups of salad.

Everyone who tasted it loved it. Those who don’t like pepper were pleased that I put all the pepper and in this salad and left it out of the Broccoli Strawberry Quinoa Salad that I also brought with me.

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