This Crunchy Thai Quinoa Salad Is the Perfect Lunch
The bringing-your-lunch-to-work struggle is real. But easy salads like this one — with quinoa, crunchy veggies, and a flavorful peanut sauce — will inspire you to make it happen. Sure, it requires a little work up front, maybe on a Sunday afternoon, but then you’re rewarded with a colorful, filling meal you’ll actually look forward to eating when lunchtime rolls around.
The key to enjoying a salad for lunch, especially if you’re going to eat it couple days in a row, is to have a variety of colors and textures. With shredded purple cabbage, grated carrot, thinly sliced snow or snap peas, chopped cilantro, and thinly sliced green onion, this salad totally delivers on that front.
It doesn’t hurt that the sauce — a mixture of smooth peanut butter, reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce, maple syrup or honey, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, fresh ginger, lime juice, and red pepper flakes — is so delicious you’ll want to just drink it straight-up.
The author uses quinoa as the base for this salad, but you could also use millet if that’s what you have on hand. Just don’t forget to garnish with some chopped roasted, salted peanuts! That added crunch really seals the deal.
→ Get the Recipe: Crunchy Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad from Cookie and Kate