Lightened Up Quinoa and Corn Salad with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Lightened Up Quinoa & Corn Salad with toasted Pumpkin Seeds

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4.75 from 4 votes

Lightened Up Quinoa and Corn Salad with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

A light and tasty Mexican-inspired quinoa salad studded with corn, diced red bell peppers and toasted pumpkin seeds

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Total Time40

Course: Vegetable / Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: quinoa corn pumpkin seeds, quinoa corn salad, quinoa salad

Servings:

Author: Martha McKinnon | Simple Nourished Living

Equipment

Ingredients

2-3/4 cup water
1-1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained
2 ears corn (kernels cut from the cob)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, 2-3 limes, plus 1 lime cut into wedges for serving
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/3 jalapeno chile, diced
1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1 ripe, firm avocado
1/4 cup raw hulled pumpkin seeds, toasted
1 head red-leaf lettuce (for serving, if desired)

Instructions

First prepare the quinoa. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in the quinoa and let it return to a boil. Stir, cover and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook until the quinoa has absorbed all the water and is tender, but still chewy, about 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Place the corn kernels on top of the quinoa, cover the pan and let stand for 5 minutes.
Stir corn into quinoa and transfer the mixture to a large bowl to cool.
While the quinoa is cooking you can prepare the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, chili powder, cumin, garlic, olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Add the dressing, red pepper, scallions, jalapeno, and cilantro to the quinoa and corn mixture, tossing until everything is well combined.
Taste and season with salt if desired.
When you're ready to serve, cut the avocado in half lengthwise, discard the pit, and then peel the avocado and thinly slice it.
Line a large platter with the lettuce leaves, if desired. Mound the quinoa salad in the middle of the platter and then arrange the avocado slices and lime wedges on the side. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and serve.

Notes

Serving size: scant 1 cup

WW Points: 6

Check the WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app.
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)

8 SmartPoints (Green plan)

7 SmartPoints (Blue plan)

4 SmartPoints (Purple plan)

5 PointsPlus (Old plan)

It is important to remember that just because a recipe is full of healthy ingredients, doesn't guarantee it is low calorie. This quinoa corn salad is a great example, originally weighing in with 504 calories and 14 Weight Watchers PointsPlus, mostly because of the overly generous amount of olive oil called for and enormous 2-cup portion size.

So, when I made this salad last week to accompany the grilled salmon I was having for dinner when my sister and brother-in-law were in town, I did what any responsible food loving Weight Watchers Lifetime Member would do…

I slashed the olive oil in half and cut the portion down to a reasonable 1-cup size! Everyone gave it two thumbs up so it is going in my "make again" file.

Nutrition