Summer BBQ Quinoa Salad.
You GUYS.
I made quinoa again.
Sort of trendy. Nothing that exciting. But when all the flavors mesh together, very exciting.
I like it.
I like you. So I’m telling you about it.
I hesitate to call this one of my ideal summer meals since it still involves a fair amount of cooking. After all, it is like 90 degrees (or as I like to refer, 432 degrees) outside, but I’ve had an ear infection and gross stuff like that so for me, it’s been a nice, chilly 68 degrees. In my house. For dayssssss. I didn’t realize what a dumb idea it was to turn on the oven until I walked outside and was smacked in the face with my own personal thick cloud of hell. If you don’t know me… heat is not my friend.
So anyhoo, this bowl of quinoa is certainly a MEAL. It has chicken and beans and bacon and corn and roasted red peppers and I can’t even think of one more thing that it might need.The best part is that it tastes awesome cold, so while the whole oven-turning-on thing is a pain, it’s worth it in the end. Make a big batch, stick it in the fridge. Uh, I actually stuffed this into tortillas one day too. Like BBQ quinoa salad tacos.
Too much?
I didn’t think so.
It’s also a completely perfect complementary meal if you’re sitting on the couch trying to belt out every Bruno Mars song known to make in your own little a cappella group.  I’ve spent the last ten days (at least) speaking in Pitch Perfect lingo and I have to say… I think it’s the Mean Girls of this decade. Right? The amount of times I’ve watched it in the last two weeks is absurd and I realize that all of you must think that I do nothing else but sit on the couch and watch TV.
You’d be partially correct. I eat too.
Summer BBQ Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/3 cup BBQ sauce + more for drizzling
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas
- 1 cup sweet corn kernels
- 1 (12-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
- 1/2 cup freshly torn cilantro
- 4 green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook until crispy and fat is rendered, then remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and place it on a paper towel to drain. Add the onions to the skillet and toss to coat in the bacon grease. Cover the skillet, reduce the heat to low and cook until the onions begin to caramelize, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally while cooking. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then remove the onions and the garlic and place them in a bowl.
- Season the chicken with the salt, pepper, paprika and onion powder. Add it to the same skillet over medium-high heat and cook until it is browned and golden on all sides, about 10 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, stir in 1/3 cup of the BBQ sauce and reduce the heat to low. Add in the cooked quinoa, onions, chickpeas, corn, red peppers and half of the cilantro and green onions. Toss well to mix. Right before serving, stir in the bacon, reserving a little bit for topping. Serve and garnish with the remaining cilantro, green onions and bacon.
Did you make this recipe?
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I lasted less than a week attempting to share a recipe without corn. Swear it’s worth it.
106 Comments on “Summer BBQ Quinoa Salad.”
What a fantastic Salad! I love it! The flavors sound incredible!!! Awesome recipe!
hope your ear infection goes away soon. hey totally suck.
salad looks incredible.
This combo of ingredients is pure deliciousness! Definitely making this ASAP!!
I love all the textures and layers of flavor. And I love the wood surface you shot it on!
This looks BEYOND delicious. My husband typically loves anything involving BBQ so I will have to add this to my dinner menu one week VERY soon!
Haha well that’s just fine that you couldn’t resist the corn, because I went a little overboard at Costco on the weekend and bought way more than I needed…. so in a way, you’re helping me not let it go to waste! This sounds awesome. i’m down for anything BBQ-related!
I have some leftover quinoa in the fridge and was planning to make your crispy quinoa sliders for lunch, but now I am seriously considering this salad!! Such tough decisions
Nice summer salad!
As always gorgeous photos! And heat is not my friend either, the humidity has been brutal lately!
First off, I hope you feel better soon! Ear infections are no fun at all. Secondly, the salad sounds amazing! I’m definitely doing this for the boys once Tony gets off this stupid cleanse he’s on. This is the third time he’s done this dang thing and it’s miserable just being around him! HANGRY! Third, I swear, in my own world (you know, the kitchen, the car and the shower) I sound just like the Bellas belting out that Bruno Mars song. You know, much like how I sound like the perfect compliment to James Taylor. ;)
Feel better my friend!
I want those plates!!! Feel better! :)
What a beautiful salad! I love the combination of flavors!
Cold salads are always made in double at my place. They make for rich pickings when you are looking for something to nibble on. Who care if it is trendy? if it taste good that all that matter to me! I could eat this all up!
I love this salad, I love quinoa and I love corn. It looks pretty darn perfect to me!
Also, I want those plates! They are so cool!
Oh and feel better soon!
Yeah this looks amazing.
Hope you are feeling better soon!
I lo-hove this! It looks amazing!!! I’ve been on the same Pitch Perfect kick too! The soundtrack is the only thing getting me through my workouts lately!
I’ve used the phrase “Even though some of you are pretty thin, you all have fat hearts, and that’s what matters” at least four times in the past week….
This looks really delicious! It’s one jazzed up quinoa salad, which I just love.
It’s like you took all the best things and then mixed it with more of the best things to make this. I want it SO BAD right now.
Oh yeah, this is definitely getting bookmarked! The flavors sound amazing! Can’t wait to make it. :-)
anything with barbecue sauce reminds me of summer and is good in my book. looks delicious. – and as always, beautiful photos. :)
I’m making this this weekend when it’s supposed to be cooler.
Today? They are forecasting a 102 head index. Yes, in Wisconsin- a.k.a. “The Tundra.”
It’s so humid, it feels as though you are walking through pea soup.
Stay cool Jessica.
I definitely need this!!! Looks amazing!!!
I love the addition of BBQ sauce in this recipe; so seasonally appropriate!
I had an ear infection last week, too! Is it possible we have bacon poisoning? If so, I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
This is a really great idea! BBQ sauce gives dishes a “meaty” flavor without really having to add meat – which is good for me. Did the quinoa get mushy at all from adding a sauce to it? Would you recommend maybe cooking it a little shorter?
Get in mah belly!
Sounds really yummy!
This would be perfect shoved inside some crispy-fried tortilla taco shells. OMG you’re mad genius. MAD GENIUS I TELL YOU!
I’m absolutely UB-sessed! with Quinoa lately, too! And salads! This is right up my alley– namm nammm.
Xo
Dana Ivy
http://www.iadorewhatilove.com – Check out my blog!!
That recepie looksdelicious!! mmm..
xxx
This salad sounds great! I love the idea of transforming the traditional BBQ into a huge whack of salad. I would absolutely have stuffed this into a tortilla wrap too!
Umm, absolutely making this sans the chickpeas (beans make my stomach hurt). Thanks, Jessica! When are you publishing a cookbook, lady?!
late 2014. :)
oh my gooooooodddd this looks unreal. Ahhhh!!!
I often make a quinoa that’s almost identical. But without bacon. What have I been thinking? Need to include bacon next time!
This looks great, i am going to make it for dinner tonight. What do you mean by cooked chickpeas. Did you just saute them in olive oil?
Thanks for taking time to answer my question.
nope just cooked meaning you can used canned beans! either ones you cook yourself or canned – if you use canned make sure they are drained + rinsed!
Yum I foresee this in lettuce wrap form!! Still loving your weekly menu at the bottom of blog!!
thanks!
Oh my gosh, yum. This looks amazing! What are your thoughts on adding goat cheese to it?
I think maybe I’d add feta before goat!
This is quiona perfection! I cannot wait to try it. I’ve been using quinoa instead of rice in my kitchen for the last two years. I just love how versatile it is. And I keep hearing about Pitch Perfect but I have yet to see it. I might need to change that.
Your idea of stuffing this in tortillas sounds amazing. You really ARE trendy. Quinoa wrap-like things. Sounds magazine-worthy. Like maybe even a healthy mag. ;)
Ummm, this looks aca-awesome. Also, have you heard of Pentatonix? They’re the a cappella group that won the last season of the sing-off. And I’m kind of obsessed. They post crazy amazing covers on YouTube all the time and have sold out three tours already (I went to a concert. Mind = blown).
Oh my…this looks SO delicious! I know what’s for dinner tonight!
Oh wow.. what a delicious looking salad! I would SO stuff this into a wrap too.. I’m a tad wrap obsessed.
Mmmm such deliciousness going on in this salad!!!
I’m totally buggin’ out about this combo.
I hope you are starting to feel better! Nothing worse than feeling sickie in the summer time heat. I love that you went BBQ with quinoa. This looks so good girl.
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nom.
I can’t be clever & witty worthy as SEVERAL replies here (Aca-amazing kills me.) becuuuzz I’m too hungry to mess around right now. I’m using the bags of brown rice/wild rice/quinoa pre-cooked from Costco miss mash to speed up the process of stuffing this in my face.
I’d lick the plate.