Mango, Chilli & Lime Vegan Quinoa Salad

I spend entirely too much time thinking up ideas for sweet recipes so in a bid to force myself to come up with savoury recipes I’m embarking on a great adventure...if you call eating salads a great adventure.
Yes, salad season started way over a month ago for me, where have you guys been? Okay, apparently it’s me who’s not been here, whoops! Anyway, I’ve been doing that thing where I’m just rotating about 3 salad recipes which honestly I have no complains about they are delicious, but I’m taking a proactive stance on the situation and forcing myself to come up with new recipes which I can add to the salad obsession circle before I get bored of the other ones.


This salad I did have a “kind of” plan for, it’s based on this mango salsa my mum makes, no idea where it comes from but it’s bloomin’ good. Sweet and sour is one of my favourite combinations so the sweetness from the mango and sultanas mixed with the spiciness of the chilli and zesty lime is just delicious. I also added pumpkin seeds which have become my weapon of choice recently, mostly because I never realised just how much protein they have in them, I’ve taken to carrying a tiny bag of them around with me and I kind of add them to everything. They also go particularly well with pecans which are definitely my favourite so I couldn't resist adding some of them too.

Can I just mention if you don’t eat vegan salads you definitely should I swear they’re so much quicker to make which is always a plus in my book. Anytime I make a quinoa salad I cook the quinoa a few hours before I’m planning to eat then all I have to do is chop everything up and throw it together which takes less than 20 minutes. With this salad you need to soak the mango, onion, chilli and sultanas in the lime juice which you can do while the quinoa cooks then leave everything to rest and soak, when you’re ready to eat it’s a 10 minute mix everything together job and you’re done, easy peasy!


You will need
¼ cup of quinoa + water for cooking
Zest and juice of ½-1 lime, depending on size
¼ red onion
½-1 green chilli, depending on spice preference
½ mango
Handful of sultans
⅓ red bell pepper
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil Lambs lettuce
Handful of pecans & pumpkin

Cook the quinoa and leave the saucepan with the lid on to fluff up until cool.
While the quinoa is cooking zest and juice the lime into a bowl. Slice the onion, chilli and mango then add to the lime juice with the sultanas, stir and leave to soak.
Once the quinoa has cooled cut up the pepper and mix into the quinoa with the olive oil and lambs lettuce then season with salt and pepper.
Stir the soaked ingredients to the quinoa mixture, serve in a bowl and top with pecans and pumpkin seeds.

Serves 1

Note: I would normally cut the mango into chunks but if you’re going for the fancy look like the pictures, slice the mango and remove from soaking with a spoonful of sultanas before mixing everything together, then lay the mango on top with the remaining sultanas.