Quinoa and Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Creamy Tahini Dressing

Name: Quinoa and Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Creamy Tahini Dressing
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 can Black Eyed Peas, drained and rinsed (or 1 ½ cups freshly cooked); ½ cup Quinoa; 1 cup Water (to cook quinoa); 2 cups Lettuce or Romain, thinly chopped; 2 leaves Kale, stem removed and thinly chopped; 2 ½ cups Broccoli, chopped; ½ cup Tomato, chopped; ⅓ of a Cucumber, thinly sliced; 1 Large Carrot, shredded or cut in matchsticks; 2 Mushrooms, chopped; ¼ of a Bell Pepper, chopped or cut in matchsticks; ½-1 Avocado, sliced; 2 tsp Sunflower seeds (sprinkled on top); top with Broccoli Sprouts (optional); ¼ cup Tahini; 2 Tbsp Fresh Cilantro, finely chopped; 2 tsp Lemon Juice; ¼ tsp Garlic Powder; ⅛ tsp Dill, dried; 3 Tbsp Cold Water

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe·Leave a Review

I love making hearty salads because they’re colorful, filled with variety, and come together so quickly! A perfect well-rounded meal you feel great eating and energized afterwards. Food shouldn’t make us feel blah and lethargic, it’s meant to fuel our bodies! I remember many-a-meals feeling awful afterwards; heavy, bloated, bogged down. I felt that way for so many years that every meal I eat now brings me so much joy and appreciation for not feeling that way anymore.

Believe it or not, this Hearty Quinoa and Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Creamy Tahini Dressing was the first time I’ve ever used black-eyed peas! The name is a misnomer; black-eyed peas (or cowpeas) are a bean, not a pea, and they were never on my radar. On my drive to the grocery store recently I was listening to a favorite podcast, The Exam Room, and discovered that black-eyed peas are one of the most calcium-rich beans! Interesting!

The timing was impeccable; the day before I was having a conversation with my mom about the osteoporosis that runs in the women in our family and all the horrendous injuries and ailments due to bone loss. The last few years I’ve been making a point to eat calcium rich foods (broccoli, dark leafy greens, soy milk, vitamin D and K supplements) and I’m bound and determined to be the black sheep of the family (or maybe green sheep with all my veggies) and break away from the fate of osteoporosis.

I eagerly picked up a bag of dried black eyed peas and three cans and decided it was time to make these a favorite bean.

It wasn’t difficult, black eyed peas are delicious.

Beans, beans, the musical fruit. . .

Beans are known as the musical fruit but I think of them more as magical, as they have so many health benefits! I crave beans like I used to crave french fries and that switch has transformed how I look and feel every day! Beans are one of my favorite foods and I’m excited to add black-eyed peas to the bean rotation!

Beans are very high in protein (where do you get your protein? Beans, for one!), folate, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium, as well as zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, vitamin B1 and B12, vitamin E, and vitamin K.

One cup (170 grams) of cooked black-eyed peas is packed with:

Calories: 194
Protein: 13 grams
Fat: 0.9 grams
Carbs: 35 grams
Fiber: 11 grams
Calcium: 41 mg

(% of the Daily Value)

Folate: 88%
Copper: 50%
Thiamine: 28%
Iron: 23%
Phosphorus: 21%
Magnesium: 21%
Zinc: 20%
Potassium: 10%
Vitamin B6: 10%
Selenium: 8% of the
Riboflavin: 7% ¹

Beans are also a great source of polyphenols, a powerful antioxidant that helps protect against free radical damage, inflammation, and disease. Pro tip: the darker the bean, the higher the antioxidant content!²

Power Bowl with Black-Eyed Peas, Quinoa, and Tahini Dressing

Weight Loss

Low in fat and calories, adding beans to the diet contributes to substantial weight loss. Since beans are high in fiber, they keep you feeling full longer! I can attest to this; I will stuff myself silly with bean meals nearly on a daily basis and stay slender. The combination of beans and veggies makes me feel so good, it’s why I keep going back for more!

Back when I was eating a standard American diet (SAD) and overweight, I was trying to lose weight by reducing portions, spending hours at the gym, and counting calories – but the weight didn’t budge. I was fat, hungry, and slaving at the gym and I only seemed to be getting fatter. I never count calories anymore or restrict portion size; I eat all the fruits, veggies, legumes, and whole grains that my heart desires!

Heart disease and cancer

Beans and other legumes lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol while raising your HDL (good) cholesterol, resulting in lower blood pressure, inflammation, and reducing your risk to heart disease.³ Heart disease is the #1 killer in the United States, killing 697,000 Americans every year. That’s 1 in 5 deaths.⁴ It doesn’t have to be this devastating; as many as 90% of heart disease cases are preventable with diet and lifestyle changes.⁵

There is strong evidence that eating beans and plant based foods can protect you against not only heart disease, obesity, and diabetes — but also cancer!

The American Institute for Cancer Research published a detailed analysis of diet and cancer, which was reviewed by 21 of the top cancer researchers. One of the recommendations for cancer prevention is to eat whole grains and/or legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc) with every meal!⁶,⁷

Tahini Dressing

Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds and it’s delicious. Lots of recipes will call for an umami flavor (Tamari or Liquid Aminos) when making a tahini-based dressing but I prefer to keep it light and bright. You can whip this dressing up in 5 minutes and feel good about what you’re dressing your salad up with.

Eat the rainbow

The more color (and I’m not talking dyes) you bring to your plate, the better! It’s true that we eat with our eyes: we evolved so that our our trichromatic color vision allows us spot the colorful fruits (and veggies) in foliage!⁸

Every fruit and vegetable brings something unique to the table: broccoli has cancer-fighting sulforaphane, Mushrooms have anticancer properties⁹ and powerful antioxidants ergothioneine and glutathione, bell pepper is rich in vitamin C, kale and lettuce (and other dark leafy greens) are a great source of calcium, vitamins K, B9, C, and A, tomatoes are red because of the powerful lycopene, carrots are a beautiful orange from the beta carotene (vitamin A), cucumbers are packed with vitamin K, and broccoli sprouts aren’t just there for decoration – they have up to 100x more sulforaphane than mature broccoli!