Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa
Our friend had gaven us their Costco size bag of quinoa, so I was tasked with finding tasty ways to use it up. After googling around for quinoa, and various other ingredients we already had on hand, I stumbled upon this recipe.
I’m a lover of less dishes when cooking, so using our Instant Pot to a make a one-pot meal… Sign me up! This recipe is a true winner when it comes to one-pot meals as well as easy and tasty Instant Pot recipes.
I’ve been using it for meal prepping what i like to call deconstructed burrito bowls. I can portion and fill a few bowls and we can eat this for lunch or dinner for a few nights. (Yeah less cooking on week nights!)
It has all of the flavor of everything you’d want in a really filling and delicious plate of Mexican food. This has become a bookmarked recipe in our house!
Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small red onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 jalapeno chopped, de-seed for less heat
- 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
- 3/4 cup corn kernels I used frozen and added them to warm water for 5 minutes
- 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili powder or to taste
- 3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup quinoa uncooked, 180 grams
- 1-1.25 cups water or vegetable broth use 1 cup if you want quinoa grains more separated
- 2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 lime juice of 1 lime
- 1 avocado diced
Instructions
- Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add oil to it and then add the chopped onion, garlic and jalapeño. Saute for 2 minutes until the onion is softened.
- Add the black beans, fire-roasted crushed tomatoes and corn kernels. Mix well. I used frozen corn kernels and put them in warm water for 5 minutes before adding to the pot. [Please note if your IP has the problems of getting BURN message, do not add tomatoes at this point. Add everything else and add tomatoes at the very end. Do not stir after adding the tomatoes].
- Add the spices – cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder. Also add the salt and black pepper and mix.
- Add the quinoa and toss until well combined. Then add the water or vegetable broth and mix.
- Close the pot with its lid. Press the manual or pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 1 minute with the pressure valve in the sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally.
- Open the pot, fluff the quinoa with a fork. Add cilantro and lime juice.
- Add in the diced avocados and serve Mexican Quinoa immediately. You may also top it with guacamole, salsa or some sour cream!