Instant Pot Curried Sweet Potato Chickpea Quinoa
Aug 02, 2018, Updated Sep 07, 2019
Instant Pot Curried Sweet Potato Chickpea Quinoa - healthy, vegan and gluten-free meal made in the Instant Pot in 30 minutes or less! Great for lunch, meal-prep and to pack in lunch boxes!
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Instant Pot Curried Sweet Potato Chickpea Quinoa – a healthy, wholesome vegan meal made in the Instant Pot.
So easy to put together, vegan and gluten-free! Eat it for lunch/dinner or pack for your lunch-box. Also great for meal-prep.
If you love all the Instant Pot vegetarian/vegan recipes that I share on the blog, please join me on this Facebook Group – Instant Pot Vegetarian Recipes. The group shares/features vegetarian instant pot recipes and ideas from all around the web!
I have been struggling a lot lately with making lunches and dinners.
I can’t remember if I shared this with you guys, but my cousin is visiting us from India. She has been here last 2 weeks and we are having a great time.
However things have been a little busy too. On weekends, we are always travelling so I am not really getting the chance to plan my week. Usually I plan all the blog work on weekends and do the groceries accordingly.
But with us travelling all weekends (we are showing her around), we usually get home at like 10 pm on Sunday and then I have no courage to any planning.
So on one such “grocery shortage” day, I made this Instant Pot Curried Sweet Potato Chickpeas Quinoa! I had some sweet potatoes on hand and so I thought of throwing them with quinoa to make a wholesome meal in my IP. It turned out really good and I had to share the recipe with you guys!
This is what I love about my Instant Pot – the ease with which I can make something so quickly for lunch. It saves me from ordering out. We have been eating out a lot lately so I try to cook at least the lunch at home.
This dish took only 10 minutes of prep time and with in minutes I had something healthy for lunch. As you guys know Sarvesh is not a quinoa fan (at all!) but he ate this. I think I will take that. If he eats quinoa, that itself in a win for me!
This Curried Sweet Potato Chickpea Quinoa
✓ is made quickly in the Instant Pot
✓ vegan and gluten-free meal
✓ protein-rich
✓ great for lunch, dinner and to pack in lunchbox
✓ only needs 10 minutes of prep time
Helpful Tips –Â I flavored this dish with curry powder and smoked paprika. You can use other spices like if you like the chipotle flavor, add some chipotle powder or if you like it spicy, add cayenne pepper. I personally thought the curry powder went really well here.
Sweet potatoes are delicate veggies and when pressure cooked, they turn to mush very quickly. So always remember to dice them into large pieces – 1 to 2 inches big, so that they retain their shape when pressure cooked.
Although we cook for only 1 minute at high pressure for this recipe, but the natural pressure release takes some time and the sweet potatoes will turn mush if they are diced small. So remember to dice them into big pieces!
To make this dish more nutritious you can add chopped spinach or kale to it. Add at the very end after the pressure has been released. Add and stir until the leaves wilt.
The curry powder that I have used here is not very spicy. If your curry powder is spicy, add less of it. As usual, adjust spice levels to taste.
This Instant Pot Curried Sweet Potato Chickpea Quinoa is an easy healthy vegan meal which is so easy to put together in the Instant Pot. Garnish with chopped cilantro and enjoy!
Method
*Wash quinoa several times under running water before using in the recipe. This helps in getting rid of that bitter taste.
1- Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil to the pot and then add the chopped garlic and onion. Saute for 3 minutes until onions are softened.
2- Add the rinsed and drained quinoa to the pot and saute for 2 more minutes.
3- Then add the spices – curry powder, smoked paprika and cumin and saute for few seconds.
4- Add the chickpea, sweet potato, red pepper and stir.
5- Add in the water, salt and close the Instant Pot with its lid.
6- Press the manual or pressure cook button with the pressure valve in the sealing position. Cook on high pressure for 1 minute. Let the pressure release naturally.
7- Open the lid and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Add cilantro.
8- Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice and toss to combine.
Serve immediately! You can also store in an air tight container for meal-prep!
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Instant Pot Curried Sweet Potato Chickpea Quinoa
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil I used olive oil
- 3-4 large garlic cloves chopped
- 1 small red onion chopped
- 1 cup quinoa 180 grams, uncooked, rinsed very well, I usually rinse quinoa for 1-2 minutes
- 1.25 teaspoon curry powder adjust to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 15 oz can chickpeas rinsed & drained, or use 1.5 cups boiled chickpeas
- 2 medium sweet potatoes 500 grams, diced into 1" or larger pieces
- `1 medium red pepper chopped
- 1.5 cups water 12 oz
- 3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 large lemon juice of
Instructions
- Wash quinoa several times under running water before using in the recipe. This helps in getting rid of that bitter taste. Set it aside.
- Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil to the pot and then add the chopped garlic and onion. Saute for 3 minutes until onions are softened.
- Add the rinsed and drained quinoa to the pot and saute for 2 more minutes.
- Then add the spices - curry powder, smoked paprika and cumin and saute for few seconds.
- Add the chickpea, sweet potato, red pepper and stir.
- Add in the water, salt and close the Instant Pot with its lid.
- Press the manual or pressure cook button with the pressure valve in the sealing position. Cook on high pressure for 1 minute. Let the pressure release naturally.
- Open the lid and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Add cilantro.
- Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice and serve!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Manali,
Do you have directions for making it on stovetop? One thing I am not sure about is quinoa to water ratio, does it stay the same as the instant pot recipe?
I will do 2 cups water, cover and cook on medium heat until quinoa is cooked and water is absorbed. around 15 minutes. Then turn off the heat let it remain covered for 5 more minutes. and then fluff with a fork. The earlier steps would remain same, you would just sauté in a pan in place of instant pot.
Soooo delicious! First time making this but will definitely make it again.
Super delicious! Don’t let the 1 minute pressure cook time scare you… it really does just take 1 minute. I was amazed.
glad you liked it Jennifer!
How would you make this in a crock pot?
unfortunately I don’t have a crock pot and so I have not tested the recipe in that
This was a delicious and super easy one-pot meal. I added 1/2 cup extra of water because I have the 8 quart Instant Pot, which supposedly requires a minimum of 2 cups of liquid to pressurize.
We doubled the recipe and doubled the cooking time to 2 minutes. This made the instant pot quite full and took longer than usual to get up to cooking pressure. We let the pressure naturally release for 15 minutes and then did a quick release of the leftover pressure – you’d have never known we let it naturally release beforehand. 🙂 For folks who are saying the quinoa isn’t cooked, be sure to let the instant pot *NATURALLY* release – don’t flip the release for at least 15 minutes!
This recipe is great – similar to one we had been making, but the addition of chickpeas makes it much more filling and substantial. I used vegetable broth in lieu of water as well, for a little more depth of flavor, and it worked well. 1:1 substitute.
This is a house favourite! I do have to double the amount of spices every time, but I think that’s down to personal preference? I like a stronger amount of spice. Very tasty!
glad you like it, spices are always a personal preference.
Would this work ok with brown rice instead of quinoa? How should I adjust the cook time? Thanks!
No this won’t work with brown rice because brown rice need around 22-24 minutes of pressure cooking time and sweet potatoes would be extremely mushy by that time. You can make it with chickpeas only, that will be okay.
Yet another easy yet delicious recipe. Nutritious and wholesome at the same time. I didn’t have curry powder so I skipped it and it still tasted great. Will include this as part of my weekly meal plan
glad to know Neha!
What kind of curry powder do you use?
simply organic brand
I was wondering if I add kale to this recipe , a whole bag , if I should add another half cup of water and make it two cups? This will be my first Instapot full recipe when I make it tonight. I have only used my sauté button. Also, are the chickpeas in the can okay?
I would add kale after the pressure cooking is done. Pressure cook as given in the recipe. Then open the lid, press the saute button and add kale, let simmer for 2-3 minutes. you can add more water at this point then. I have used canned chickpeas in the recipe so that’s totally okay.
I make this all the time. My 1, 3 and 5 year old eat it up! Very versatile to swap whichever ingredients you have on hand and easy to switch up various flavours you may want as well.
glad to know that kids enjoy it too!
I made this tonight for dinner. It was absolutely delicious! My husband and I love it! Thank you for sharing it.
welcome 🙂
This was the first recipe I tried in my instant pot. I followed the directions exactly but the quinoa didn’t cook. I was so disappointed. I recooked the quinoa but it did not turn out fluffy as pictured and the potatoes were super mushy.
Not sure what happened. If I made it again I would double the spices as it was lacking in flavor.
hmmm quinoa does cook in 1 mins high pressure because we do natural pressure release which takes around 15 minutes and the overall time is enough for quinoa to cook. Maybe try 2-3 mins high pressure next time. Sorry it didn’t work out for you
If you quick released the pressure it will not cook. You need to do a natural release meaning let it sit then it will release pressure on its own.
Super easy to make and very delicious! I really enjoyed this recipe!
Hey Manali, it looks really healthy. Wanted to know in which proportion should I add water,if I reduce quinoa to 120 grams.Thanks!
This recipe worked beautifully. Delicious and satisfying, especially on a cold, gloomy day! I added some ras al hanout, a few chopped dried dates and a pinch of cinnamon for a Morrocan flavor.
Easy and so delicious! I tripled this for a busy upcoming week. Thanks for the great recipe!
you are welcome!
I make this every other week. My whole fam, including my 2 and 4 year olds just gobble this up.
that’s so nice to know that your kids enjoy healthy food 🙂
I just made this for my meal prep this week. I can’t believe the sweet potatoes cook so quickly – you are right they get mushy. I stirred in bok choy at the end and really liked that addition. Perfect to have all the veg + beans + grains in one meal so there was way less cleanup for my meal prep than usual.
glad you liked it! yes sweet potatoes quick super quickly in IP!
This is my second time making the delicious dish! I have had an Instant Pot plus for 1 year and had never used it until this past week when I saw your recipe. What an awesome recipe to showcase the delicious and healthy food can be made with little fuss in the Instant Pot. Thank you. I will look for more of your Instant Pot recipes.
You are welcome! 🙂 So happy to know you enjoyed this recipe!
I just found your blog and I’m so excited! I can’t wait to try some of your recipes. So many of them sound delicious! I am going to start with this one.
Hope you enjoy the recipes Angie!
Chole!! <3
This looks filling and loaded with flavours! I have never used IP to make quinoa…a great idea!