Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa
May 15, 2018, Updated Sep 07, 2019
Mexican Quinoa flavored with cumin, smoked paprika and chili powder. This easy one pot meal is made in the Instant Pot and is the perfect meal for those busy days. Vegan & gluten-free.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Do you have only 30 minutes to put dinner on the table? Then try this Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa!
One pot, vegan, gluten-free and it gets done in 30 minutes or less! Perfect for those busy nights!
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 would share/feature vegetarian instant pot recipes and ideas from all around the web!
Last week I was in Salt Lake City to attend a blogging conference. I really enjoyed it! The thing is that blogging can get really lonely, the human interaction is minimal plus not many people understand the work that goes behind it.
So it was great to be among like minded people who get what you do and in general it was just nice to catch up with my virtual blogging friends.
I shared a lot from the conference on my Instagram stories, so if you want to keep up with what goes in my kitchen and life beyond blogging, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram.
The first thing I did after coming back was to go grocery shopping and then make this Mexican Quinoa. This is one of my favorite things to make in the Instant Pot!
This Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa
✓ is one pot meal
✓ gets done in 30 minutes or less!
✓ is vegan and gluten-free
✓ flavored with cumin, smoked paprika and chili powder
✓ leftovers makes great lunch and also perfect for lunch-box
I love easy meals and I am sure you love them too. You guys have been loving the Thai Peanut Noodles that I shared on the blog recently and so I thought of sharing more easy dinner recipes with you guys.
When it comes to easy dinner, I always go back to my trusted Instant Pot. It never disappoints me!
How to Make Mexican Quinoa
To make this mexican quinoa is really easy. The prep work is minimal and the result is so good. I really love recipes which require less prep work, I am not a fan of chopping and peeling.
All you have to do is to saute the onion, garlic and jalapeno in little oil and then add the tomato, beans, corn and quinoa along with the spices to the pot.
Add water and let it cook on high pressure. Finish off with cilantro and lime juice! I also like to add some diced avocados before serving.
Helpful Tips
- I have used fire roasted crushed tomatoes here, you may use plain crushed tomatoes too.
- De-seed the jalapeño to make the dish less hot.
- Adjust spices levels to taste. Add more of the chili powder if you like it hot.
- I added 1.25 cups water to this recipe and it results in a softer quinoa (more like rice as you can see in pictures). If you want quinoa seeds to be more separated and be more like the way it looks in salads, use 1 cup water.
- Some of the newer Instant Pot models get the BURN message frequently. If you face similar problems with your IP, add the crushed tomatoes at the end (on top of everything) and DO NOT stir after adding the tomatoes. Close the pot and cook as usual.
Hope you guys like easy one pot Mexican Quinoa recipe. It’s healthy, flavorful and the best part is that it is so easy to put together!
Method
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 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.
Add 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!
If you’ve tried this Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
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, rinsed well, I usually rinse quinoa for 1-2 minutes
- 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!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this tonight and it is delicious! I added just a little more than the called for spices, because I find so many recipes never have enough of the spice for my taste. But this is just so good, making several lunches out of it for the week. Thank you!
Can you make without instapot or no ?
I am sure you can. I have not tried this recipe on stove-top.
Ever since I started making this during the pandemic, it’s become a staple with my partner and I. It is so good and makes great leftovers.
glad to hear Mike!
Tasted great and easy! It came together super quick and made the perfect last minute dinner. Thanks so much, this one’s a keeper!
glad to know!
It looks delicious, but when I am making something when you say add water how much? How big of Insta pot is this for? Is there a recipe for smaller ones? I apologize if the info is there but didn’t see it.
Hi Robert, please see the recipe card at the end of the post. It has water measurements. This recipe was made in 6qt, but will work well in a 3 qt as well, no change needed.
Very healthy recipe! It also tastes good with 2 yellow onions instead of a red onion, and even was good with refried beans substituted because that’s what was available. And for my non-vegan husband, I have added cooked ground beef.
Added browned ground turkey and cooked for 3 minutes. Used 1/2 pasilla pepper in lieu of jalapeno cuz that’s what I had on hand. Great dish! I like spicy so no problem for me. One can always tamp it down with guac and/or sour cream. Good stuff!
Delicious but very spicy even without the jalapeño. I agree with the commenter above—3 minutes in the pressure cooker was just the right amount of time. I did not add the jalapeños because i was afraid of it being too spicy and I am glad I left them out because the chipotle powder is strong enough on its own—next time I might only put a Sprinkle. I left the corn out to only because I didn’t have any on hand. Overall very tasty and super easy and quick to make!
Delicious and easy! I made my dry beans in the instapot first and then drained and proceeded with the recipe. It came together quick and made the perfect easy dinner for a cold evening. Thanks for sharing, this one’s a keeper!
This is a pretty good and easy recipe! I doubled the quinoa, beans, and corn (i used canned) and added one orange bell pepper as well as some mushrooms I had left over in the fridge. I seasoned with my heart after the initial guidelines and added some adobo instead of salt. When I cooked for 1 minute I opened up the pot and it was still WAY too runny and the quinoa was not cooked, so I popped the lid back on for another minute and let it naturally release again. It was perfect after that. Eating it now with some toppings and its pretty tasty! I love that i can do everything in one pot.
Back for the 4th time. Recipe is forgiving and easy. Btw: I’ve made this Mexican quinoa for 4 different families of varying tastes. It’s been 5-star ratings every time.
Should you drain the fire-roasted tomatoes?
no 🙂
Does the red chili powder refer to hot Indian chili powder? Cayenne? Looking forward to trying this.
cayenne will work well!
The second time I made this I used 1.25 cups vegetable stock instead of 1.
I think it worked better for my tri-colour quinoa to be a bit less “separated”. It was nice to try it both ways though.
Doubled the cumin to 1 tsp. I think next time I could even double the smoked paprika to 1 tsp.
Overall a delicious dish.
(Had to comment twice because I loved it so much) 🙂
Tasted super good, i had to cook it a bit longer but that’s alright. Definitely a make again.
Gotta cook longer than 1 min. It was basically soup at 1 min. I did a few added 1-min cycles before it was absorbed. Other reviews seem to say the same. 🤔
Hi Emily recipe has a rating of 4.7 stars from 90 reviews so most people definitely like it and get it right. I can assure that this cooks in 1 minute. The exact time is not 1 minute. It’s the pressure cooking time, the Instant pot takes time to come to pressure and it also takes time to release pressure. This time is around 15 to 20 minutes, this is more than enough time for quinoa to cook. Quinoa takes 15 minutes to cook on stove-top so why wouldn’t it cook in the same time in Instant pot which is actually supposed to cook things faster? It always cooks for me at high pressure 1 minute. You can do 2 minutes but definitely that’s more than enough.
Yum yum yum!
I live in Australia so just used a tin of diced tomatoes instead of fire roasted tomatoes.
Also used vegeta stock in place of water.
Dish came out delicious!! Thanks Manali
Welcome Cate!
Simple but wholesome! We are becoming fans!
Totally love this recipe for quick wholesome lunches during busy work days.
Does it reheat well? I was thinking of using this for a meal prep meal.
It does
I love this meal, specially for lazy dinner nights or when its super hot!
Its nutrient dense and tasty. Thanks
glad to know!
The cooking time can’t be one minute and then it says on the recipe that cook time is 30 minutes ? When I put everything in the IP how long does it cook for ? Nothing cooks in a minute
I am not sure you understand. I mention the cooking time which is the total cooking time that it takes for this recipe to cook. 1 minute is the pressure cooking time. When you set time to 1 minute, the pot takes time to come to pressure, then it takes time to release pressure. All that time is 30 minutes (and that’s why that is mentioned as the cooking time), of course nothing cooks in 1 minute but on your Instant Pot, you will set time to 1 minute for pressure cooking. Hope this clear things up for you!
Have made this twice and my wife and I love it! It is going into our rotation for sure!
I ‘pushed the easy button’ and used a can of Rotel instead of
the jalapeño and fire roasted tomatoes. But I did sauce onion + minced garlic. I gave it 5 stars for being easy quick and delicious!
I used this to make Mexican wraps with chicken I had slow cooked in IP with a can of Rotel + garlic and salt/pepper the previous day. YUM!
glad you liked it!
Made this with ingredients I had on hand and it was really good. I accidentally put in 1 tsp each of cumin and paprika but it had a really nice flavor. This is good by itself with sour cream and salsa or as a dip eaten with tortilla chips. Will definitely make again and try it with avocado.
glad to know!
EXCELLENT! I’m not a quinoa fan at all, but this may change my opinion. My daughter and I ate two big helpings. Fresh and delicious.
Opened my instant pot after the one minute pressure cook and after the natural release and it was very watery and the quinoa was not cooked. It smelled wonderful. Any advice?
I am not sure what went wrong, it always cooks for me in that time. sorry you had problems. someone the other day commented that there wasn’t enough liquids and it burnt and now you are saying it was too watery. I think IP is the problem sometimes 🙂 Try 2 minutes next time with natural pressure release.
I realized I didn’t have it on high, but the normal pressure cook setting. I am trying again today 🙂 I am new to using an Instant Pot, lol.
I’m not sure how this has so many 5 stars. The ingredients are great but the IP instructions are WAY OFF!!! It burns like crazy every single time and I have followed the directions VERBATIM, I tried eliminating the tomatoes altogether and it still didn’t work. This recipe is awful. I’m always left with burnt yet uncooked quinoa, super disappointing.
Hi there, well it has so many 5 stars because it’s a good recipe and it works for many ? . Sorry it didn’t work for you, maybe you need to get your Instant pot tested if it burned even after eliminating tomatoes. The newer models are more prone to burn message especially the 8qt that’s why it might be a good idea to use more water if using 8qt. It never burns for me so hard to say what’s going on but maybe your IP has a faulty sensor? Which IP model do you use? From what I am aware of these burn messages are more of a problem in Nova and Ultra models, I have a DUO only and it has never once given burn message for anything. Thanks for trying.
This recipe is amazing! Fast, easy, cheap, healthy, and seriously delicious! I make it often!
glad to know!
Came out perfectly. I doubled the recipe with no issues of burning. I did two minutes and went with the upper limits of water
Have you ever doubled the recipe? I’m curious if that would alter the cook time.
I have not, but if you do, cook time remains same
This is delicious but my quinoa was not cooked all the way . How can I cook it more /without getting burn notice ? Should I add some water ?
the newer models are unfortunately more prone to burn message (especially 8 qt). I have an older model and I am yet to see a burn message. I think just add more water next time and also scrape the bottom of the pot making sure there’s nothing stuck before putting it to pressure cook.
This was so delicious! I had a question though- is the 374 calories the total amount of the recipe or each serving?
each serving, this is calculated automatically by a plugin where it divided the total calories by the amount of servings I enter
Hi 🙂 What if you dont have an Instant Pot? How to make this? Thank you
then you can cook quinoa separately and then mix with everything else or make everything in one pot. probably do 2 cups water for 1 cup quinoa and cook 15 minutes on medium heat.
Can this be frozen please?
i think it should be okay
Hi I was wondering if we need to soak the quinoa beforehand ,for it to sprout properly?
no not needed at all
Can I sub quinoa for barley?
I have not cooked barley in my IP so can’t say
Delicious – I needed to put it back on for an extra minute so will probably set for 3 min next time!
I kept getting a burn notice during the high pressure cook.
it’s an issue with newer IP models unfortunately, make sure there’s nothing stuck at the bottom of the pot and do not stir after adding tomatoes
Thank you for expending your time and energy to share. One question please…can we use fresh tomatoes (and how much and how???). We have lots of home grown with love tomatoes and no canned in the house right niw. Thank you again.
maybe puree 3 tomatoes and use that, I would add a tablespoon or 2 of tomato paste for that rich flavor if not using canned
Very tasty. Even my husband loved it, and he isn’t a fan of quinoa. I cooked my own black beans in my IP beforehand. Tomorrow we plan to stir fry the leftover with eggs and have in tortillas as burritos.
Hi, I honestly find your recipes so delicious and it works perfectly for an amateur mum like me! I am about to try this recipe and I was wondering if I need to add more water if I substitute quinoa with rice?
I will keep the water same, should be okay. Thanks for liking my recipes
Great easy, tasty recipe! Going to make this a lot for easy weeknight dinners.
I make this a few times a month – so fast, easy and delicious! Look forward to trying more of your IP recipes
Love the flavor, but the quinoa was not cooked through, even after running it again for 1minute. I’ll try 5minutes next time.
That is strange, I cook quinoa every week for 1 minute with NPR and it works perfectly each time. Glad you liked the flavor though.
How would you adapt this to use dry black beans? Trying to get away from canned.
I would cook the raw black beans first and then use in the recipe. Can’t cook raw beans straight away in this recipe since everything else will be overcooked by the time beans will cook.
How long does it keep in the refrigerator?
2-3 days
I never had quinoa , is it kind of dry ? Do we need to have any kind of curry with it as well?
it is just like rice, you can flavor it like you make pulao etc. with rice or eat it with dal, sabzi
I love this recipe! I make it almost weekly and use it as a topper for salads for lunch and dinner. I also use it in burritos- we eat a lot of Mexican style food 😀
I love this recipe and it’s become a regular in my house. So fast and easy to make with pantry ingredients. It’s one of those perfect recipes for when you’re too tired to cook but want a healthy, homemade meal. I’ve even thrown in extra veggies like diced zucchini or red pepper to sauté with the onion. I love to top with diced avocado. Makes great leftovers for lunch!
I’ve made this a few times and it’s always great! We make burritos or tacos with it, or simply serve it in a bowl with diced avocado.
My kind of recipe- fast, delicious, easy!
Great recipe. I didn’t read all of the comments, so forgive me if this has already been shared. If your having problems with the burn warning in general, use a bit more oil when you’re sautéing, turn the pot off after sautéing, and deglaze with a bit of water to remove any browning to the pot. I’ve found this to eliminate issues. The point is to start with a cooler, cleaner pot surface after sautéing before heading into the pressure mode.