One Pan Mexican Quinoa
Wonderfully light, healthy and nutritious. And it’s so easy to make – even the quinoa is cooked right in the pan!
Despite my daily 3-mile runs, all the morning donuts have finally caught up with me. So Jason and I made a pact to lighten up our diet before our Cabo trip in 6 weeks. But instead of eating bland, boring salads, I decided to make a fun, healthy quinoa dish that we would both really enjoy.
And that’s exactly what this quinoa dish is. With a fun Mexican twist, this dish is chockfull of so many amazing flavors, from the tangy lime juice to the hint of spiciness from the chili powder and jalapeno. And not only is this healthy and nutritious but it’s also unbelievably easy to make. Simply throw everything into the skillet and that’s it. Even the quinoa is cooked right in the pan, really letting the flavors soak in.
Now who said healthy food has to be boring?
One Pan Mexican Quinoa
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeno, minced
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 cup corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and jalapeno, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in quinoa, vegetable broth, beans, tomatoes, corn, chili powder and cumin; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until quinoa is cooked through, about 20 minutes.
- Stir in avocado, lime juice and cilantro.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
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Thank you! We loved this receipe. I would like to make it for a dinner party. Could you please suggest a veg soup and sides to complete the meal?
My absolute favorite side dish is the garlic parmesan roasted potatoes. But please feel free to check out all of my side dish recipes here.
Any ideas on what to sub for the avocados? Or just leave it out?
You can omit as needed. 🙂
I just became vegan a little over a month ago. A friend shared this recipe with me and this is the best vegan dish I have tried yet. This is one of my top dishes period. Great flavor, variety, and it’s healthy. You cannot ask for more. Many thanks for sharing your talents with us.
Very nice recipe, I’ve made it a couple of times as I am trying to incorporate more power foods into my diet and quinoa salads are starting to get to me. One thing I did differently the second time is to roast quinoa first before adding the vegetables. Loved the roasty flavor.
I did a search on my phone for “mexican quinoa” and this recipe came up first in the results. I needed look no further as I had all the ingredients on hand. I made this for my family tonight. It was really easy to make and everyone loved it. I served it with refried bean tacos, sauteed greens from our garden, and grilled summer squash from our garden. Thanks for the great recipe! I already printed it for our recipe file.
I added 2 mahi mahi steaks and it wad great!
*was
My favorite go-to meal when I was pregnant!
Added an extra jalapeno. Easy and so good!
Great recipe, I made it for my book club and everyone enjoyed it!
I made this tonight and everyone in my family, including our 15 month old baby asked for 2nds! I used fresh tomatoes from the garden, halved the broth, and used Happy Hals jalapeno sauce instead of a jalapeño. We also added a vegan cheese sauce . It was amazing and so easy! Thank you!
I doubled the recipe. Since I didn’t want to run to the store, I wound up skipping the jalapeno :(. But I used 1 can of spicy black beans, 1 can of pinto beans and a large can of non-fire-roasted tomatoes. Even with all of the substitutions, it came out great! This is a super easy and delicious recipe that I will definitely add to my rotation!
I made this in a pressure cooker at 5 min on high as someone else suggested. Came out great, thanks for the recipe!
A friend made this for me in the past and I loved it! Trying my hand at it tonight for guests and have some questions.. I’m hoping to use it to stuff bell peppers. Was going to bake the bell pepper shells, add as filling, and top with cheese then bake again. I would like to have 6 full adult servings and add ground turkey to 4 of them, leaving 2 servings meatless. I’m thinking 1 lb turkey cooked separate and mixed into a portion of this yield? Should I double the recipe to get as much as I want out of it? Would love any help on quantity of turkey and whether I need to double the recipe!
That might be best!
I added some ground Moose and extra liquid and this was a super hit for my family! Yeah for a healthy meal they want to eat
This was off the hook! Thank you! I added a wee bit of coriander seed to give it a bit more of a coriander flavour punch. It makes great leftovers too 🙂
This is SOOOOOOOOOOOO good! I didn’t have lime or avocado when I made it….delicious even without! Thank you!
A very bright colored recipe that makes it appetizing and my tummy hungry. It look delicious and i am going to tr this on weekend. I will definitely share my review after try this.
Thanks
Chungah
Hey CHUNGAH Lots of love to you.. Can’t wait to try this but i found i add extra spices every time i cook but definitely I will tell my wife to cook , I’ve been on a quinoa kick lately and I love the bright and bold flavors !
great recipe I loved it..cheers
This was absolutly delicious! I am trying to eat a lower fat plant based diet so I omitted the olive oil and just lightly sprayed my pan with olive oil cooking spray. I added fresh onion in with the garlic and jalapenos and added some taco seasoning I have premade. I will be making this many times in the future. Thank you for this simple and delicious recipe!