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
Did you make this recipe?
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Just wondering what makes this dish healthy when the calories and fat are a little on the high side? I’m trying my best to eat healthier lately and reading labels is really throwing me for a loop at times! Thanks! (P.S. making this for dinner tonight!).
This has quickly became one of my favorite recipes! its been a hit with my family. So delicious! Thanks!
This is a great recipe, but as I am cooking this.I will have to make another pan before the week is out. I love batch cooking quinoa and have been looking for creative ways to use the leftovers.
i wouldn’t change a thing about this meal. And i love to read more posts of yours on regular basis.
Great Recipe. I have cooked this yesterday for my breakfast and it is really amazing and so yummy. Thanks for sharing your recipe with us.
I made a batch of this on a Sunday so that I could take some to work every day for lunch. It’s a good thing I’m eating it at work and not at home because there probably wouldn’t be any left! I put some in a thermos, with the avocados on the side and then mixed them in when I was ready to eat and it is still amazing. Like the last commenter, I didn’t have any jalapenos so I just upped the cumin and chili powder. For lunch I think it’s perfect as is, but I’m going to add some chicken and make it for dinner for my husband sometime soon. Like tomorrow, even though I’m eating it every day for lunch. That’s how good it is. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Made this for lunch today. Delicious! I didn’t have jalapenos or chili powder, so I upped the cumin and added crushed red pepper flakes. So good! Also added a little more corn, and used fresh tomato. Will be making again.
Made this for Christmas dinner as a side dish. In that respect, it makes WAY more than 4 servings. I doubled the recipe to account for my number of guests and it was SO much quinoa! That being said, the recipe is excellent and I’m happy to have leftovers! My tip: stir in some medium spicy salsa verde when reheating. My favorite is La Victoria. My guests all loved the quinoa and i say that as someone serving a vegetarian meal to a table full of midwestern, meat and potatoes carnivores 🙂
This is my go-to recipe and a dinner staple in my house. I like to rinse the quinoa before cooking and up the cilantro amount by double!
This is a great recipe, but as I am cooking this, I am having a hard time cooking the quinoa evenly. As I write this, it occurs to me to cook the quinoa separately and adding it later but that would defeat the one-pan concept. Any suggestions?
I just made this… I didn’t have fire-roasted diced tomatoes so I put regular tomatoes and few drops of liquid-smoke. I put water instead of vegetable broth…. soooooooo deliciousssssss…. next time I will make double!! thank you for the recipes 5 stars !!!!
I LOVE this dish. It is SO easy ! Sometimes I dread using quinoa because I have to soak, drain, and cook it before doing anything else. Here, one pan and done!! I added Tofutti sour cream but eventually want to try to make my own vegan sour cream I’ll add it to the list of things for 2017! Thank you!! Delicious!!!
I just made this and it’s to easy and tasty! I don’t think you can get fire roasted tomatoes in the uk so I used tinned plum tomatoes with some chopped up sun dried tomatoes mixed in. Yum!
This was soooo delicious! DH was recently diagnosed with Type II diabetes, so many things have changed in my kitchen. We’ve found that we both like quinoa, but I’m always looking for recipes that are flavorful, and not the same old “serve with quinoa on the side” type stuff.
We both loved this recipe! Poor DH has a serious food allergy to avocado, so I omitted that, but had some on the side for myself. Also cooked a couple of Aidell’s Chicken Chorizo Sausages, since DH wants meat.
This was a very tasty, healthy-carb meal! Since I’m only cooking for two, we’ll have the rest in a couple of days. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
I tired this last night for dinner and OMG, I will have to make another pan before the week is out. Thank you very much for sharing.
Doesn’t look easy to make, but I must say that it looks very delicious, so I will give it a try. Hopefully I can manage to make it the way you described, and it works out.
Can you convert this recipe to be cooked in a crockpot?
It is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional stovetop recipe to be used in a slow cooker without further recipe testing. However, here is an article worth checking out on a possible conversion guide. Hope that helps!
Well I couldn’t find quinoa anywhere around so I tried with rice, and I must say that It tasted amazing. Love your recipes and your ideas. Thanks for being so great.
I wasn’t good at cooking, but I’m getting better and better everyday, thanks to this website
I really love your blog and find a lot of inspiration here. I followed this recipe to a T and still was disappointed that my quinoa didn’t quite bloom properly. I understand it could have just been the manufacturer I purchased from, but changing the recipe to accommodate that wouldn’t make it a one-pot dish. As much as I love the convenience of one-pot dishes, the culinary expectations I consistently have may not live up to that. That said, I still look forward to future flavorful inspirations to try from your blog 😉
Loved this recipe! I’ve made it twice so far : )