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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Hi there, I found this recipe on pintrest the other day and made it today. Delicious! Thanks for a great recipe.
This is really good. The only thing I’d change is this: cook it in a 10-inch skillet. The recipe says “a large skillet,” without a measurement. I used a 12-inch skillet and had to add water to get the quinoa cooked. It just spread the ingredients out too far, not allowing the liquids to be in full contact with all the grain.
I’ll make this again.
Thanks ! That comment is invaluable, I too would have used my large skillet ( 12 inch ) and have the same problem with not having enough liquid. Then I would have added more and probably ended up with glue. I will use my 10 inch skillet. Recipe looks and sounds amazing so I’ve got my fingers crossed. Cheers. Rebecca
Ok, so I made it. I did not have avocados, so I went ahead without them. The FLAVOR… Every bite is full of flavor and excitement. Loved it! thank you for posting the recipe with a beautiful picture of the dish. The picture is what intrigued me and the recipe really awaken my appetite for quinoa 🙂 thank you.
How can this possibly have 14g of FAT in it?? that has to be wrong
Sudie, the numbers are correct. The amount of fat in an avocado tends to be underestimated. An average sized avocado (200g) will have 30g of fat, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil has 14g of fat.
I just made this and it was so good! I used just normal diced tomatoes because i could not find fire roasted. For this reason, I would add a bit more seasoning. I am just wondering, would this freeze well? Let me know! And Thanks for posting!!
I’m so glad you tried this recipes! As for freezing, unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I had this for dinner tonight and it is great and easy to make . Thanks for sharing .
Made this last night and have to say it was DELICIOUS!!! It was my first time cooking with Quinoa and I love it.
SO fantastic. I’m a college student with little time and energy for cooking, but this was so easy to make and tastes amazing. Thank you for this
Thanks for the recipe! Made this, couldn’t find black beans so I used a 5-bean mix instead. It was delicious! Very creative way of using quinoa 🙂
I’m extremely excited to try out this recipe! I was just curious if anyone tried making this recipe in a crockpot or if it would even be possible and how’d you go about doing it?
This dish smelled delicious! Unfortunately we’re not quinoa experts yet and the bulk quinoa we bought had no reminder to rinse the quinoa before cooking. So guess what? The quinoa failed to open and we had to throw it out. We’re on a cleanse and now the mood is pretty intense in the kitchen, to say the least, as we try to figure out something else to eat for dinner.
Is there a way you can add “rinse quinoa before adding” in your recipe? That might help others like us. Thanks!
Hi Tony – what a bummer! Yes, rinsing the quinoa is a must but even without rinsing, the quinoa actually should have cooked just fine and still “open up”. It would have had a bitter taste to it instead. I just wonder if something else might have gone wrong here.
I’ve made this recipe 3-4 times now, and it always takes more than 20 minutes for the quinoa to be cooked — closer to 35. I do make it in a pot, not a skillet, so that may be the reason. Maybe this is what happened to Tony?
Is this 401 calories per serving or 401 calories for the entire dish? Thanks! 🙂
The calories listed are for each serving.
Thank you very much! Do you know what the serving size is? It was not mentioned on the nutrition label.
I would roughly estimate about 1-2 cups per serving.
Okay! Awesome! Thank you so much! I have made this dish so many times now and it is sooooooo good! 🙂
i just made this…soooo good….i didnt have jalapeno so i used banana peppers…also my son hates tomato chunks so i used tomato sauce….love the colors and a different side dish…thanks so much !!!!
Just made this and have enough to last me for about 4 lunches. This stuff is DELICIOUS! I omitted the jalapeno because I used chunky rotel tomatoes instead which already have some spice in it, but man was it delicious. Definitely saving it for my recipe book!
Does this recipe freeze well?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
This was as good as it looked. I added chicken so I can have some protein and it was so delicious and filling! More recipes like this please! This was amazing.
I just made this and I love it! I didn’t have chili powder so I substituted with Sriracha hot chili sauce and it gave it that kick! I will definitely make this again! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes! Thanks for sharing!~
Just made this and it’s delicious! New to your blog and loving your recipes!
Thank you!!
We made this last night and were blown away. I woke up this morning already excited for lunch when I’m going to heat up the leftovers!
Made this according to your instructions exactly and for me it’s a hit!! Thanks for another way to use and eat quinoa!! YUM!