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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We made this tonight, and it is now one of my new favorites. So much awesome flavor punched into a healthy, easy and cheap meal!
Just made this and it was AMAZING!! So much flavor for such a light and healthy meal. Thank you for sharing
I made this dish this evening. Wonderful! Left the avocados on the side as one family member doesn’t like them that much and the rest of us mixed them in at the table. Very easy and I find that quinoa takes a lot to be flavorful in other dishes. Yet another winner.
I tried it, and I liked it! Thank you so much for this recipe. An absolute winner!!!
Sounds like an amazing recipe!! Where has this been my 17 years of marriage. My hubs is always asking for tacos and while I too like them, my general thought about them more than once a month is, enh! I could eat quinoa the way he could eat tacos, so this, THIS, yeah! Perfect idea. Why have I never thought of this, I don’t know, but thank you for thinking of it for me!
P.S. this is also going to be a great meal for my kids as I have 3 boys, 2 of them athletes. The potassium provided in this meal will be awesome for them to have the night before meets and games!
Okay, so this may be a stupid question…should the quinoa before adding to the pan?
Oooops. That was supposed to say, should the quinoa be cooked before adding to the pan.
Jamie, as indicated in the post, the quinoa should be uncooked before adding to the pan. That’s the beauty of this recipe!
Do you drain the corn and tomatoes?
If canned corn kernels are used, yes, they should be drained. But the tomatoes should not be drained – the liquid from the tomatoes are needed for this one pot meal.
This looks great- I love the idea of a new, healthy twist on Mexican food. Will have to keep this recipe in mind for Cinco de Mayo!
This is a great quinoa dish. I subbed the. Rotel tomatoes and added the other 4 oz in diced tomatoes! It was good! My husband had thirds!!!!!he said don’t lose this recipe!!!!!
I made this last night and ate it as a filling for corn tortilla tacos. TO DIE FOR. I suspect this will make it on the weekly menu from now on! Thanks for such an awesome recipe! 🙂
Finally got around to make this and it is very good, healthy too! Does anyone have nutritional numbers for this dish, thanks?
Peggy, I’m so glad you had a chance to make this! As for the nutritional information, you can use online resources such as Calorie Count to obtain such information.
Made this tonight and it was my first time making quinoa…LOVED it! It was soooo good. We’ll definitely be making this again in our home. Thanks for all your great recipes!
I made this for a family dinner this weekend. It was a huge hit and a great way to introduce quinoa to the family. Thanks for the recipe!
Just made this, very easy and very delicious. Added shredded cheese.
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Made this for dinner tonight and it turned out delish! I didn’t have fire roasted tomatoes so I used rotel hot tomatoes because we love spicy and added 1/2 a regular tomato. Didn’t add avocado because we don’t like it. Will be making again!
This was soooo good and usually I stay away from anything even a little spicy. My dad and my husband loved it, I added spinach to it and it was deelish!
Finally, I got my family to eat quinoa without staging a mutiny! I did add a bit of shredded cheddar cheese and rolled it into tortillas for yummy meatless burritos. Hey, whatever works, right?
I made this today, & it’s a winner! I made it exactly the way you wrote it, with the addition of some green onion that I had to use up, & it came out great! Thanks for a delicious & healthy recipe 🙂
I am not surprise you are getting so many enthusiastic responses on this recipe. I have been wanting to push myself to finally cook quinoa. This is the perfect vehicle. I like all the possible variations that others have been suggesting. It is so dang colorful too.
This made a delicious dinner for us last night! It’s such a simple dish but with great flavor. I added a dash of paprika to mine. This will go in our regular menu rotation!