Zesty Instant Pot Quinoa {Vegan Quinoa Recipe}
This Instant Pot Quinoa is so flavorful and cooks in only one minute! A delicious quinoa side dish that is full of crunchy veggies and a zesty flavor. If you skip cooking quinoa because it takes too long, you’ll love how fast pressure cooker quinoa comes together.
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If you are a quinoa hater, like I used to be, I’d highly recommend you give this one a try before writing it off completely. This dish is inexpensive to make, it produces a ton of food, and it’s perfect for when you don’t want to heat up your house by using the oven for more complex side dishes.
How Long Does Quinoa Take in the Instant Pot?
This instant pot quinoa cooks in only 1 minute. ONE!
Of course, the Instant Pot has to come up to pressure and depressurize which takes about 20(ish) minutes total depending on the size of your Instant Pot.
If you’re used to making quinoa on the stovetop, you’ll love the texture of it in a pressure cooker. It’s fluffier, lighter, and doesn’t take forever!
Tips for the Best Instant Pot Quinoa
- Rinse that ish! Rinsing the quinoa removes the natural saponins that coat quinoa. This leads to a super bitter taste in the cooked product. Most quinoa sold in stores today has been pre-rinsed, but it’s also great to give it a rinse in a wire mesh strainer.
- Keep a 1:1 quinoa to liquid ratio.
- Measure the quinoa before rinsing it. Once you rinse it, the quinoa will increase in volume and the liquid to seed ratio will seem off.
- Toast it first. Yep, toasted quinoa! It helps develop the flavor and adds another layer of awesome to this quinoa side dish. If you’re short on time, skip this step.
If you love fast grain recipes, check out my posts on Instant Pot Farro and Instant Pot Parmesan Garlic Rice. If you are new to pressure cooking and the Instant Pot, check out this post on recipes for Instant Pot beginners.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- You can skip the toasting step if you’re short on time. It adds a great flavor but it’s not necessary.
- You can still toast the rinsed quinoa. It takes an extra minute for it to dry out before the toasting process starts.
- If you want to double or even triple the batch, the cooking time remains the same.
- Double the batch and set some plain quinoa aside for future meals. Cooked side dishes are an important part of our freezer essentials because they make our easy healthy meal prep even faster. If you store servings of quinoa in silicone bags, you can even reheat directly in the bag.
- Canadian Golden Quinoa will not produce good results in the instant pot. It is much too mushy to use in a pressure cooker.
More Vegetable Side Dishes
- Healthy Green Pea Salad
- Blistered Shishito Peppers
- Air Fryer Asparagus
- Nana’s Cucumber and Onion Salad
- Spicy Green Beans
- Air Fryer Zucchini Chips
- It’s not just for savory uses – try a Chocolate Quinoa Breakfast Bowl!
Zesty Instant Pot Quinoa WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS
One serving has 4 WW Freestyle SmartPoints.
Zesty Instant Pot Quinoa {Vegan Quinoa Recipe}
Ingredients
Salad Fixin's
- 2 cups quinoa
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 carrots diced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 1/2 cup frozen edamame thawed
- 3 green onions sliced small (I love green onions. If you don't, reduce to 1 or 2)
- 1 small cucumber, chopped
- Few sprigs of cilantro
Seasoning
- 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic minced or crushed
- 1 inch piece of ginger minced or crushed
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- In a fine-mesh sieve, rinse the quinoa under cool running water.
Instant Pot Directions
- Turn your Instant Pot to saute.
- Add the olive oil and quinoa. Stir to toast for 5-8 minutes, or until you can smell the nutty undertones.
- Add the broth. Stir.
- Secure the lid, and turn the lever to "sealing". Use the manual setting and press the pressure button until it is on "high". Set the timer for 1 minute.
- Once it has finished cooking, the Instant Pot will beep and start counting down. If it hasn't naturally depressurized within 15 minutes, carefully turn the lever to "venting" and allow it depressurize.
- Add the veggies and cilantro to the instant pot. Pour in the sauce and stir to combine. Store in the fridge.
Stove Top Directions
- In a heavy saucepan, like a dutch oven, add the olive oil over medium heat. Add the quinoa and toast for 5-8 minutes, or until you can smell the nutty undertones from the pan.
- Add the broth and stir to combine. Bring to a boil for 1 minute, and then reduce to a lower heat. Put the lid on, and cook for 15 minutes, or until the liquid is completely absorbed. Let cool.
- Meanwhile, dice your veg and mix up your sauce. Once the quinoa has cooked, add the veggies and cilantro and stir to combine. Store in the fridge.
Notes
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I’ve always really loved quinoa.. I was a vegetarian for about ten years, (well, like ten years ago now!) and would try lots of diff recipes. My ex husband and I used to use red quinoa to make vegetarian gyoza. Red quinoa I liked a lot better than the white kind. You should try it out sometime and see what you think!
I’ve had red quinoa in salad before and you’re right, it’s delicious!!
Sssshhhh – don’t tell anyone… I didn’t know what quinoa was. I know you’re shocked. It has a flavor that takes getting used to I think but i’ll make it again!
I’ve liked quinoa well enough since I first tried it, but this recipe has quickly become one of my favorites: http://www.closetcooking.com/2013/03/chipotle-roast-sweet-potato-and-black.html
The avocado dressing is what really makes it. One word of advice, though–I found the amount of chipoltle powder to be far too much. My second time I cut the amount in half and it was still spicy, but not burn-your-mouth-off spicy.
I have never been a fan of Quinoa and has almost forgotten it existed. What you’ve done with it looks simply amazing. After seeing this, I am tempted to try it out. I am sure it tastes great too.
Somehow I found you…..and am enjoying reading you! But, seriously, HOW do you know what BLAND POOP tastes like? Have you really tried it?????