Tex Mex Quinoa is full of nutritious veggies and topped with a robust, tangy, lime-garlic marinade. This 20 minute, colorful vegan bowl makes a WOW statement with it's looks and taste. This recipe is one of our favorite family meals. It also is a super crowd pleaser at potlucks, parties and picnics.
I love cooking quinoa. It cooks so quickly. I love Quinoa Tabouli and Superfood Quinoa Pilaf for easy light lunches and Lentil Quinoa Soup when craving something rich, hearty and filling.
Vegan Quinoa Bowl
Southwestern Vegan Quinoa is good to eat any time of the year. It tastes good warm or chilled. You can use it as a salad or side dish. I use it as a full meal since it is very filling and hearty. This recipe is gluten free and soy free as well.
A delicious and super simple Vegetable Quinoa is made with corn, black beans, red bell peppers, cilantro, and avocados. An easy dressing / marinade kicks the taste to another notch. 20 minute healthy recipe is easy and beautiful. Just look at that picture !! Such a colorful eye candy really !
Easy and Quick Meal
And this Vegetarian Quinoa is very easy and quick to prepare. There are only few veggies to chop — the avocado, peppers and red cabbage and cilantro. Then it’s just making quinoa and prepping the dressing which comes together super quickly.
Lighter food with brighter colors ! And full of flavors. Perfect to add Rainbow in your meals. It is full of fresh ingredients. It has a zesty, tangy dressing that perfectly helps bring everything together. While this quinoa recipe is super-good-for-you, it doesn’t taste like your ordinary health food.
Protein Rich Plant Food
If you are looking ways to incorporate lots of veggies in your daily diet, this is the perfect recipe. Addition of quinoa keeps plant protein and fiber rich nutritious recipe. Black bean and Corn salad also is our favorite one pot wonder meal full of nutrients.
A perfect plant protein, quinoa boasts a great protein to carbohydrate ratio. So for those of us watching the carbs or on the low carb diets, it is the BEST plant based option. 1 cup of cooked quinoa provides 5 gms of fiber and 8 gms of Protein including 20 amino acids.
Easy Homemade Marinade
Let's talk about that dressing/ marinade. It is tangy (lemon), spicy (chili-lime seasoning), creamy ( whisked oil) and robust garlicky ( minced garlic) with hint of salty and herby ( I just made up that word?). A true awakening of all senses. Trust me, you will LOVE how robust this marinade tastes.
Pro Tips
As I always mention, you could definitely add some of your favorite ingredients to this quinoa recipe. Maybe some different peppers, red onions or different herbs.
While you can certainly make this dish ahead of time, don't add the avocado until you are ready to serve it. This will ensure that avocado stays green and fresh and not brown.
I prefer to use red cabbage instead of red onion for lot of my recipes. If the dish is staying for longer duration, onion starts to smell not so good. Red cabbage on the other hand, stays crispy and doesn't smell. But its preference. So by all means, if you prefer red onion, substitute it or add extra.
You can make this like a salad in a mason jar also. Add some dressing on the bottom of the jar, then the quinoa and stack the other ingredients (again not the avocado until ready to eat)I love it as meal prep for school and office lunches since it's very convenient to pack and eat.
Pairing / Serving Suggestions :
I love to pair this quinoa with simple soups for easy filling meals. Vegan Broccoli Asparagus Soup or Vegan Butternut Squash Soup or Creamy Tomato Bisque are my favorites depending upon which seasonal fresh veggies are available. You can add a side dish of Baked Kale Chips for quick super food rich meal.
Tex-Mex Quinoa Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa ( I used Tri-Colored Quinoa)
1.5 cup water
1 cup sweet corn ( fresh/ frozen or canned)
1 cup cooked black beans
1 cup red cabbage thinly cut
1 large red bell pepper roughly chopped
1 ripe avocado
⅓ cup chopped cilantro
Optional: fresh lime wedges, jalapeño pepper slices
For Marinade
1 tablespoon avocado oil (skip it to make oil free WFPB)
1 teaspoon coriander cumin powder
1 teaspoon chili lime seasoning ( adjust per taste)
1 teaspoon all purpose seasoning ( I prefer 21 seasoning salute)
1 garlic clove minced
Pinch of salt
Juice of 1 lime or lemon
HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE:
Prepare the quinoa according to package directions. 1 cup uncooked quinoa makes about 3 cups cooked.
While quinoa is cooking, cut and prepare veggies. ( hold off cutting and adding avocado until serving to avoid browning)
To prepare the marinade, add all of the ingredients in a bowl. Using a whisk, blend all ingredients well.
Combine quinoa and veggies in a large mixing bowl. Pour the marinade over quinoa and veggies and stir to combine.
Just before serving, toss in avocado pieces. Mix well. Spoon into serving bowl and garnish with fresh cilantro and lime wedges. Can be served warm or chilled ! Enjoy.
How do you cook Quinoa ?
I often make a big batch of quinoa in Instant Pot. It comes in handy for any last minute meal preparation. I like to mix and match it with curries, use as salad base or soups.
To make Quinoa, I use 1 cup quinoa to 1.5 cup water. In Instant Pot, set it on Manual 1 minute high pressure. Let it NPR natural pressure release. Fluff the cooked quinoa with fork. Perfect every time.
For Stove top, combine the water and quinoa in stockpot and let it come to boil. Reduce the heat, cover and let cook for 8-10 minutes. And Quinoa is ready !
Our Popular One Pot Meals
- VEGETABLE LO-MEIN NOODLES
- LEMON BASIL PASTA
- VEGAN THAI RED CURRY
- SPAGHETTI LENTIL BOLOGNESE
- CHICKPEA COCONUT CURRY
- VEGAN ENCHILADA RICE
- VEGN LENTIL CHILI
- THAI VEGAN GREEN CURRY
- MOROCCAN LENTIL STEW
Join us on Pinterest and FACEBOOK . You will love all our delicious, wholesome, plant based recipes from around the world.
★ If you make this VEGAN INSTANT POT TEX MEX QUINOA RECIPE do let us know how you like it by ★ star rating it and leaving a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Tex Mex Quinoa
Ingredients
For Salad Base
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa I used Tri-Colored Quinoa
- 1.5 cup water
- 1 cup sweet corn fresh/ frozen or canned
- 1 cup black beans
- 1 cup red cabbage thinly cut
- 1 large red bell pepper roughly chopped
- 1 large avocado
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro
- fresh lime wedges jalapeño pepper slices Optional
For Marinade
- 1 Tablespoon avocado oil skip for WFPB
- 1 teaspoon coriander cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon chili lime seasoning adjust per taste
- 1 teaspoon all purpose seasoning I prefer 21 seasoning salute
- 1 garlic clove minced
- Pinch of salt
- Juice of 1 lime or lemon
Instructions
- Prepare the quinoa according to package directions. See notes below. 1 cup uncooked quinoa makes about 3 cups cooked.
- While quinoa is cooking, prepare veggies. ( hold off cutting and adding avocado until serving to avoid browning)
- To prepare the marinade, add all of the ingredients in a bowl. Using a whisk, blend all ingredients well.
- Combine quinoa and veggies in a large mixing bowl.
- Pour the marinade over quinoa and veggies and stir to combine.
- Just before serving, toss in avocado pieces. Mix well. Spoon into serving bowl and garnish with fresh cilantro and lime wedges.
- Can be served warm or chilled ! Enjoy.
Notes
How to make Quinoa In Instant pot?
- Use 1 cup quinoa to 1.5 cup water. Close the lid with valve at SEALING. Set it on Manual (or Pressure Cook) button for 1 minute high pressure. Once it beeps when finished cooking, let it NPR natural pressure release. Open the lid. Fluff the cooked quinoa with fork. Perfect quinoa every time.
How To make Quinoa on the Stove top?
- Combine the water and quinoa in stockpot and let it come to boil. Reduce the heat, cover and let it cook for 8-10 minutes. Quinoa is ready when water is mostly absorbed and there are rings around the grains.
Lin Wood
This was absolutely delicious. Our new favourite. Because we don’t use oil, I replaced it with veg. broth. Was fantastic . Five stars for sure!
code2cook
what a coincidence, today only I pinned this on my board. Love this and surely flavorful and nutritious recipe.
Lata Lala
Such beautiful and lovely colours of this instant pot curry. Use of quinoa takes it's health quotient to the next level.
Renu
Such a healthy and colourful platter. Loved it and beautiful clicks too.
Shobha Keshwani
Oh my my.. look at the colourful bowl of goodness. Such a healthy option.
Edna
Looks appetizing and delicious.Will try this soon.