If you want to eat healthy but don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen, you need to make my Vegan One Pot Mexican Quinoa! Not only is this dish hearty, flavorful, and nourishing, but it makes the best meal-prep. I love to top mine with cashew sour cream, avocado lime crema (or fresh avocado), cilantro, salsa, and maybe even some jalapeno for extra spice! If you love easy one-pot meals, try my One Pan Taco Casserole or One Pan Tuscan Pasta next. For a refreshing dessert, serve my dairy-free mango pineapple ice cream!
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Notes on Ingredients
- Quinoa: I use dry, white quinoa but red or tri-color quinoa works too.
- Water: Could also use vegetable broth for a flavor boost.
- Corn: You can use canned corn, frozen corn, or corn fresh off the cob.
- Cilantro: If you don’t like cilantro, you can omit or replace it with parsley!
- Black Beans: You can use any kind of bean – adzuki, white, pinto, etc.
Please take note that this is important information about the ingredients used in this recipe and the FULL recipe with measurements and details can be found DOWN BELOW (scroll to it) in the recipe card.
How do you make Vegan One-Pot Mexican Quinoa?
- Add all ingredients (except cilantro) into a large pot with a lid. Stir, cover, and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, turn down to medium/low heat and cook covered for 15 minutes or until the liquid is completely absorbed and quinoa is cooked.
- When done, stir in fresh cilantro!
- Serve and enjoy!
- Step 1: First, add the quinoa and water to a large pot.
- Step 2: Then, add the rest of the ingredients except cilantro.
- Step 3: Cover and bring to a bowl. Keep covered and cook for 15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.
- Step 4: Finally, stir in the fresh cilantro, serve, and enjoy!
Commonly Asked Questions
Store this Mexican quinoa dish in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. To reheat, microwave it or put it back on the stove for a couple minutes.
Yes! Just know the cooking time will vary, but the cooking method will remain the same.
Definitely, you can use fresh, frozen, or canned corn. Same goes for the bell peppers, you can use fresh or frozen.
I love topping my bowl with cashew sour cream, avocado lime crema or just fresh avocado, extra cilantro, salsa or fresh pico, pickled onions, and maybe even some jalapeno. It’s also really good served with a side of tortilla chips!
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Extra Helpful Tips
- Make a pot of this at the start of the week and have it for easy lunches all week long.
- Adjust the spices & herbs to your preferences! Don’t like cilantro? Leave it out! Don’t want any spice from chili powder? Replace it with smoked paprika!
- Make sure the quinoa is completely cooked through by ensuring all of the liquid has been absorbed, the quinoa is transparent, and there are no more hard pieces.
How to Store
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. To reheat, simply microwave or heat on the stove for a couple minutes.
More One Pan/Pot Dinners
If you tried this Vegan One-Pot Mexican Quinoa or any other recipe on my blog please leave a 5 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Vegan One-Pot Mexican Quinoa
Equipment
- 1 stove
- 1 pot large
- 1 spoon
- 1 knife to chop veggies
- 1 cutting board to chop veggies
Ingredients
- 2 cups quinoa dry
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup cilantro fresh
- 3 cups bell pepper diced
- 1 15 oz can of black beans rinsed and drained
- 1 cup corn fresh
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 cup red onion diced
- 2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- jalepenos optional for more spice
Instructions
- Add all ingredients (except cilantro) into a large pot with a lid. Stir, cover, and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, turn down to medium/low heat and cook covered for 15 minutes or until the liquid is completely absorbed and quinoa is cooked.
- When done, stir in fresh cilantro!
- Serve and enjoy!
Kate says
Do I dare say one could add some green chiles, chipotle chili pepper, ground (cayenne) red pepper, salsa verde, and/or cumin for more flavor? If you like it spicy that is! Also what about some butternut squash or sweet potato? I used those once making a chili and it was so good! Thank you for this recipe! I can’t wait to try it out! I’m sure it’s super flavorful!
Best,
Kate
Mariana Sousa says
Beautiful tasty and super easy!!!!
Lea says
Looks so flavorful! Easy clean-up from one-pot meals is always an added bonus!
Emilie Flynn says
What is the serving size? 1 cup?
Taylor From HealthyGirl Kitchen says
This dish can serve about 6-8 people
Gene says
This was delicious. I used a red bell pepper, a green bell pepper, a poblano, and some jalapeño. I used white and tricolor quinoa. Lots of cilantro! 4 small plum tomatoes. I’m also going to brown some plant based chorizo and mix that in. I have food for days! lol. Thx for the recipe! I’m vegan_gene on IG.
Jordan Stacy says
The easiest weeknight dinner! I make this anytime I don’t feel like cooking b/c it takes 15 minutes!!! SO simple and delicious.