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If you are like me, your life consists of shuttling kids around, keeping up with cleaning the house and laundry, food shopping (I do this A LOT!), volunteering, helping with homework, attending kids sporting events, working and maybe even finding a little time for yourself or your friends. Some of you even home school. Hats off to you brave warriors! My point is this: putting a healthy dinner on the table is hard most nights and nearly impossible on others. Finding a few key recipes that are 1) healthy 2) super easy and 3) delicious is a high priority in my kitchen. I’m all for an advanced, involved recipe some days, but usually I just want to eat something that will make me feel happy, healthy and leave a little money in the bank. This recipe does all of those things!
If you’ve never tried quinoa before, this is the perfect recipe for you! It’s pretty fool-proof. The process is very similar to how you cook rice, but quinoa cooks a little more quickly and I feel like it’s a little more forgiving. Like the vegetarian chili recipe I love, this recipe has very little cutting involved – even less, actually! Also, like the vegetarian chili, you can have most of these ingredients on hand for a last minute meal. Most ingredients are shelf-stable and corn is always on hand in our freezer. If you don’t have the cilantro, you can totally skip that step, but I definitely recommend it. Another thing I love about this recipe is how budget-friendly it is. I buy a large bag of quinoa at Costco for a fraction of the cost of what I pay at the bulk bins at Whole Foods. Organic canned beans and organic diced tomatoes are around $1 to $1.50 for Whole Foods 365 brand (not everything there is more expensive!) Frozen corn is also around $1 or $2 and vegetable broth is FREE if you make your own! Try this recipe.
Some variations we’ve done with this Mexican Quinoa are:
- Serve it over a bed of spring greens
- Serve it with a fried or poached egg on top (not vegan)
- Add some diced avocado on top
- Add a few dashes of soy sauce (totally not my favorite, but my girls love it like this!)
- Pan-fry leftovers to add some crispy edges and serve it as a side dish the next day
Mexican Quinoa
A delicious, nutritious meal you can put on the table any night of the week!
- 2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 cup quinoa, uncooked (rinsed and drained)
- 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, with juices
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
- lime wedges (for garnish)
-
Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring continuously, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the quinoa and cook for another minute. This will toast the quinoa a bit. Add vegetable broth, black beans, tomatoes and juices, corn and salt. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro. Add a squirt of lime juice to each serving.
We love to serve this dish with some diced avocado on top or a fried egg when we are extra hungry!
Source: Adapted from Everyday Annie, originally from Peanut Butter Runner.
Andrea's Healthy Home 
I love this recipe, do you like spicy too? I would add jalapeno on it, well that’s just me, thanks for sharing.
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You could totally add a jalapeno! I would sauté it with the galic at the very beginning. Enjoy!
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This sounds so good and I have all the ingredients. It’s time to try! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
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Great! I hope you like it! It’s a go-to recipe in our house!
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