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This flavorful and easy Mexican quinoa recipe is inspired by Mexican flavors, featuring black beans, corn, tomatoes, and fajita seasoning.
Two tips Alex and I have discovered for making healthy, home-cooked eating part of your lifestyle are1. Plan ahead (hard when you are spontaneous by nature) and 2. Keep things interesting. I don’t know about you, but it’s easiest for me to want to eat unhealthy foodswhen I don’t have something on hand that is healthy and delicious. I quickly get bored, thus the need for new recipes and differenttakes on old ideas. This Mexican quinoais something I whipped up before a road trip, and it quickly became a family favorite! Keep reading for our Mexican quinoa recipe.
Related: 10 Easy Quinoa Recipes
How to make Mexican quinoa
This Mexican quinoa is not authentic Mexican at all, but inspired by Mexican style flavors. It’s something I whipped up quickly before a road trip, trying to use up the last of assortedvegetables in our fridge. It was a very tasty dinner in the car (andI’m not surehow Alex can drive and eat quinoa yetI’m the one in the passenger seat with quinoa all over me…but that’s another story!). The recipewas so memorablethat when we returned, we promptly wanted to make it again and share it with all of you. This Mexican quinoa recipe would also be perfect as a side dish to bring to a summer potluck, as well as a healthy lunch idea.
Perhaps there was something addictive in our fajita seasoning, but this Mexican quinoa recipe sticks out as one of my recent favorites. It uses all the summer vegetables that are nearingthe end of their season here in Indiana, soit’s agood September salad before we get into pumpkin spice latte season. Andit wasincredibly nutritious, yet interesting enough to keep our tastebuds satisfied. For a full meal, we’d suggest serving with a green salad and perhaps a side of roasted sweet potatoes. It’s also a great lunch option and saves in the refrigerator well.
The only thing that requires any technique at all in this Mexican quinoa recipe is making the quinoa! Here’s our master method and quinoa to water ratio: How to Make Quinoa Perfectly. It also includes a video so you can see exactly how we do it!
Related: 15 Easy Vegetarian Lunch Ideas
Looking for quinoa recipes?
Quinoa may be a bit trendy and we’ve made a whole bunch of recipes with it, but it is so deliciousand versatile it’s hard not to love. It’s also a great gluten-free option and there are lots of great vegan quinoa recipes as well. Here are a few of our favorite quinoa recipes:
- Loaded Quinoa Tacos
- Tropical Mango Quinoa Bowl
- Quinoa Vegetarian Enchiladas
- Veggie Packed Quinoa Fried Rice
- Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
- Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
- Vegan Quinoa Chili
- 30 Ways to Eat All of the Quinoa! Bon Appetit
Looking for potluck side dish recipes?
This Mexican quinoa recipe is perfect for taking to a summer potluck, or as a healthy lunch. Here are a few more side dish recipes perfect for potlucks:
- Incredible No Mayo Potato Salad
- Seriously Simple Three Bean Salad
- Vegan Italian Pasta Salad
- Dilled Bean Salad
- Green Bean, Potato, and Dill Salad
- Purple Potato Salad
- 30 Ways to Eat all the Quinoa | Bon Appetit
This recipe is…
This Mexican quinoa recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.
Mexican Quinoa
- Author: a Couple Cooks
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 as a main course 1x
Description
This flavorful and easy Mexican quinoa recipe is inspired by Mexican flavors, featuring black beans, corn, tomatoes, and fajita seasoning.
- 1 ½ cups dry quinoa
- 15-ounce can black beans (or 1 ½ cupscookedorInstant Potblack beans)
- 1 ear corn (or 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed)
- 3 green onions
- ½ large zucchini (or one small)
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons fajita seasoning or taco seasoning
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa(or use our Instant Pot quinoamethod):Rinse the 1 ½ cups quinoa and drain completely. Place quinoa in a medium saucepan with 2 ¼ cups water and a few pinches kosher salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to very low. Cover the pot and simmer for about 13 to 15 minutes, until the water has been completely absorbed (part the quinoa with a fork to check if the water is absorbed; if not, cook for a few more minutes). Turn off the heat and let sit covered to cool for about 5 minutes, then fluff the quinoa with a fork.
- If using canned black beans, drain the beans. Shuck the corn and cut the corn from the cob (or defrost the corn). Thinly slice the green onions. Dice the zucchini. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Place all vegetables in a bowl.
- When the quinoa is done, let it cool slightly, then add it to the bowl with the vegetables. Stir in the fajita seasoning, kosher salt, olive oil, and white wine vinegar, and mix gently to combine.
Notes
Note that quinoa can vary. We prefer quinoa we’ve bought from bulk bins, which always has the correct texture. We recently bought some packaged that was a very dense texture, took longer to cook, and also had a fair amount of debris. Make sure to rinse the quinoa before using (though if you have a good product, it may not be necessary). You may need to adjust the cook time depending on the type of quinoa.
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mexican Inspired
Keywords: Mexican Quinoa, Quinoa Recipes, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes, Lunch Ideas, Side Dish Ideas, Summer Potluck Recipes,
vegan vegetarian gluten free
Published on / Last updated on
Categorized In:
- Dinner Recipes
- Recipes
Tagged with:
- Black Beans
- Corn
- Easy
- Fajita Seasoning
- Gluten-Free Recipes
- Mexican
- Qunioa
- Salad
- Southwestern
- Vegan Recipes
- Vegetarian Recipes
- Weeknight Meal
- Zucchini
About the authors
Sonja & Alex
Hi, we’re Alex and Sonja Overhiser, married cookbook authors, food bloggers, and recipe developers. We founded A Couple Cooks to share fresh, seasonal recipes for memorable kitchen moments! Our recipes are made by two real people and work every time.
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