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Mexican Quinoa

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This flavorful and easy Mexican quinoa recipe is inspired by Mexican flavors, featuring black beans, corn, tomatoes, and fajita seasoning.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 1/2 cups dry quinoa
  • 15-ounce can black beans (or 1 1/2 cups cooked or Instant Pot black 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

  1. Cook the quinoa (or use our Instant Pot quinoa method): Rinse the 1 1/2 cups quinoa and drain completely. Place quinoa in a medium saucepan with 2 1/4 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.