Mexican Instant Pot Quinoa With Cilantro & Lime Dressing
This Instant Pot quinoa is perfectly cooked together with gorgeous vegetables and Mexican inspired spices. Served with a cilantro-lime dressing for that classic Tex Mex experience.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Gluten-Free, healthy, Mexican, Tex Mex
Keyword Cilantro Lime Dressing, Instant Pot Quinoa, Instant Pot Recipes, Mexican Quinoa, Pressure Cooker, Quinoa, Quinoa Salad, Tex Mex Quinoa
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Total Time 25 minutesminutes
Servings 4
Calories 368kcal
Author Irena Macri
Ingredients
1cupdry quinoaany color you like
2tablespoonolive oil
1medium onionfinely diced
1red bell pepperdiced
1celery stickdiced
3large cloves of garlicfinely diced
½long red chilifinely diced (seeds out)
1 ½teaspoonsalt
1teaspoonchipotle chili flakes
1teaspoonground cumin
1teaspoonground coriander seed
1teaspoonpaprika or smoked paprika
1teaspoondried oregano
1cupfrozen corn kernels
½cupfrozen garden peas
½cuptinned tomato puree/diced tomatoes/passata
½cupwater
For cilantro lime dressing
2tablespooncilantro leaves and stalksroughly diced
½clove garlicroughly diced
2tablespoonmayonnaise
1tablespoonlime juice
2small pickled jalapeno slices
1Pinchsalt
Instructions
Soak the quinoa in 2-3 cups of lightly salted cold water for 10-15 minutes (an hour is even better). Then, rinse through a sieve.
Press the Sauté key on the Instant Pot (it should say Normal, 30 mins). Add olive oil, onions, peppers, celery and half of the salt. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring a few times.
After 5 minutes, add the garlic, spices and the rest of the salt. Stir through for 10 seconds and then add the quinoa, frozen corn and peas, tinned tomatoes and water. Stir through and press Keep Warm/Cancel key on the Instant Pot.
Place and lock the lid, making sure the steam releasing handle is pointing to Sealing. Press Manual, High pressure and set to 1 minute. After 3 beeps the pressure cooker will start going.
Once the timer goes off, allow the pressure to release for 5-7 minutes and then, if needed, use the quick release method before opening the lid.
While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the sauce by placing all of the ingredients in a food processor or a small blender. Process into a smooth sauce (it’s okay if some of the cilantro is not completely ground up). If no food processor is available, use a knife to finely chop the cilantro and jalapeño, grate the garlic, then combine with the other ingredients in a bowl.
Serve the quinoa in bowls with a few teaspoons of cilantro sauce drizzled over the top. Garnish with extra lime and some chopped scallions.