Can I Freeze This Quinoa And Black Bean Salad
If stored in an airtight container, cooked Instant Pot quinoa and black bean salad can be left in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you wont be using it up during that time, then its better to freeze the leftovers.
Divide the leftover salad into single servings or family-sized servings and place them into airtight containers, meal prep containers, or freezer bags. If you are using freezer bags, make sure to flatten the bags so that they take up less space in the freezer.
The cooked salad can be kept in the freezer for up to 6 months, but for the best tasting salad, consume it within 3 months.
Why I Love Quinoa
Fun fact: quinoa is actually a seed NOT a grain.
Just like wild rice is a pseudo-grain, so is quinoa. So if youre following a gluten-free/grain-free diet , you can definitely eat it!
Quinoa is also an ancient food. Called the gold of the Incas, quinoa has been eaten traditionally in South America for thousands of years.
Quinoa is high in iron, magnesium, manganese, and Vitamin B2.
Finally, unlike most other grain-like foods, quinoa is a complete protein and a great source of plant protein!
Yes, its more expensive than rice, but its way less expensive than grass-fed meats.
So, although I dont advocate for a totally vegan or vegetarian diet, there is a lot of value in including a variety of plant foods, like quinoa, in our diets. These foods help balance the blood sugar, relieve constipation, and keep our digestion healthy.
How To Cook Quinoa Perfectly In The Instant Pot
If youve ever wondered how to cook quinoa in the Instant Pot, prepare for your life to be changed! Perfect, fluffy, tender quinoa in minutes this is the only way I cook quinoa anymore, and it is easy as can be!
Cooking fluffy, perfect quinoa in the Instant Pot has pretty much made that indispensable machine worth it in my opinion.
Ive had a 6-quart Instant Pot for several years now and I easily use it at least 3X a week just for rice or quinoa. Making quinoa on the stovetop isnt exactly rocket science-y hard, but the hands off approach in the Instant Pot and resulting fluffier-than-fluffy quinoa has been revolutionary for me.
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Variations Of Pesto Chicken And Quinoa
- Sundried Pesto Chicken and Quinoa: Swap basil pesto for sundried tomato pesto for a delicious, tangy version.
- Pesto Chicken Wrap: Place a big scoop of chicken and quinoa in a large tortilla wrap, top with cheese and desired toppings and wrap it tightly.
- Lettuce Wraps: I haven’t tried it, but I think this would be amazing served cold in lettuce wraps with a drizzle of dressing and fresh chopped tomato.
You know a dish is good when you can still remember every detail of a meal over a month later. The first bite, the loving gaze of a happy husband, the whining of children about quinoa not being anything like rice . . . it’s as if it was yesterday.
Enjoy your lovely green dinner, my friends! Let me know what you think, what your husband thinks, and if you have non-picky children, I’d love to hear their thoughts as well!
How To Store Reheat And Freeze Chicken And Quinoa
- Store: Scoop cooled chicken and quinoa into a sealed container and store it in the refrigerator for up to a week. Store topping ingredients separately.
- Reheat: Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave or on the stovetop with a splash of water or broth.
- Freeze: Freeze leftovers in a freezer-safe ziplock or in a sealed container for up to 3 months. To eat, let leftovers thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat as instructed above.
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Instant Pot Quinoa Sweet Potato Chili
This quinoa chili has the perfect combo of flavors, it is a little sweet from the sweet potatoes, and balanced with savory onions, garlic, and peppers, then the chili powder adds a nice warmth that you expect from chili. All-in-all the flavors are completely balanced, no one flavor overpowers the other. Recipe from Moms Dinner.
How To Cook Instant Pot Chicken And Quinoa
Brown the onion in the pot with olive oil using the Saute setting.
Deglaze the pot with the water, being sure to scrape off all of the flavour filled bits that might stick to the bottom of the pan.
Set the trivet inside the pot and then place the chicken on top
Add the citrus peel and herbs, I simply wrapped the peel around the herbs here, nothing fancy needed.
Twist on the locking lid and cancel the Saute setting.
Select the Manual setting and program the pot so that you cook the chicken for about 5 minutes per pound. So a 4.5 pound chicken would cook for 22 -23 minutes. Either is perfectly fine.
When the pressurized cook time has ended and the pot beeps, allow everything to Natural Pressure Release for 25 minutes.
This will help finish cooking and allow the moisture to lock into the chicken
When the time has finished, carefully lift the chicken out of the pot using the trivet handles and set onto a deep plate for the liquid to drip into.
Let the chicken rest and cool down for at least 15 minutes so you wont burn your hands when removing the meat.
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If You Make This Recipe Please Share A Link To The Recipe Online And Tag Me I Love To See What You Are Cooking Up In Your Kitchen
Brittany Williams has taken the weight loss world by storm with her best-selling Instant Loss Cookbook. After reaching a peak weight of 260 pounds and spending a lifetime struggling with obesity, yo-yo dieting, autoimmune diseases, and chronic fatigue, Brittany changed her relationship with food and lost an astonishing 125 pounds in a year through diet alone.
Brittanys latest book, Instant Loss Eat Real, Lose Weight shows how to make this a sustainable lifestyle with kid and family-friendly mealsfrom Strawberry Shortcake Oatmeal to Cowboy Chili to Easy 2-Minute Pork Chops. Members of her growing community have reported losing 50 and even 100 pounds themselves! This cookbook will help others achieve similar success with simple, delicious meals, nearly all ready in 30 minutes or less.
- 1large yellow onion, diced
- 1medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1medium jalapeno, seeded and diced
- 4cloves garlic, minced
- 1pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 2cupsblack beans, rinsed and drained
- 1cupquinoa, rinsed and drained
- 1cupsugar-free salsa
- 1teaspoonfine ground sea salt
What Kind Of Quinoa Should I Buy
There are lots of brands and types, from red, white, and black quinoa, to blends with multiple colors.
If youre new to quinoa, feel free to grab the rainbow blend. Its incredibly versatile and very pretty. But you cant go wrong with any of the three on their own, so dont worry, just buy what is available!
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Natural Release Vs Quick Release
After having done this both ways many times, I think natural release is slightly fluffier and has better water absorption, but the quick release is still so good and saves five minutes, its definitely a good option.
The only thing is you need to increase your liquid content to account for the moisture lost in the quick release. Instead of 1:1.25, use 1:1.5 so for every cup of quinoa use 1 1/2 cups liquid. Then, set the pressure cooker to high for five minutes, and then do the careful quick release, and enjoy!
Adding Flavor To Instant Pot Quinoa
If youd like to add even more flavor and nutrition to your Instant Pot Quinoa, you could cook it in bone broth instead of water. I love to make bone broth in either my slow cooker or instant pot. All you need is some leftover meat bones and veggie scraps.
The result is Instant Pot perfect quinoa thats never mushy, and always flavorful.
You can make as little or as much Instant Pot quinoa as youd like. Ill often double or triple the recipe. There is no need to adjust the cook time. Once its finished, I like to portion the quinoa into freezer bags to have on hand for when Im needing some cooked quinoa especially handy when I get a craving for these Blueberry & White Chocolate Quinoa Breakfast Cookies. Just thaw the quinoa in the fridge overnight, or reheat it in the microwave or on the stovetop, adding a tablespoon of water and covering the bowl or pan. It will take about a minute in the microwave. On the stove, heat on low until heated through.
If this Instant Pot Quinoa turned out perfect for you I would appreciate it so much if you would give this recipe a star review! Also, be sure to snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on
For more great Platings & Pairings recipes, be sure to follow me on , , and .
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Perfect Instant Pot Quinoa
See my guide on how to use an Instant Pot.
Instant Pot Quinoa is perfectly fluffy and so simple to make. Youll love this foolproof, hands-off method for cooking quinoa in the Instant Pot.
Ive shared how to cook quinoa on the stove, but I have to say that cooking quinoa in my Instant Pot is my favorite way to prepare it. With this Instant Pot quinoa recipe, you can easily make perfect fluffy quinoa without having to watch a pot on the stove.
Quinoa is often thought of as a grain, but it is actually a seed. Quinoa is full of nutrition, high in protein and naturally gluten-free.
There are three main types of quinoa that you may find in your local grocery store: white quinoa, red quinoa and black quinoa. White quinoa has the mildest flavor and the softest texture. Red quinoa is a bit crunchier and has more of an earthy flavor. Black quinoa is the strongest in both flavor and texture. All three types of quinoa can be cooked in the same way in your Instant Pot.
I love quinoas nutty, earthy flavor and slightly chewy texture. Since quinoa is mild-flavored, it is delicious with almost any type of seasoning.
You can add this Instant Pot quinoa to quinoa salads or grain bowls, use it in one pan meals such as this Mexican quinoa, or even enjoy it for breakfast. Ive included links to my most-loved quinoa recipes below.
Instant Pot Honey Dijon Chicken Quinoa Bowls
These Instant Pot Honey Dijon Chicken Quinoa Bowls are a simple and tasty meal prep lunch idea that you can make ahead for the work week the secret sauce is honey mustard so you can make this recipe using mostly pantry staples!
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Jerk Chicken & Quinoa
This pressure cooked jerk chicken and quinoa recipe is great for showcasing that not everything that comes out of an Instant Pot needs to be a soup or stew. Its also a good example of how to use a pot-in-pot method to cook two different foods in the pot at the same time. Get the recipe here at Instant Pot Eats.
Chicken Broth And Quinoa Recipe
Now the chicken is cooked remove the herbs and any other part of the chicken that may have fallen off while cooking.
Transfer the liquid-and onions from the Instant pot to your blender and liquify everything.
We call this liquid gold in our house and everyone loves to drink this gut healing, collagen filled broth, it is thicker, smoother and tastier than traditional broth that doesnt typically have the onions in it.
You will want 5 cups of broth to cook the quinoa, if you dont quite have that amount, you can certainly supplement with water or store bought broth.
You dont need to wash the pot or lid after cooking the chicken, just remove the seal in the lid and completely wipe dry the lid and seal, otherwise the pot may not seal correctly the next time its trying to pressurize to cook the quinoa.
Combine the liquid and quinoa and stir well to ensure nothing is stuck to the bottom or sides.
Then twist on the locking lid and select the Manual setting for 2 minutes.
When the pot is finished cooking, let it Natural Pressure Release for about 12 minutes.
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Instant Pot Santa Fe Chicken Over Quinoa An Easy Healthy Instant Pot Chicken Recipe Perfect For Dinner Or Make
Ive been getting my school brain back on lately. For those of you who are new to the blog, I am also a middle school math and science teacher. So lately Ive been in my classroom working since school is less than a month away. Part of that prep process gets me thinking about also preparing my make-ahead lunches for school weeks. This Santa Fe Chicken over Quinoa recipe is exactly the kind of meal I like to bring to work for the week!
My teaching partners and I are all into making lunches and freezing them. It makes life so easy in the morning! Plus, we have something healthy to eat all week. We like to make this soup, and this soup, and this one too!
We have found that eating these soups and meals like this Santa Fe Chicken over Quinoa really helps us shed a few pounds during the school year. Of course, that is as long as I can stay away from the candy!
This meal could be made using a slow cooker, but I have found the Instant Pot cooks chicken so much better!!!
How To Cook Chicken And Quinoa In The Instant Pot
It is amazing how fast the Instant Pot can cook chicken. Whats even better is that you can cook it with quinoa or rice at the same time! Just place 1 cup of quinoa in the pot with 1 1/2 cups chicken broth. You can use water but the broth gives it more flavor. Then cut up the breasts so each piece is the size of a deck of cards. Sprinkle on the seasonings, close the lid, set to seal, and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. It takes about 7 minutes for the pot to come to pressure but once the 6 minutes are over you can do a quick release and dig in.
You can really put whatever spices on the chicken that you want or have. I chose to make this Greek-style, piled with all the delicious toppings youd find in a Greek salad or Gyro. And of course I remembered to top them with Feta cheese after I cleaned up and started eating one. Story of my life or blog.
If you are like I once was, you may be thinking Im a stay at home mom. I dont need meal prep meals. Well, you can totally eat this right away. And I mean you can be eating this in 20 minutes from when you pull the chicken out of the fridge. That fast!
But even if youre at home all day, having a healthy meal that is ready to go is a life saver! I remember when I had just become a mom of two and I found myself forgetting to eat lunch on many occasions because I was busy trying to keep up with the needs of my toddler and infant and then when I got a chance to breath I didnt have the energy to make anything healthy.
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How To Make Quinoa In An Instant Pot
More Healthy Instant Pot Recipes
If you liked this recipe, make sure to check out my Healthy Instant Pot Recipes for more inspiration. The list will keep growing over time. There will always be more and more inspiration for you to start loving your Instant Pot even more than you already do. The possibilities are endless when it comes to preparing food in an Instant Pot. Enjoy every button on it
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