A delicious Mexican quinoa recipe for your next fiesta! This Cheesy Mexican Quinoa Skillet is easy, nutritious, made in a single skillet, and totally perfect for meal prepping!
Cheesy Mexican quinoa recipe
This Mexican quinoa recipe is absolute perfection. It has all the makings of a delicious and easy meal for your family, your meal prep, or your next dinner party! Full of beans, cheese, ground beef, delicious seasonings, and topped with cilantro and avocado, you will be more than satisfied with this quick skillet.
With just one skillet and one hour, have this delicious skillet ready to go for your family. I'll bet it'll quickly become a family favorite.
Mexican quinoa ingredients
- ground beef
- quinoa
- bell pepper
- onion
- chicken broth
- garlic
- corn
- black beans
- fire roasted tomatoes
- red enchilada sauce
- Mexican cheese shredded
- salt
- pepper
- chili powder
- paprika
- olive oil
- Optional: cilantro, greek yogurt, jalapeno, avocado
Mexican quinoa recipe substitutions
- Ground beef: Ground beef is a favorite and tastes great in this recipe, but if you'd like, you could substitute ground turkey or ground chicken.
- Quinoa: If you prefer white or brown rice, use that instead. This recipe's flavors will work super well with either of these types of rice.
- Enchilada sauce: Feel free to use green enchilada sauce if that's your jam!
- Cheese: You can leave out the cheese to make this recipe dairy-free or add some DF shredded cheese on top!
- Toppings: I suggest cilantro, avocado, and lime. However, you can add whatever you'd like. Some other options could be sour cream or crunchy tortilla chip strips.
How to make cheesy Mexican quinoa skillet
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Once hot, add garlic and onion. Cook for 3-5 mins.
- Add meat and brown on all sides before breaking up, about 10-12 mins.
- Add salt, pepper, chili powder, and paprika. Stir.
- Add tomatoes, enchilada sauce, broth and quinoa.
- Bring to a boil, then cut heat to low. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.
- Uncover, stir and scrape quinoa off the sides of the skillet. Stir in peppers, corn and beans. Let simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add cheese and cover. Let sit for another 5 minutes.
- Top with cilantro.
How to meal prep this recipe
Like I said earlier, this recipe is a prime one for meal prepping! It reheats well, stores in the fridge, and doesn't lose any flavor along the way.
After cooking your skillet, portion the recipe into 6 servings. Place in 6 airtight containers and store in the fridge. When you're ready to eat during the week, reheat one of the servings.
How to reheat this recipe
Reheat your Mexican quinoa by microwaving for 1 minute increments until it has warmed completely through.
If you don't have a microwave, place the quinoa recipe on a skillet and warm it up on the stove top.
How many calories are in Mexican quinoa?
This Mexican quinoa recipe has 461 calories per serving.
What is the healthiest way to eat quinoa?
Healthy is a subjective word and it means something different for everyone. Quinoa is very versatile and can be served and eaten in a many different ways.
With fruit or yogurt, it can be served with breakfast. It can be served as a side to a dinner with lots of different seasoning combinations. I love using quinoa in salads to make them a bit more hearty.
Is quinoa healthier than rice?
Quinoa and rice both have health benefits. One may be better for someone personally based on their own nutritional needs or food allergies or intolerance. However, both rice and quinoa offer differing nutrition components and one is not better than the other.
Is quinoa a carbohydrate or a protein?
Quinoa is a super interesting food. It is an edible seed that is indigenous to the Andean part of South America. It is considered a complete protein. This distinguishes it from other plant proteins.
It is naturally gluten-free and can be eaten by anyone with a gluten intolerance or allergy. However, quinoa is not low-carb per say. One cup contains about 39 grams of carbohydrates.
More quinoa recipes
Try these other yummy quinoa recipes at Jordo's World:
Cheesy Mexican Quinoa Skillet
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs ground beef 93% lean raw
- 1 cup quinoa uncooked (176 grams)
- 2 bell peppers diced (400 grams)
- 1 onion diced (100 grams)
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3 cloves garlic minced 1 tablespoon (15 grams)
- 1 can corn (15 oz)
- 1 can black beans (15 oz)
- 1 can fire roasted tomatoes 15 oz
- 1 can red enchilada sauce (10 oz)
- ½ cup mexican cheese shredded (56 grams)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Optional: cilantro greek yogurt, jalapeno, avocado
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Once hot, add garlic and onion. Cook for 3-5 mins.
- Add meat and brown on all sides before breaking up, about 10-12 mins.
- Add salt, pepper, chili powder, and paprika. Stir.
- Add tomatoes, enchilada sauce, broth and quinoa.
- Bring to a boil, then cut heat to low. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.
- Uncover, stir and scrape quinoa off the sides of the skillet. Stir in peppers, corn and beans. Let simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add cheese and cover. Let sit for another 5 minutes.
- Top with cilantro.
Sandra says
Seriously, so good!!! Whole family loved this one!!
Jordan Smith says
YAY! I'm so glad the whole family loved it.
Robin S. says
Very tasty! My husband gave it the thumbs up for a keeper recipe! Thank you for your recipes!
Jordan Smith says
Hi Robin, so glad to hear this is now a crowd favorite! Hope there were a few leftovers you can enjoy again (this recipe is great reheated, too!)
Shelby says
Another easy-peasy meal that is so delicious! Thank you, Jordo!
Mildred Silva says
Absolutely delicious!!! My kid doesn’t eat vegetables and she ate a full plate of this skillet.
Jordan Smith says
WOOOHOOO! That's amazing. So glad you all enjoyed!
Lisa says
I was searching for what to prep for lunches without having to go to the store and in comes Jordo for the save!! Had everything on hand besides peppers so I just omitted them. Done within 10 min and I have lunches for the week. Don’t overthink things!!!! Simple easy and healthy.
Chelsea Coretti says
I feel like this is a completely underrated Jordo recipe. I’m eating it right now, and it is SO good. I recommend making it in a Dutch oven/stew pot because it’ll be so much easier to stir!
Jenna says
This was so delicious and I love that it’s only one pot! This was a quick, easy recipe for a week’s worth of meals. I don’t like beans but didn’t notice these at all.
If you really hate spice then I’d cut back a bit on the chili powder, but otherwise it had a good kick!
Andea says
This was a HIT!!! Trying to enter in my macros app, what would you use for a standard serving size?
Jordan Smith says
Hi Andrea, so happy you love this one! Are you asking about the weight for one serving? The recipe makes 6 servings so you can either eyeball 1/6 of the recipe OR you can weigh the entire recipe and divide by 6 to get the exact weight of 1 serving. Hope that helps!
Christie Morlen says
So delicious and easy to make, love the one skillet meals! This recipe made enough for dinner and plenty leftover for lunches for the week!
Jordan Smith says
So happy to hear about this! Yay!
Tiffany says
This recipe was seriously soooo good!!! The flavor kind of reminded me of a taco soup but not a soup. It was delicious and my family loved it! My mom and kids ate it with chips.
Margot says
10/10 so delicious!
Definitely recommend using a really large pan with high sides or even a Dutch oven, our largest skillet was filled to the brim so stirring was a bit messy close to the end
Jordan says
Are the bell peppers supposed to be crunchy? Adding them towards the end didn’t seem to cook them enough
Jordan Smith says
Hi! The peppers are a little crunchy at the end, but if you'd prefer to have them completely soft you could add them to the skillet when you add the garlic and onion.
sarah says
I think this is a delicious dinner recipe, and it also is great for gifting to postpartum mamas!
Carly says
This skillet is easy to make and super flavorful. Makes a great weekly meal prep option.