How To Cook Quinoa In The Instant Pot

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How To Cook Quinoa In The Instant Pot. Everything you needed to know about cooking quinoa in an instant pot. Step by step instapot quinoa guide which includes water to quinoa ratio, cooking times, how to season quinoa, instant pot quinoa recipe ideas and so much more.

Quinoa In The Instant Pot

If you are reading this, the chances are you want to learn more about quinoa or more specifically how to cook quinoa in the instant pot.

I was lucky enough to be gifted two bags of dried quinoa from whole foods and was excited to see what all the fuss was with instant pot quinoa and set to work making it with Jorge.

He is three years old and is obsessed with the instant pot and loves helping me with new recipes for Recipe This.

In fact, if you look closely when you scroll through the instructions further down you will see that it is his finger on the instant pot and he is helping me with the recipe photos.

Though sadly, 5 minutes after these photos were taken his camera broke.

After Jorge and I tried our first instant pot quinoa, I realised that it was not the first time I had tried it.

It took me back to a wonderful barbecue I went to (before Jorge was born) and when Sofia was a baby in the summer of 2015.

We splashed about in the outdoor pool, ate barbecue food and had a great time.

It was one of those potluck barbecues where everyone brought something as a side dish and we all tucked into a bit of everything.

I took a similar dish to this Instant Pot Tuna Pasta Casserole, while the lady of the party made a quinoa salad.

It was loaded with mangos and was delicious and gave me my first taste of quinoa.  

Now looking back, I just can’t believe there was almost a 5 year time gap in between quinoa binges.

At least now I have found one that I like, and I can order it on Amazon in the future.

Jorge, Kyle and myself will be very pleased as the three of us totally binged on it!

Can You Cook Quinoa In A Pressure Cooker?

The first question I get asked, is can you cook quinoa in a pressure cooker, such as the instant pot? Well it is a big fat YES.

In fact, if I was speaking to someone thinking about getting an instant pot, I would be telling them to get an instant pot just to cook quinoa.

Quinoa in an instant pot, or any electric pressure cooker is AMAZING and is one of those magic recipes, where you can’t believe something can be so good!

Cooking Quinoa In Instant Pot

I am sure before you start cooking quinoa in the instant pot, you have plenty of questions as I know I did.

Like dried beans, dried rice and dried pasta, cooking quinoa in the instant pot is an act of science.

The cooking time must be right, the water to quinoa ratio needs to be spot on and then there are things like high pressure vs low pressure and if natural pressure release is used.

Here is a quick Q&A to some of your how to cook quinoa in instant pot top questions:

• How Long Do You Rinse Quinoa = you only need to rinse your quinoa for a couple of minutes. I like to run a cold tap and add my quinoa to a mesh strainer and then do a quick quinoa rinse.

• Instant Pot One Minute Quinoa = what might surprise people is that quinoa only takes one minute to cook in the instant pot. Though you do need to take into account time to pressure and natural pressure release. However, it comes out much better compared to stovetop.

• Instant Pot Quinoa Quick Release = in many of our instant pot recipes we use quick pressure release, but this doesn’t apply when cooking instant pot quinoa. Instead you allow natural pressure release for 12 minutes until it is almost completed its NPR and then manually release pressure.

• Instant Pot Quinoa Mushy = I got side tracked in the kitchen once when making my quinoa in the instant pot. I accidentally added more than the recommended about of liquid and my instant pot quinoa was mushy. If your quinoa is mushy this is because too much liquid has been added.

• Instant Pot Quinoa Fluffy = after cooking fork your quinoa and just like magic you will get fluffy quinoa. I just flick the quinoa with a fork like you are lifting it up to bring in volume. It then becomes very fluffy and is ready for serving.

How To Cook Quinoa In Instant Pot?

Cooking quinoa in instant pot is easy and is one of those dump and start, no sauté, instant pot recipes that I just LOVE.

It is also one of those basic instant pot beginner recipes that can be adapted for what you need it for.

Instant Pot Quinoa Instructions:

1. Rinse your quinoa and load it into the instant pot.
2. Add in liquid and seasonings.
3. Pressure cook and serve!

Yes really, that is all there is to it when you pressure cook your quinoa and just like you, when I first make it, I was waiting for the small print!

Instant Pot Cooking Time For Quinoa

If you are wondering how to long to instant pot quinoa you will be pleased to know that instant pot quinoa is famous for having a one minute cooking time.

This means like Jorge demonstrates below you set the cooking time on your instant pot for quinoa to just ONE minute.

Then after the one minute cooking time is up on your instant pot, you allow 12 minutes of natural pressure release and you are DONE.

Instant Pot Flavoured Quinoa

Quinoa in the instant pot would be rather boring on its own. That is why I recommend that you cook instant pot flavoured quinoa.

Add in your favourite dried herbs and spices and add in flavoured bone broths or stocks.

This will transform that plain quinoa into something special and addictive.

During recipe testing I always flavoured my quinoa to match with what I was serving my Instapot quinoa with.

For example, if I was having it with air fryer chicken breast, then this chicken bone broth was ideal.

I will also season the quinoa with salt, pepper and tarragon.

Or if you are making a yummy summer salad, then I recommend adding in chopped salad items and using this healthy mushroom soup that you can water down so that it is not too thick as the quinoa pressure cooks.

But if you want something simple and don’t have bone broth in, it can make a difference to the flavour just by adding in some dried herbs.

Parsley, thyme, cajun, tarragon, sage, basil or oregano all work well. Just mix and match depending on what you are cooking.

Instant Pot Quinoa To Water Ratio

The instant pot quinoa to water ratio is 1:1.25. This means that for EVERY 1 cup of quinoa that you add to the instant pot, you also add 1.25 cups of flavoured water or broth.

Or if you don’t do cups then grab a measuring jug and measure quinoa to the 250ml mark, then pour it into the instant pot.

Then refill your measuring jug with 312.5ml of liquid.

Or the lazy way is to fill a container full, then refill it 1 and a quarter times.

Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!

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