This One Pan Mexican Quinoa and Rice will become a new staple in your household! The base recipe requires only a handful of ingredients, and simmers in 1 pot. Top with veggies, avocado, or herbs, based on what you have on hand. A great vegetarian quinoa recipe for busy nights!
Adore one pot dinners? Try this uber-popular Vegan One Pot Pasta, or this healthy Mediterranean One Pot Pasta.
This post is sponsored by Floating Leaf Fine Foods — a brand that brings amazing wild rice, grain and legume products to our clean eating kitchens. I only work with brands whose products I genuinely love. Thank you for supporting the brands that help keep Sunkissed Kitchen running at full speed.
Contents
- 1 A One Pan Vegetarian Dinner
- 1.0.0.1 Floating Leaf produces a wide range of whole grain and legume products, all designed to make it a little bit easier to bring delicious, nutritious, quality food to your table.
- 1.0.0.2 Hop on over to the Floating Leaf website to learn more about their incredible products and where to buy them!
- 2 Save Time in the Kitchen – Fewer Dishes!
- 3 Other One Pan Vegetarian Recipes:
- 4 One Pan Mexican Quinoa
A One Pan Vegetarian Dinner
This easy meal is one that once you try it, it will become a part of your normal dinner rotation.
Perfect for meatless Mondays, but I certainly don’t need a Monday to create a grain and legume masterpiece for dinner.
Top it with cheese, and your whole family will be asking for this meal again and again!
The particular magic of this dish is a new rice and quinoa blend that I found. Floating Leaf’s Prairie Blends are wholesome mixes of wild rice, brown rice, quinoa, millet and legumes – either lentils, split peas, or sprouted beans. I love that they’ve taken grains already high in protein, and bolstered them with additional plant power.
The one I chose for this dish is the Sprouted Brown Rice, Split Pea & Quinoa, which is a mix of sprouted rice, quinoa, millet, split peas, and wild rice. Such a gorgeous celebration of vegetarian power foods!
Floating Leaf produces a wide range of whole grain and legume products, all designed to make it a little bit easier to bring delicious, nutritious, quality food to your table.
They are perfect for anyone on a gluten free diet (most products are certified gluten free), but also for anyone looking to improve their overall health through a healthy diet with lots of plant proteins.
Hop on over to the Floating Leaf website to learn more about their incredible products and where to buy them!
Save Time in the Kitchen – Fewer Dishes!
I’ve elevated a typical Mexican Quinoa dish by loading it up with plenty of veggie toppings. Sautéed peppers and onions were a must for me.
To make this dinner all in 1 pan, I quickly sautéed the onions and peppers while preparing the other ingredients. Once the peppers and onions were browned, I removed them from the pan, and added the quinoa and rice blend, vegetable broth, crushed tomatoes, kidney beans (you can also use black beans or pinto beans!), and corn cut from the cob. Stir in some sea salt and spices, and then add a lid and let the pot simmer.
After the rice had absorbed all the liquid, I gave it a quick stir, and then added a layer of cheddar. Nothing brings the family to the table like a thick layer of melty cheese!
I could have stopped there, and had a flavorful grain dish with tons of spice and protein — but for me, it’s simply not a meal until there are TONS of veggies!
To the top, I added the sautéed peppers and onions, lots of avocado, chopped cherry tomatoes, and chopped cilantro and green onions. The sky’s the limit when topping any Mexican inspired dish, right?
You can also keep it super simple, and skip the sautéed peppers and onions.
Or, do it up “nacho style” and add:
- Crushed tortilla chips (a fav of mine on Mexican dishes!)
- Loads of hot sauce or salsa
- Sour cream
- Smash the avocado with some lime, jalapenos, salt and cilantro, and add a big dollop of guac to each plate!
- Chopped raw onion, in place of the sauteed ones.
- Make it Vegan: use a vegan cheese, or just omit the cheese layer!
Other One Pan Vegetarian Recipes:
- Vegan One Pot Pasta, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Vegetarian Chocolate Quinoa Chili, by The Endless Meal
- One Pot Potato Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Feta, by Cooktoria
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One Pan Mexican Quinoa
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Floating Leaf Sprouted Brown Rice, Split Pea and Quinoa*
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 15 ounce can kidney beans rinsed and drained
- 1 ear corn kernels cut off cob, or sub 1 cup frozen
- 1 tablespoon chili powder *or less, depending on how spicy chili powder is
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon sea salt or more, to taste
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
Toppings
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 bell pepper sliced
- 1/2 onion sliced thin
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 avocado cubed, to top
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- cilantro to top, optional
- green onions to top, optional
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan with a lid, or a dutch oven, add a tablespoon of olive oil, and heat over medium high heat. Add sliced onions and peppers and sauté for 5-7 minutes, until tender and beginning to brown. Remove from pan and set aside.
- To the same pan, add the rice and quinoa blend, crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, salt, spices, kidney beans, and corn. Stir to combine, and then allow to come to a boil over medium high heat.
- Once the pot is boiling, reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer for another 12-15 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Be sure to check, because the tomato sauce will rise to the top and the rice will be cooked below.
- Once your rice is cooked, stir the tomato sauce back into the rice, and top with shredded cheese. Place the lid back on top and let it sit for a couple of minutes until the cheese is melted.
- Top the dish with sautéed peppers and onions, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro and green onion, or any other toppings you desire!
Absolutely LOVE this dish, Michelle. Color, outstanding flavor and easy to make. Every family should have this on their dinner table once a week. I’m a big fan of Floating Leaf’s unique products and can’t wait to cook more dishes with them – especially this one!
I am hooked on the Floating Leaf blends — love that they are such a great variety of wholesome grains and legumes. Perfect for building easy healthy dinners.
The name of your blog is so perfect, this dish is truly sun-kissed! I’m a huge fan of grains of all kinds, and this one is just spectacular. Gotta love that cheesy topping too 🙂 I’m off to locate some Floating Leaf.
That’s so good to hear Sue! And thank you — the name came to me late in the game by these are the types of Sunkissed dishes that really get me excited!
This meal is something we would love! We eat Mexican food all the time because it’s something everyone enjoys, and this is just so easy because it’s all in one pot. The Floating Leaf products are amazing!
They really are Marcie! And Mexican is definitely a go-to in our household as well!
The most colorful dish! And I love that close up rice shot 😀
The blends were just too beautiful to not try to photograph close!
Wow! This dish is absolutely amazing! I LOVE everything about this meal. Can’t wait to try it! Fantastic recipe Michelle!!
Thank you Michelle! You will love it — and your kids too!
That is such a beautiful dish! I recently tried a Floating Leaf rice blend and it was SO GOOD! I’m seriously hooked.
They are such beautiful and wholesome blends!
This is abso-freakin’-lutely mouthwatering! I love quinoa so very much, but the way Floating Leaf amps things up in this blend with sprouted brown rice and split peas is just awesome.
I adore their beautiful blends — I know you will too Dana!
You grabbed me from the start when you said ONE PAN – cause ONE PAN MEALS = my life!!! I don’t want to clean much so… PERFECT – and then, then you hit me with the whole recipe and I am drooling and can’t stop drooling and the video is currently taunting me (in a great way) on the lower right of my screen right now!! You’re such a friggin GENIUS! 🙂
Thank you Gigi! This dish turned out better than I had imagined!
This looks so good, Michelle! Totally something I would make for my family! I can’t await to try all of their rice blends, they all sound so good 🙂
This looks like something my husband and family would love! Love that it’s one pan!
Thanks Lauren! We love veggie dishes like this as well!
This looks like a true family one-pot wonder! Loving the rice, quinoa and legume blend at the base
The blends are amazing Regina! I am sure you’ll love them too.
Beautiful as always Michelle! This looks super fab and I can’t wait to try it.
Thanks Trish! It’s a great meal.