Instant Pot Quinoa (Pressure Cooker)

Here’s how to cook perfect Instant Pot quinoa! Cooking quinoa in a pressure cooker works every time, and it’s a convenient hands off method.

It’s another pressure cooker recipe! This time, it’s Instant Pot quinoa. Now: Alex and I were pretty suspicious of the Instant Pot at first. Can it really be as great as everyone claims? Well, we’ve learned that while the Instant Pot is not magic, it can be a fantastic way to make things hands off so you can focus on other things in the kitchen. That’s the case with this recipe! This Instant Pot quinoa cooks in just over 16 minutes and is almost totally hands off, so you don’t have to baby sit it while you’re cooking the rest of a meal. Keep reading for how to cook quinoa in an Instant Pot!

What’s a pressure cooker or Instant Pot?

An Instant Pot is a programmable electric pressure cooker. It’s much safer than the pressure cookers of the 1970s!  The pressure cooker Alex and I use is Instant Pot brand (here’s the Instant Pot we have), but there are lots of other great brands. The concept is to cook foods at high pressure, which can dramatically cut down on cooking time. It’s not magic, but it does help to save some time in the kitchen. Even better, we like that it keeps things off the stove where we are usually cooking other components of our meals.

How to make Instant Pot quinoa

Confession: this Instant Pot quinoa recipe took Alex and me a long time to master! Every time we thought we had it perfect, something else would be not quite right. Online sources use all sorts of different methods that may or may not work. So, here we’re sharing the Instant Pot quinoa recipe that finally worked for us. Note that there is some variation in quinoa brands and pressure cookers, so you may have to customize it to your equipment and quinoa brand.

Here’s how we make our Instant Pot quinoa! This made for fluffy quinoa that was perfect every time (or head to the full recipe):

1. Place 1 ½ cups quinoa in the pressure cooker with 1 ¾ cups vegetable broth.
2. Pressure cook on high for 3 minutes.
3. Natural release for 8 minutes.

Can you freeze quinoa?

Yes, Instant Pot quinoa is incredibly easy to freeze so make a big batch of it and save for later! To freeze quinoa, do the following:

• Let the quinoa cool to room temperature.
• Transfer it to a freezer bag or freezer-safe container.
• When you’re ready to eat the frozen quinoa, place it in the fridge or on your counter to thaw and then reheat in a skillet with a little water.

What are other vegan Instant Pot recipes?

When Alex and I first learned about the Instant Pot, we thought it all about cooking meat. But since then, we’ve amassed a big collection of vegan Instant Pot recipes. You can make so many basics in your pressure cooker: rice, dried beans, dried chickpeas, mashed potatoes, and even soups. Here are some of our favorite pressure cooker recipes:

• Basics: Sweet Potatoes | Refried Beans | Lentils | Chickpeas | Lentils and Rice | Quinoa | Hard Boiled Eggs | How to Cook Rice: White Rice & Brown Rice
• Instant Pot Spaghetti
• Creamy Instant Pot Pasta
• Vegan Instant Pot Recipes
• Thai Style Sweet Potatoes
• Chickpea Couscous Bowls
• Instant Pot Tacos
• Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup
• The Best Loaded Vegan Nachos
• Apple Cinnamon Pressure Cooker Steel Cut Oats
• Granola Instant Pot Apple Crisp
• Instant Pot Stuffed Acorn Squash with Pecans
• All our vegan Instant Pot recipes!

This Instant Pot quinoa recipe is…

Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, naturally sweet, and refined sugar-free.

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Looking for quinoa recipes?

There are so many recipes using quinoa where you can use this pressure cooker quinoa! Here are a few quinoa recipes we love:

• Artichoke & Quinoa Vegetarian Enchiladas
• Vegetarian Bibimbap Bowl with Quinoa
• Veggie Packed Quinoa Fried Rice
• Greek Sofrito Quinoa Bowl
• Feta and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
• How to Make Quinoa and the Quinoa to Water Ratio
• Stress Relieving Avocado and Quinoa Bowl
• Tropical Mango Bowls with Citrus Drizzle
• Go Green Bowls with Lemon Yogurt Sauce

Last updated: December 2019