How to cook quinoa in instant pot - Swasthi's Recipes (2024)

Instant pot quinoa – Step by step photo guide to make perfect & fluffy quinoa in your instant pot each time. Fluffy cooked quinoa can be served with any dal, curries, yogurt or even include in salads.

Quinoa is a naturally gluten free seed that is consumed just like any other grain. It is packed with high protein, fiber, antioxidants & vital minerals. If you are new to this super food, do include it in your diet & experience the health benefits.

We try to include a variety of whole grains in our diet. I often cook steel cut oats, millets, brown rice, broken wheat & quinoa for our meal.

Cooking quinoa is one of the easiest as it doesn’t take much time. Ever since I moved from a traditional cooker to the instant pot, we have been eating more of quinoa.

In this post I have shared 2 methods to cook fluffy quinoa in your instant pot.
1. Pot-in-pot Method
2. Direct instant pot method

Most times I prefer the pot-in-pot method as it gives me the flexibility to cook multiple foods at one time. Sometimes I cook frozen corn, carrots & peas along with quinoa.

But when cooking large amounts of quinoa, cooking directly in the pot is much better as it avoids the food getting mushy.

More Instant pot recipes
Instant pot brown rice
Instant pot rice pudding
Rice kheer in instant pot
Instant pot khichdi

Preparation

1. Add the quinoa to a large bowl. Pour water and rub them with both your hands. This helps to get rid of the saponins.

2. Drain the water to a colander and then rinse them under running water. You may skip rinsing if using the pre-rinsed quinoa. But I personally prefer to rinse even if they are pre-rinsed.

3. Next drain the water completely.

How to cook quinoa in instant pot

4. I added 1 tsp oil to the inner pot. This is optional however I find a difference in the texture. It is great this way if you want to use the quinoa for salads.

5. Add the drained quinoa and toast for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then pour the water. You can just skip toasting and also just add quinoa and pour water.

You can also add salt if you prefer. I do not use any.

6. Secure the lid of the instant pot and set the steam release handle to sealing position.

7. Press the pressure cook button and set the timing to 1 minute.

The instant pot takes some time to build up pressure. So it may take a few minutes.

8. When done wait for the pressure to release manually. Fluff up with a fork.

Serve instant pot quinoa with curries, dal or yogurt. You can also squeeze in some lemon juice and add fine chopped herbs.

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