I think most of us would agree that quinoa is rather annoying and more than time-consuming to cook. Today, we fix both of these problems with this easy Southwestern Quinoa Casserole recipe!

The best part? It takes less time to prep than quinoa by itself!

Start by adding into a bowl 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1 can of drained and rinsed black beans, some diced green chiles, 1 1/2 cups of frozen corn, 1 1/2 cups of frozen vegetables, however many sliced jalapeños you can handle, 1 cup of uncooked quinoa, 3 teaspoons of taco seasoning mix (look for low sodium), 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 1/4 cups broth, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, and 1 pound of a browned lean ground meat.

The meat is optional but will obviously balance out the macros a bit. Beef, turkey, or chicken will all work great with this.

Mix all of those together and add that mix into a casserole dish.

Put it in oven on 400F/204C for around 30-35 minutes or until your quinoa looks tender. There should be little to no liquid left by the time you take it out of the oven.

Cheese Topping

Pull out your quinoa casserole after it’s done cooking and top it with 1 cup of a cheddar cheese.

Throw it back in the oven on 400F/204C until your cheese is melted! This shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes.

I usually portion this southwestern quinoa casserole out into 6 servings and each serving is around 300 grams. Use this as a reference point to scale your recipe with either more or less portions.

You can also keep the sodium low in this quinoa casserole recipe by looking for and using no salt added or lower sodium options. You should be able to find these for the diced tomatoes, black beans, bone broth, and taco seasoning mix fairly easy.

Do you hate frozen vegetables? Don’t worry, fresh vegetables work just as good (if not better) in this recipe! I almost always use frozen vegetables just for convenience and cost.

Do you want another delicious quinoa recipe? Try our Quinoa Chicken Parmesan recipe!