Now that it’s the new year and many people (myself included) are looking forward to getting back into the kitchen, I figured it was time to share some new healthy instant pot recipes! It had been a while since I played around with my Instant Pot and I had almost forgotten how incredibly fast and easy it is. Today’s healthy instant pot recipe theme is comfort food with a lighter, veggie-packed twist: Instant Pot Quinoa Fried Rice.
This quinoa “fried rice” tastes just like your favorite takeout meal, but it’s packed with veggies and can be on your table in under 30 minutes – less time than it takes to get delivery!
The method for this healthy instant pot recipe is super simple: cook the onions, ginger, and garlic in the bottom of the Instant Pot on saute mode, then toss in the remaining ingredients and pressure cook for 8 minutes. That’s it!
The result is an all-in-one meal that’s filling, flavorful, and on the table in no time. It’s also a great meal to make when you need to empty the vegetable drawer in your fridge! I used diced carrot, bell pepper, mushrooms, and broccoli, but most other veggies would be great in here, too. If you have extra celery, green beans, peas, cauliflower, etc. – toss ’em in! You can also add more veggies than the recipe calls for if you’d like to increase the veggie-to-quinoa ratio – up to you. And for a vegetarian option, feel free to swap vegetable broth for the chicken broth and diced tofu for the chicken breast.
I was amazed by how much this healthy instant pot recipe tasted like takeout fried rice. It’s savory and comforting, but without the salt overload, and it’s got a hint of spiciness without making you sweat. If you want, toss some roasted cashews onto the finished meal to add satisfying crunch (and healthy fats for balance!), and chopped green onions are another optional garnish that can bring freshness to the dish.
This healthy instant pot recipe holds up well in the fridge, too – we made it on Sunday and have been eating on it all week. It makes a great packed lunch!
Ready to add this Instant Pot Quinoa Fried Rice to your weeknight menu? Here’s the full recipe!
Instant Pot Quinoa Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger
- 4 cups diced mixed veggies (I used carrot, bell pepper, mushrooms, and broccoli)
- 1 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 1/2 cups quinoa
- For topping: sesame seeds, cashews, chopped green onion
Instructions
- With the lid of the instant pot off, press "saute" and allow to heat. Once the instant pot beeps to signal that it's ready, add the sesame oil, onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring a few times, until the onion is translucent.
- Turn the instant pot off by pressing "cancel." Add the veggies, chicken, broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sriracha, and stir to combine.
- Add the quinoa on top of the mixture and do not stir - leave the quinoa on top. This will prevent it from sticking to the bottom and remaining uncooked.
- Secure the lid and make sure that the venting nozzle is turned to "sealing." Set pressure to high, then adjust the timer to 8 minutes. Allow to pressure cook, then carefully use a pair of tongs to turn the venting nozzle to "venting" and allow steam to release. When steam is fully released, carefully remove the lid and stir everything together.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds, cashews, and green onions, and enjoy!
Check out some more of my favorite healthy Instant Pot recipes and other quick weeknight dinner recipes:
I love how this uses quinoa instead of rice! I don’t have an Instant pot, but I’m excited to try this recipe regardless!! :)
This looks so good and easy! I love flexible recipes like this :)
I don’t see myself getting an instantpot, but I’d never thought to give quinoa the fried rice treatment, probably because I love rice so much.
I love rice, too, but it’s fun to mix it up!
I wasn’t sure what to expect but the flavors of this were really spot on!! I really didn’t miss the rice; it was super filling and flavorful. It might just be my instant pot (I have an Ultra and it takes a good 2 minutes for the pressure to release) but my broccoli and carrots and chicken ended up more overcooked than yours looked. I’ll take a minute off the under pressure time next time to see if that helps. I had to swap apple cider vinegar for the rice wine, but it came out completely fine.
Thanks, Anne! Hoping you’ll come up with more IP recipes in the future :)
So glad you enjoyed the recipe – I’ll definitely share more IP recipes in the future! :) If you like more crispy/crunchy veggies, you can always just leave them raw, and then stir them into the mixture at the end while it’s still really hot – that will gently soften them but keep them mostly crunchy!
I feel like this will satisfy my husband who loves fried rice and isn’t the biggest quinoa fan (says it’s too plain/boring). Will test it out and see how it goes!
I think it will be a hit – let us know how it goes! :)
That looks both relatively easy and very good! Thanks!
Made this tonight and it was so good! Omitted the sriracha for our 3 year old but added it to our individual servings for some extra heat. Delicious and quick and easy! Thank you Anne!
Great! So glad it was a hit with everyone!
I love this recipe! It\s also easy to think that quinoa is a boring food to eat especially when it’s not flavored up with other things like cucumber, zucchini and soy or tamari sauce. Instant pots have made cooking fun
Thanks again for a great recipe!
Agreed – quinoa can be great if you add some flavor!
Hey Anne, thanks for sharing. I have actually prepared quinoa fried rice before but your style is quite different from mine. I like it and will definitely give it a try this weekend.
Great, let me know how you like it!
Taste was spot on but ended up with too much liquid left. So the quinoa was a tiny bit soggy. Next time going to reduce broth a bit. But other wise it was awesome!! We added some eggs after the fact to bump up our protein as well!
Sorry about that! Yeah – try reducing the broth, or let it boil off a minute longer! Glad you enjoyed the taste either way :)
We just made this and I sautéed the cashews in sesame oil and added egg like traditional fried rice. I’ve made quinoa fried rice before, but this was the first time in an instant pot. The flavors were spot on!
So glad you enjoyed it! Love the additions.