Flavorful Quinoa With Onion and Tomato

If the thought of eating quinoa feels like boring homework, rejoice. Here’s a recipe for flavorful quinoa that tastes delicious: well-seasoned and easy to make with just a few pantry ingredients. Plus: How to make sure your quinoa is fluffy and perfectly cooked.

Why You’ll Love This Flavorful Quinoa

Quinoa is a “blank slate” food that naturally tastes quite bland, with a mildly bitter flavor. But you can banish bland quinoa with this recipe for actually good-tasting quinoa.

It uses just a few pantry ingredients like onion, garlic, tomato, and chicken broth. This quinoa recipe takes less than 30 minutes start to finish (most of which is inactive time), and is a versatile side dish you can pair with steak, salad, chicken, fish…pretty much anything.

Dress up plain-Jane grains with these flavorful, favorite recipes for Creamy Parmesan Farro, Chipotle-Style Cilantro and Lime Rice and Spanish Brown Rice.

Why Eat Quinoa?

Quinoa is 1) very nutritious, and 2) makes an easy and versatile side dish. Quinoa has multiple health benefits:

• A complete protein: Compared to other grains, quinoa packs a legit protein punch. There are eight grams of protein in one cup of cooked quinoa. And that protein is a complete protein, meaning it contains all nine amino acids we need.
• Gluten free: This can be a good alternative to wheat products like pasta or farro
• Packed with nutrients: zinc, potassium, magnesium, and folate, to name a few
• Fiber: Quinoa has lots of gut-healthy fiber as well

Ingredients You’ll Need

Here’s what you’ll need to make this tasty and simple quinoa recipe. Exact quantities are in the recipe card, below.

• Olive oil
• Flavor building blocks: onion, garlic, tomato paste, bay leaf, parsley
• Unsalted chicken broth or stock
• Salt and pepper
• Optional: You can add a tablespoon of butter if you want a hint of richness. Butter is never a bad idea.

Variations and Substitutions

• Want to make this vegan? Swap plain water or vegetable broth for the chicken broth and don’t use the butter.
• Don’t have tomato paste? You can use a four-ounce can of plain tomato sauce, and reduce the broth by 1/4 cup

How to Make This Flavorful Quinoa Recipe (Step-by-Step)

This recipe follows a standard quinoa method, plus the additional flavor steps.

1. Cook the onion, garlic, and tomato paste in the olive oil until the onion is translucent and softened (about three to five minutes).
2. Stir in the quinoa, bay leaf, stock, salt, and pepper. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook until dry and fluffy, about 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork and let sit for about 5 minutes off the heat, covered.
3. Taste for seasoning. Remove the bay leaf, stir in the parsley and butter (if using), and serve.

Serving This Quinoa

This recipe serves four people as a side dish. Serve it alongside fish, chicken (like these chicken kabobs), steak, or toss into a salad.

Expert Tips for the Best, Most Fluffy Quinoa

A few simple techniques will ensure you have the best results. First, rinse the quinoa. This helps remove the bitter flavor from the outer shell.

It’s also important to use the correct quinoa-to-liquid ratio of 1 part quinoa to 1.75 parts liquid. This recipe uses just that, ensuring that the quinoa will be dry and light, and not saturated and heavy.

Finally, let the quinoa steam for a few minutes after cooking, then fluff with a fork before serving. This will aerate the quinoa.

Storing and Reheating Leftovers

Quinoa keeps for up to three days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat:

• Microwave: reheat (partially covered) until warmed through
• Stovetop: Add a splash of water to the quinoa and cook in a small pot over medium-low heat with the lid on, stirring once or twice, until heated through.

If you like this simple quinoa recipe, also be sure to check out this recipe for Creamy Parmesan Polenta, another simple grain dish transformed with just a few ingredients.