Pressure Cooker Quinoa

This is the perfect quinoa! It can be made sweet or savory in your Instant Pot! A very versatile grain and a great alternative to rice, especially if you’re looking for something that’s naturally gluten free!

If you have always loved this grain over white rice, us too!! You can make it a bunch of different ways and we will share them all. Best of all is using high pressure with a natural release to get it fluffy and delicious.

Ninja Foodi Quinoa

You can use any brand; as an Instant Pot recipe, in a Crockpot Express or in a Foodi too. With the latter there is a difference in one way; you need to use the lid that is not attached to pressure cook on high.

What is the ratio of quinoa to water?

You need about 1.5 times liquid to dry quinoa to make this fluffy and tender. With that said many people like to use a flavored liquid instead of water to add flavor. The most popular is chicken broth or beef stock.

How Long to Cook Quinoa in Pressure Cooker

Technically it only requires 1 minute with the high pressure function but that doesn’t include the time it takes to reach pressure, and the need to naturally release the steam at the end. Both are required to cook it properly so if you include everything you are looking at about 25 minutes, still faster than brown rice.

If you haven’t tried it as an alternate it is definitely different but great when included in a casserole such as this one. This is the fastest method of them all but you can try using a rice cooker or on the stovetop too. We talk about how long to cook quinoa all different ways here so you can compare.

Tips for Cooking the Perfect Quinoa

I found that allowing it to sit and fluff up using a natural release of steam, instead of releasing the steam quickly, helps when using your pressure cooker.

When you allow your Instant Pot to naturally release the steam for about 15 minutes it creates perfectly fluffy quinoa that’s tender and just right served as a side dish or ready for you to add in yummy add ins like fruit and honey!

If you’re looking for more easy quinoa recipes, you can make our chicken quinoa casserole in this same pot or provide a choice of sides with this Instant Pot white rice together.

Once we fell in love with this I wanted to make a sweeter version, that is when we came up with this breakfast quinoa with a bit of honey and great with fresh fruit too.

With more nutrients than rice, quinoa has three types but we are only speaking about the traditional white variety. If you wanted to make tri color quinoa under high pressure this way you could, just increase timing from 1 to 2 minutes with the same natural release! There is a red and black version too but those take longer to cook and are crunchier than this popular version.

It is said to have more nutrients than traditional white rice + lots of amino acids too so comparing the two quinoa is said and thought to be healthier.