Mexican Quinoa Casserole
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Published Jan 24, 2020, Updated Jul 05, 2023
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This Mexican quinoa casserole is not only packed with veggies and black beans, but is bursting with traditional Mexican flavors that the whole family will love. Vegetarian and gluten-free.
I’m excited because I have quite the recipe to share with you today. It’s vegetarian, packed with protein (18 grams per serving) and gluten-free. I think you’re going to like it… I *know* you’re going to like it!
When you think of healthy food, Mexican food isn’t typically the first thing to pop into your head (at least not for me). But you can certainly make Mexican dishes that are healthy and the recipe I’m sharing today proves it. This casserole has a mixture of veggies, quinoa, beans and cheese. A delicious and nutritious Mexican feast!
Ingredients in Mexican Quinoa Casserole
- quinoa
- vegetables – sweet potato, red bell pepper, yellow onion, green onion, cilantro
- taco seasoning – make your own or purchase a pre-made blend.
- canned black beans
- salsa – use whatever heat type you prefer! We love spice so I used a hot salsa. The creamy bites of avocado and Greek yogurt were the perfect contrast to the spicy bites. Having said that, if you don’t like that much heat, mild salsa is just as delicious!
- Mexican cheese blend
- toppings of choice – I love topping this casserole with Greek yogurt, avocado, green onion and cilantro.
Prepping Mexican Quinoa Casserole
This dish does take a little bit of prep work because you have to chop all the veggies and cook the quinoa. But it’s worth it! If necessary, you can save time by prepping the whole bake ahead of time and then just pop it in the oven right before dinner time.
Start by cooking the quinoa. While your quinoa cooks, get to chopping. Chop all of the veggies right away! Add your sweet potato, red pepper and onion to the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle taco seasoning evenly over all of the vegetables. In a large bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, beans, cilantro, green onion and additional taco seasoning. Spread the quinoa mixture over the sweet potato and red pepper layer. Next, add a layer of salsa. Add the cheese on top, cover with aluminum foil (to make sure the cheese doesn’t burn!) and bake. It will come out of the oven piping hot with a perfectly gooey layer of cheese. Yum!
Isaac and I LOVED this dish. Each bite is full of flavor and texture — a fiesta in your mouth, if you will. All the veggies are cooked to perfection so they taste fresh instead of overcooked and mushy.
Want More Healthy Mexican Recipes? Try These:
- Tofu Sofritas
- Vegetarian Enchilada Bake
- Healthy Guacamole
- Turkey Taco Salad Bowl
- Southwestern Quinoa Salad
- Mexicali Stuffed Sweet Potato
- Southwest Sweet Potato Black Bean Dip
- Guacamole Salad
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
- Vegan Enchiladas
- Red Chilaquiles
- Taco Soup
Be sure to check out the full collection of healthy Mexican recipes on EBF!
Mexican Quinoa Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup dry quinoa
- 3 cups sweet potato, peel and diced
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- ½ small yellow onion, diced
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon McCormick Gluten-Free Taco Seasoning
- One 14-oz can black soybeans or black beans, rinsed and drained
- ¼ cup sliced green onion
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 ½ cups prepared salsa, mild, medium or hot
- 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 2% Greek yogurt, avocado, extra green onion and cilantro (for topping)
Instructions
- Bring the water and quinoa to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let the covered saucepan cool for 4-5 minutes. Remove the lid and fluff with a fork. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 9″x 13″ dish and spread the sweet potato, bell pepper, and onion in the bottom. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the taco seasoning.
- In a bowl combine the beans, cooked quinoa, green onion, cilantro and 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning; mix well.
- Place the bean and quinoa mixture over the veggies in the baking dish. Spread salsa on top of the quinoa mixture. Top with cheese.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Removed cover and bake for another 20 minutes or until cheese has melted, the sweet potatoes are cooked and everything is hot throughout.
- Serve immediately topped with greek yogurt, avocado slices, green onion and cilantro if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This looks super delicious – fiesta in my mouth!
I hardly ever see quinoa in a bake like this! I love the idea!
Very delicious and wow, very filling! Can the leftovers be frozen?
This sounds amazing! What a great idea! I’ll have to be on the lookout for black soybeans. I love regular black beans.
Looks sooo colorful and tasty, and I love anything with sweet potato and quinoa in it.
Thanks lady. Me too! 🙂
This looks delicious! Very inventive way to use Quinoa. I will have to add it to my list of recipes to try.
This looks so good and I would love a crispy cooked egg right on top!
Love this idea! I’m all about putting fried eggs on top of everything. 🙂
I’m always looking for new ways to use quinoa! Looks great 🙂 I love topping my Mexican dishes with greek yogurt, too!
I am so inspired by this post! I have been on such a Mexican kick lately, and this fits the bill in such a healthy way. Is the sweet potato the right level of cooked at the end? I feel like it might be a little firm… either way, I will fully be trying this recipe soon!
xoxo
Audrey
Yeah, they cook right up. Just make sure you chop them into small chunks.
I would go to town on that right now. Looks and sounds like everything up my alley!! My mouth is watering!! haha
i made this for dinner monday night and it was so delicious! i featured it as the “recipe of the week” on my run club’s website (www.emmygrace02.wix.com/fcsrunclub). your apple crisp is in the oven as i type this! thanks for proving that healthy and delicious can both be in the same meal!
emily
Yay! I’m so happy that you enjoyed the fiesta bake. I hope the apple crisp turned out well too. 🙂
I like any reason to make quinoa into a casserole and this Mexican-inspired version sounds perfect.
I made this a couple of nights ago and LOVED it. I had almost everything on-hand but just used homemade taco seasoning, regular black beans and Mexican blend cheese. I found that the veggies on the bottom layer came out still a bit crunchy (but not in a bad way) so maybe I should have left it in the oven a few minutes longer.
Next time I may try cooking my quinoa with homemade chicken broth to add even more flavor depth and adding my onion so that it can soften just a bit before going into the casserole dish.
Overall I loved this and like that I could get my Mexican fix in a healthy way!
That looks super delicious! I can’t wait to make this!
XO Chloe
A Latte Lipstick
Just prepped this for tonight! Thanks, B!
Hi Brittany,
I couldn’t wait to share with you the exciting news about this recipe. So I made this last weekend and it turned out so yummy that I shared it with the girls at my work. One of the girls took it home to share with her Mom. Her Mom made it and took it into the next day’s meeting. Apparently they too found it to be so delicious that they were scraping the bowl from what was left. The nurses were all asking for the recipe. So that co-worker came back and raved to the girls in my office to the others of the positive results. So they all couldn’t wait to try it. I told them that I would make it again and bring it in to work on Friday. So here I am in my kitchen typing this to you and waiting for the dish to finish baking so I can take into work tomorrow! 🙂
You have been one of my all time favorite recipes through and through for personal eats for my family to preparing dishes to pass at a work setting! Thank you, Brittany!! It means so much to that you continue to provide me success in my weight loss journey and continue in helping me make healthy foods for my family!! Warm Hugs!! Thank you, it just doesn’t seem enough to be said!!
We really enjoyed this bake (we’ve made it twice) but I have to say… this bake time/cook temp is off. The first time I thought it was our fault because I forgot to put it in the oven covered… this time around, foil and all, 40 mins at 350… cheese not melted, lukewarm, hard potatoes, for the second time in a row. Upping the heat and sticking back in for another 20 minutes. And hungry 🙁 That note aside, definitely tasty.
Thank you so much for the feedback, Jessica! I really appreciate it. I made the recipe again today and you’re definitely right. It should be cooked covered for 40 minutes, then the top removed and cooked another 20 minutes. I’ll update the recipe.
Great! We are making it for a 3rd time tonight for a dinner we’re hosting tomorrow 🙂
Can I make it with rice and add chicken?
You can certainly try it, I’m not 100% sure how it will work since I haven’t tried it.
I just made this recipe again for the millionth time and have to comment how much I love it! Even my meat loving husband requests this for dinner. Thanks so much!
Yay!!! Thank you so much for letting me know that you love this recipe, Megan. It’s one of our favorites too! 🙂
I made this tonight and it was a huge hit! My husband, three year old, nine month old and I all loved it. My three year old kept saying, “Mmmmmm, this is so good!” We will definitely be adding this to our regular rotation of meals. I loved how easily it came together.
I made this using a mango peach salsa and only used a small even layer of a triple cheddar cheese. It came out perfect! Definitely one of my favorite dinner recipes!
Oh yay! I’m so glad that you enjoyed the sweet potato quinoa bake. I bet it was extra tasty with the mango peach salsa. And I so appreciate you coming back to leave a comment and star rating on the recipe too. It’s so helpful for other readers and means the world to me.
Let me just say dont even think twice about making this dish ! So easy but so delicious , I am a Mexicana and the flavors were on point I did make my own taco seasoning, added 2 zucchinis to the veggie mix , half a de-seeded jalapeno and instead of jarred salsa I used a small can of el pato jalapeno salsa as I’m not a fan of jarred salsa it was the best thing I’ve made in awhile🙌
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Mel!! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. It means the world to me. <3
I just SCARFED down my bowl of this, and am no longer sad that my husband won’t want any. I did double the sweet potatoes and bell peppers, just because they needed used, but goodness my heart and body needed this tonight! So so good, and I will now be going in for seconds!
Oh yay!!! I love hearing that. And now you can have it all to yourself. 🙂 So glad you loved this casserole and thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. It’s super helpful to other readers!
This recipe is DELICIOUS! Plus it’s so easy to make in the slow cooker, and just as tasty as leftovers. Both my husband and I loved it, and I will absolutely be making it again!
Yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Shannon. So glad this casserole was a hit with you and your husband. Thanks for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. I so appreciate it. <3
It was perfect the first time.This is very really unique helpful information.I learn so much from you as well!Keep it up.
Super Amazing!
I am surely gonna try that
Thanks for sharing
It is absolutely delicious. I forgot to get salsa, so I made my own. I made extra quinoa, so I could make the quinoa tabbouleh.
Yay!! So glad this recipe turned out well for you, Angela. Thanks for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it! <3
I was hesitant to make this, because my kids don’t like quinoa. However, they inhaled it, as did my husband and I. Really great comination of flavors. Thanks!
Yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Cyndi. So glad this casserole was a hit with the entire fam. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it!
This was really yummy and so easy! I made the quinoa in my instant pot to make this even easier to throw together. We loved eating this with tortilla chips, like a dip or as nachos! I took the leftovers and used them as the filling for your enchilada recipe!
Yay!! So glad you also enjoyed this recipe, Rachell! Thanks again for taking the time to leave a comment and star rating. The reviews are super helpful to other readers.
Brittany, I made this last night for dinner, and we loved it! I used 1.5 c cooked quinoa as I already had that in the fridge. I love how the moisture in the salsa is used to cook the veggies and keep them moist. I will definitely make this again, and again! Thank you for another great recipe!
Yay!! So glad this recipe was a hit! Thanks for trying it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. The reviews are super helpful to other readers, so I appreciate it. <3
So good! I used double the sweet potatoes and a ready-made quinoa/brown rice blend, and it was delish! Really was unsure what I would think of this recipe but it’s great!
Ahh yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Jordan! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. 🙂 Thanks for trying it and for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. I really appreciate it. <3
We didn’t like this recipe..we loved it! Thank you for all the great recipes!
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Jodie!! I’m glad this recipe was a hit. Thanks for trying it and for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. It means the world to me.
I absolutley loved this recipe. It’s so tasty and filling even without meat. The avacado on top really makes it in my opinion.One of my favorite EBF dinner recipes so far
Ahh yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Nicole. I’m so glad you enjoyed this casserole dish. Thanks for trying it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. <3
I made this for dinner this evening and it was delicious! We are trying to lower our meat intake so have been looking for go-to vegetarian recipes. I did omit the cilantro and the peppers (just personal preference). It’s delicious over a bed of lettuce. Yum!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this dish, Whitney!! Thanks for trying my recipe and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I really appreciate it. <3
This is the perfect “working from home” meal for busy parents with kids! I was able to prep it during lunch, pop it in the oven after work/school, and take the kids on a walk around the neighborhood while it did it’s thing… and it was DELICIOUS!! Definitely keeping this in rotation.
I’m so glad this recipe was a hit, Madelyn!! Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate it. 🙂
Very good – healthy and hearty at the same time. It’s easy to play with the veggie quantities and adjust cheese/spices and make it your own – excellent base concept!! Thank you!
Yay!! So glad this recipe was a hit, Ellie. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
This recipe was delish! My husband who doesn’t care for sweet potatoes loved it! I have recommended this over and over again to friends. I love this site. Thanks for the healthy options!
Yay! So pumped this recipe was a hit, Ellie. Thanks for the review. I really appreciate it!
This recipe was amazing! I was looking for healthier options for mexican food and this was exactly what we needed! I could probably eat the whole pan!
Woo!! That makes me so happy to hear, Kristina! Thanks for the review. I really appreciate it!!
This was the perfect dish for a rainy and cold cinco de mayo. My husband loved it!! Thanks very much 🙂
Yay!! I’m so glad you both enjoyed this casserole, Ashley! Thanks for making it and leaving a review. I really appreciate it!
Amazing! Added ground turkey for extra protein and doubled the recipe for week long deliciousness. Thanks so much, will be for sure making on a regular basis!
Woo!! So pumped this recipe was a hit, Rene! Love the addition of ground turkey as well. Thanks so much for the review. I really appreciate it!
My family adores this recipe! It’s also my go to recipe to bring new moms because it’s a little lighter than the typical lasagnas/casseroles that are easy to share! We always eat with a handful of chips almost like a dip for dinner, thank you!
Yay!! Happy to hear this recipe was a hit, Kaitlyn. Thanks so much for trying it out and coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate the feedback!
Hi Brittany, we bought sweet potatoes for the recipe, and are just now putting it together. From your photos, just curious, did you use yams? Look forward to eating this. We used organic red quinoa since we had it! Thanks
Hi, Riki! I used sweet potatoes! Organic red quinoa sounds great, let me know how it turns out for you!
Hi there, we enjoyed the casserole very much. It was a bit dry, might have baked it too long for my oven. And two cups of cheese on top wasn’t enough, bought thin shredded cheese. Might be why. But love the recipe! Thank you
This was very tasty! My husband and I both enjoyed it. It took longer than expected to get the sweet potatoes cooked through. How small do you cut them?
Hi, Lauren! Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a review! I’d aim for 1/2″ cubes. Hope this helps!
This was AMAZING! My new go to for my Mexican food fix. It felt so good to be able to eat this and not feel yucky after. It was delicious, filling and all around a 10/10!
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that, Mikole! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review and star rating, it means so much to me.
My family loves this. I was not expecting to like it so much. Second round of making it, I doubled the beans and added chicken. More protein for the husband. Also, after cubing the sweet potatoes, I put them in the oven for 10 minutes before adding everything else to get them to cook through.
YUM! I am so excited to hear that this recipe is a hit for you and your family, Amber. Thank you so much for sharing your review + star rating, I so appreciate it!
I’m looking to make this for a new mom. Would love to freeze it so she can reheat when desired. Do you have instructions for this?
Thanks!
Hi Devon – Yes, you can definitely freeze this casserole. I would bake is as written above, let cool completely, then cover and freeze. For reheating, I would thaw in the fridge the night before and then warm it up at 350 degrees for 20 ish minutes or until warm. Enjoy!
I’ve made this recipe enough times now that I thought I’d better come and leave an appreciative comment! I cook this for the whole family and they all love it, despite being quite picky eaters (and having said that, I do skip the cilantro). I have a bit of trouble sometimes with the foil sticking to the cheese on top, but I just add a little more cheese in the final cooking stage if I have to.
Fantastic -delicious and simple- recipe!!
Ah this is truly the best, Sabrina. I am so excited to hear that this recipe is a hit for your whole family. Thank you so much for coming back and sharing your review + star rating, it means the world to me!