Slow Cooker Enchilada Quinoa
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Healthy, easy Slow Cooker Enchilada Quinoa. Just set it and forget it for a cheesy, protein-packed crock pot meal the whole family will love!
Slow cooking minimizes your time in the kitchen while maximizing dinner compliments! Try Slow Cooker Honey BBQ Beef Brisket, Slow Cooker Spicy Cashew Chicken, and Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef to be sure 😉
This may very well be my new favorite dish of all time. And if not all time, certainly the past 93 hours. That means it’s competing with Mom’s Christmas ham – shh! don’t tell.
Sometimes (read: pretty much every day of my life) I need an easy, practically zero-work recipe that I know I can count on to be absolutely 100% delicious to feed my Mexican food obsession. Slow cooker enchilada quinoa, you are heaven sent. Literally five minutes of prep means I can forget it for a few hours and come back when it’s ready to be devoured.
See that picture up there? ^^^ There’s a lot of yum happening in that crock pot and it lasted us several days since there’s just two of us in this here humble abode, which means leftovers for dayzzz and I could not be more happy about that. If there’s one thing I love more than freshly made cheesy quinoa smothered in enchilada sauce and stuffed with corn and black beans, it’s one or two day old cheesy quinoa smothered in enchilada sauce and stuffed with corn and black beans.
I ate this stuff for breakfast. Yes. Cheesy enchilada quinoa for breakfast. It’s a thing that will be happening again friends.
Now who wants the first bite??
Too late! That’ll be miiine……
What people are saying about this Slow Cooker Enchilada Quinoa
“I threw this together last night and put it in the fridge. I started it in the morning around 7:00 and turned it off at 2:30- it was a fantastic dinner tonight! I added pieces of avocado, some sliced black olives, and a dollop of light sour cream. I’ve already passed this on to two friends and will definitely make this again!” – Bettina
“I’ve been in love with this recipe since I saw the picture. It’s almost dinner time and I snuck a taste…..YUMMY! Serving with tortilla rolls and chips for those that don’t want to eat it like a chili. Amazing post. THANK YOU!” – Anilise
“Made this over spring break for some of my friends since we were all taking classes and needed a little cheering up. I was worried cause it was me cooking for three guys, but they didn’t even question the lack of meat. They used it as burrito filling and they all got thirds, and then they knocked on my door the next morning and invited themselves in for leftovers. Great recipe, really really yummy, easy to make, and great flavors. It’s a crowd pleaser for sure.” – Elisa
“Made this last night and it was sooo good! I browned some ground turkey and dumped that in, too, and it turned out amazingly well! You weren’t kidding when you said leftovers for daysssss because I have enough for me to eat for the next 5 meals (and I could not be happier about that!)!! Thanks for the awesome recipe!” – Lauren
Slow Cooker Enchilada Quinoa
Ingredients
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15-ounce can yellow corn, drained and rinsed
- 2 15-ounce cans mild or medium red enchilada sauce, divided
- 1 15-ounce can diced fire roasted tomatoes and green chiles
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- ½ cup water
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- salt and pepper to taste , (I used about 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper)
- 1 cup shredded Mexican style cheese
- optional: chopped cilantro, diced tomatoes, diced avocado, sour cream
Instructions
- Add beans, corn, 1 can of enchilada sauce, diced tomatoes and chiles, quinoa, water, cream cheese, and salt and pepper to the slow cooker. Stir everything together.
- Pour remaining can of enchilada sauce on top, then sprinkle with shredded cheese. Cover and cook 4-5 hours on high or 5-7 hours on low.
- Uncover, top with tomatoes, avocados, sour cream, and chopped cilantro and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I did not expect for this to have much flavor, but I thought I would give it a shot. My mom is a vegetarian and my parents were coming for dinner. I have a nine month old, so I just wanted to throw something in the slow cooker. I found this recipe after Google searching “vegetarian slow cooker recipes”.
Ho. Lee. Moly.
This turned out amazing! Lots of protein and oodles of flavor. The only change I made to the recipe is that I added chili powder because I was afraid it would need more flavor, but it really didn’t need it. Next time I will leave it out. We ate it with tortilla chips, sour cream and fresh avocado chunks. I doubled the recipe so that there would be plenty for five people, and I didn’t need to. TONS of leftovers.
The only thing I would do differently: next time, I will cook for three hours, give it a stir, and THEN add the cheese on top and finish cooking. The cream cheese needed to be stirred into it better, so I ended up just stirring the cheese and all into it. It tasted good, but it would be a prettier dish if it could be scooped out with cheese on top (like the photo).
Thank you for a great vegetarian recipe! We will definitely make this again and again.
The Slow Cooker Quinoa Enchiladas were super easy to prepare, extremely filling, and very yummy. I divided it up into 4 servings and it was a good amount of calories, but the trade off is the meal really satisfying and sticks with you for a long time. I’m a vegetarian, and I really appreciate the amount of protein in the dish. This meal will be added to our rotation–it is excellent
I was interested in learning about this recipe, but this website is so overloaded with ads, I could barely see the content. Your ads are overwhelming!
Just started this so I’ll find out how it is in 7 hours but like another reviewer my second enchilada sauce just sunk in.. Is that supposed to happen? I thought it would sit on top? I wondered about the sauce – the recipe calls for two 15 Oz cans but El paso come in 10oz or 1lb 3oz (19 oz) so I ended up using a big and small. Wondering if maybe it was supposed to be 2 10oz cans? But no one else has questioned it so maybe I just bought the wrong ones?
Made this many times since – i now stick to 2 10oz cans of sauce and it still sinks a bit but i’m guessing the top layer with cheese is just for nice display cause it still comes out DELICIOUS no matter which way we do it. I replace the Tomatoes and CHili Can with JUST Fire Roasted Tomatoes so It’s not too SPICY for the kids. Top it with some AVOCADO -So yum!
Hi Tiffany!
This looks absolutely delicious! How many quarts does your crockpot hold? I am buying a crockpot just to make this dish, so I don’t want to get one too small.
Thanks!
This looks delicious! I’d love to make it, but I am in Australia and although I know what an enchilada is, I am not familiar with “enchilada sauce”. Is it like jar salsa sauce? Thank you! x
No, it comes in a can. Closer to canned tomatoes sauce but not enough that you could substitute it. I live in Canada and we found it right with the Other canned goods. It was overpricd though. Over $10 for one. I dont know what that is in australian money.I have a smaller crackpot though so I just used 1 can anyway and it worked out fine.
If you can’t find the cans or they are too expensive – look up recipes for homemade enchilada sauce – few more steps and INGREDIENTS but the end result is worth it!
Hi, I just made this for the first time. Delicious. But mine came out rather watery/soupy. I had a feeling this was going to be the case as I put it together. When I was adding the last can of Enchilada sauce it didn’t layer but rather just sunk down into the first layer. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!
Made this tonight for a potluck dinner tomorrow. How did yours turn out? Maybe it only need 1 15oz can of enchilada instead of 2 cans? Just wondering.
I made this Slow Cooker Enchilada Quinoa yesterday, and it is DELICIOUS!!!! My husband gave the ultimate compliment, “This stuff tastes like it’s bad for you!”
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
Pamela
Um holy crap this is amazing!! You know its good when a 2 year old who is going through a pb+j only phase eats 2 bowlfuls cold! Thank you a million times!
This looks incredible! Always looking for new ways to use the slow cooker. I wonder how red or rainbow quinoa would look in this recipe? Thank goodness for Pinterest!