Quinoa Enchilada Crockpot: seasoned ground turkey, quinoa, tomatoes, salsa, beans, corn, enchilada sauce, and plenty of cheese. Top with cilantro, lime, guac, or your favorite enchilada toppings!
Pair this meal with a simple salad like this Italian Salad or this Mandarin Orange Salad.
Quinoa Enchilada Crock-Pot
This meal is one of my favorites! It’s so easy to bring together, and the slow cooker does all the hard work!
You can also serve this meal in any way you like—it can be eaten as is, layered in tortillas or lettuce wraps, cooked into actual enchiladas, or eaten as a dip with chips!
How To Make Enchilada Quinoa In The Crock-Pot
- Sauté onion and bell pepper in olive oil in a large skillet, then add ground turkey.
- Mix in spices and garlic, sauté briefly, and transfer to a slow cooker.
- Add uncooked quinoa, black beans, corn, fire-roasted tomatoes, salsa, enchilada sauce, and chicken broth (or water and bouillon).
- Stir everything together until evenly mixed.
- Cook on high for 2.5 to 5 hours, stirring once halfway if possible, until the quinoa cooks and absorbs the liquid.
- Stir in freshly grated cheese until melted, then serve with your favorite enchilada toppings.
Quinoa Enchilada Crock-Pot Tips
- Use freshly grated cheese. Pre-shredded cheese has a coating that keeps it from melting well. You can use it, but it will get a bit greasy and not melt as nicely.
- Cook on high. This recipe doesn’t work well on low. The quinoa takes too long and cooks unevenly.
- Use fire-roasted diced tomatoes for more flavor.
- Don’t forget the toppings. They add so much to this dish! Add what you like on enchiladas—my top picks are avocado, cilantro, lime, and cherry tomatoes. You can also try sour cream, extra cheese, pico de gallo, guac, thin radishes, or green onions.
- Crock-Pot® is just one brand. You can use any slow cooker you like.
Variations
- Add heat: A tablespoon or two of diced jalapeños, hot sauce, or fire-roasted diced green chilies are all great ways to add in some heat. You can also use a spicier salsa or enchilada sauce.
- Reduce heat: If you use mild salsa and mild enchilada sauce, this dish is already pretty mild. For even less spice, use just 1–2 teaspoons of chili powder. (Pick a mild one like McCormick®.)
- Make a homemade enchilada sauce: If you prefer, make your own!
- Replace ground turkey with lean ground beef.
- Make it vegetarian: Leave out the ground turkey. Then no other changes are needed.
Alternate Cooking Methods
- Oven: Try this Quinoa Enchilada Bake. It’s just like this recipe but baked instead of slow cooked.
- Stove top: Do steps 1–4 in a large pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil over high heat. Then lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 15–20 minutes, or until the quinoa “pops.” Stir every 5–7 minutes. Lower the heat if the quinoa sticks, or turn it up if the liquid isn’t soaking in.
- Pressure cooker: I haven’t tried this in a pressure cooker, but one reader said it worked great: “Made this yesterday in my electric pressure cooker: 9 minutes on high (added about 1/2 cup more water).” (Thanks Lisa!)
More Healthy Quinoa Recipes
- Crockpot Chicken Quinoa Soup Italian inspired
- Quinoa Chili with sweet potatoes
- Spring Quinoa Salad with a lemon dressing
- Greek Quinoa Salad with a Greek-inspired dressing
- Quinoa Fried Rice with a tasty stir-fry sauce
Quinoa Enchilada Crockpot
This Quinoa Enchilada Crockpot meal is loaded with seasoned ground turkey, quinoa, fire-roasted tomatoes, beans, corn, enchilada sauce, and lots of cheese. Top with cilantro, lime, guac, or your favorite toppings!
Equipment
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
- 1/2 cup diced bell pepper I use red
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1-1/2 cups uncooked quinoa
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1/2 cup salsa
- 1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes undrained
- 1 cup chicken stock or chicken broth or water
- 1 (19-ounce) can red enchilada sauce see note 1
- 2 cups Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese; I use 1 cup extra sharp cheese and 1 cup Monterrey jack cheese
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro finely chopped
- Toppings as desired see note 2
Instructions
- Line a slow cooker or generously spray with cooking spray. In a large pan, add olive oil. Heat over medium-high heat and add diced onion and diced red pepper. Sauté 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add ground turkey. Cook and crumble until browned through. (Drain any grease if needed.) Add minced garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper (or to taste). Cook until fragrant, another 1–2 minutes.
- Transfer ground turkey mixture into the Crock-Pot (6-quart). Add uncooked quinoa (make sure to rinse first in a fine-mesh sieve), drained and rinsed black beans, frozen corn, salsa, undrained diced tomatoes, chicken stock, and enchilada sauce.
- Stir well. Cover slow cooker and cook on high for 2 and 1/2 to 3 and 1/2 hours or until all the liquid is absorbed into the mixture. Once absorbed, remove lid and stir together everything again. Add diced cilantro, 2 tablespoons lime juice (if using), and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted.
- Add your favorite enchilada toppings to individual plates: any additional cilantro or lime juice, sour cream, pico de gallo or diced cherry tomatoes, fresh avocado or guacamole.
- To make these more traditional enchiladas: Warm up the tortillas, spread some cheese on one side, a large spoonful of the mixture on top of the cheese, and more cheese on top of the mixture. Roll it up, cook until crisp in a pan over medium-high heat, and top with more salsa or enchilada sauce. Add sour cream, green onions, and cilantro if desired.
Final step! Please let us know how it was by leaving a review.
Recipe Notes
Note 1: For the enchilada sauce, I use Old El Paso® mild enchilada sauce, which I don’t find overly spicy. Some enchilada sauces can be very hot, so taste the sauce before adding to the slow cooker.
Note 2: Toppings: 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, sour cream, cilantro, etc. (whatever toppings you like on enchiladas).
Storage: Let the meal cool, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. For freezing, portion into airtight containers for up to 3 months. Reheat with a splash of stock or water, and add fresh toppings right before serving.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 418kcal | Carbohydrates: 35.2g | Protein: 27.4g | Fat: 19.3g | Cholesterol: 72.7mg | Sodium: 919.4mg | Fiber: 7.1g | Sugar: 5.8g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was amazing!!!! Thank you for the recipe ~ this was my first attempt at cooking with (and eating) quinoa! My family loved it (2 boys ages 8 & 5). I followed your recipe exactly but added a sprinkle of taco seasoning to ground chicken and added 1 can of chili beans with sauce. I ate it over copped romaine lettuce and my family ate it like chili. I can’t wait to try your other meals!
Hi Shannon!! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and for your review!! I am so happy you all enjoyed it and had a good first experience with quinoa!! I love your additions and love the idea of having it over lettuce! Thanks again 🙂
This looks great! Does anyone know if it would work to cook rice in the slow cooker instead of quinoa? Please let me know if you’ve tried this and/or have any recommendations how to do so!
Made this recipe last night and it was soooooo good. Even my picky husband had seconds! It was my first time cooking (and eating) quinoa. I ate the leftovers for breakfast I loved it so much. 🙂 Thanks for an awesome recipe!
YAY! I love to hear that! Thanks so much for your comment Lilac – I’m so glad you enjoyed this. And now I definitely need to try eating it for breakfast 🙂
This looks so delish! I’ve been on a freezer meal kick…Do you think I could just put all the goods in a ziploc and freeze until the night before (flinging in frig to thaw)…and then fling in the crock pot in the morning??? Thanks for the yummy recipes!
You are so welcome Heidi! I haven’t frozen it so I can’t say for sure, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work!! You would want to cook the meat first if you are adding it in! Hope that helps.
We made this for last nights dinner! YUM YUM YUM!!!!! Thank you!!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!! So glad you enjoyed it and you are welcome 🙂
Chelsea,
I made this recipe last week because I was thrilled to find a slow cooker recipe that had relatively healthy ingredients. It’s fantastic. It’s so filling and tasty, and I think it would still be good if you only put in less than the 2 cups of cheese if you’re watching your fat or dairy. I’m lazy and didn’t even bother slicing chives and cilantro and it’s still delicious. I was a little confused about the cook temp. I did the 3.5 hours on low, but my onions and peppers were still a bit crunchy, so I left it in longer. Fabulous recipe, I’m adding it to my favorite go-to recipe collection. Thanks for sharing!
Kate
Hey Kate!! Thanks so, so much for taking the time to comment and for your review! I so appreciate it 🙂 I updated the cooking info, so sorry for any confusion! And I definitely agree – we’ve had it with less cheese and still love it! But I’m all about lots of cheese 🙂
How well would this turn out vegetarian? !
Thanks, looks and sounds amazing!
This would be AWESOME vegetarian! I’ve done it a few times with no meat and we love it!
Would you need to adjust anything to make it vegetarian, or just leave out the meat?
Just leave it out 🙂
I would keep everything the same and just leave out the meat 🙂
As a heads up, in the text of the post you say to cook it on high, but in the listed directions you say to cook it on low. Just thought I’d let you know! It’s a delicious recipe!
We made this a few weeks ago and I’ve been meaning to tell you how absolutely delicious it is! Yum! I can’t wait to make it again. Also, I LOVE your new blog design. Very cute!
Thank you so much Katie, you are so sweet! And I so appreciate your comment and review 🙂
This looks so fantastic. Do you think I could sub in rice for quinoa in case I didn’t have it on hand?