Quinoa Enchilada Crockpot: seasoned ground turkey, quinoa, fire-roasted tomatoes, salsa, beans, corn, enchilada sauce, and plenty of cheese. Top with cilantro, lime, guacamole, or your favorite enchilada toppings.
Pair this healthy meal with a simple salad like this Italian Salad or this Mandarin Orange Salad.
Quinoa Enchilada Crock-Pot
This meal is one of our favorites! It’s so easy to assemble and the slow cooker does all the heavy lifting! It’s such a great all-purpose meal — 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 combined.
- Cook on high for 2.5 to 5 hours, stirring once midway if possible, until quinoa is cooked and liquid absorbed.
- Stir in freshly grated cheese until melted, then serve with your favorite enchilada toppings.
Quinoa Enchilada Crock-Pot Tips
- Use freshly grated cheese. Pre-grated cheese has a cellulose coating that keeps it from melting as nicely. While it can be used in this recipe, it will get a little greasy and won’t melt as smoothly.
- Cook on high. Unfortunately, this recipe doesn’t cook well at low temperatures; the quinoa absorbs liquid too slowly and cooks unevenly.
- Use fire-roasted diced tomatoes for more flavor.
- Don’t forget the toppings. They add so much flavor and texture to this dish. Use whatever you like on top of enchiladas; our favorite toppings for this dish are ripe sliced avocados, fresh cilantro, fresh lime, and fresh cherry tomatoes. Other options include sour cream, additional cheese, pico de gallo, guacamole, thinly sliced radishes, and green onions.
- Crock-Pot® is a trademarked brand of slow cooker that is often used generically. You can use any type of slow cooker you prefer.
Variations
- Add heat: A tablespoon or two of diced jalapeños, hot sauce, and/or fire-roasted diced green chilies are all additions that add in some heat. A spicier salsa and/or enchilada sauce can also be used.
- Reduce heat: By using mild salsa and mild enchilada sauce, I’d say this is a very mild dish. To further reduce heat, use only 1-2 teaspoons chili powder. (Use a non spicy chili powder like McCormick® (not sponsored)).
- 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; no other changes are needed.
Alternate Cooking Methods
- Oven: Try this Quinoa Enchilada Bake; it’s very similar to this recipe but baked instead of slow cooked.
- Stove top: Follow steps 1-4 using a large pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pot, and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the quinoa has “popped.” Stir mixture every 5-7 minutes and reduce heat if the quinoa is sticking or increase if the liquid isn’t being absorbed.
- Pressure cooker: I haven’t personally tested this recipe in the pressure cooker, but a reader commented that it worked well: “Made this yesterday in my electric pressure cooker: 9 minutes on high setting (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 vinaigrette
- Greek Quinoa Salad with a Greek-inspired vinaigrette
- Quinoa Fried Rice with a delicious 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
- Large pan
- Crock-Pot 6-quart
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
- 1/2 cup diced sweet 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.
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 typically would 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?