This vegan Curried Quinoa Recipe with Grilled Pineapple & Pepper makes a delicious easy meal that comes together in just over 30 minutes.
This Curried Quinoa Recipe with Grilled Pineapple & Pepper comes together very quickly yet is bursting with flavour! The tangy pineapple and sweet peppers together with the spicy warmth of the ginger and chilli create a delicious dish, perfect for a family as well as entertaining.
I’ve been using pineapple quite a lot in my cooking lately (see my recent Grilled Pineapple Chicken Salad), especially grilled. It’s sweet and zesty and complements so many savoury flavours. I think quinoa is at its best and most enjoyable when combined with other ingredients and the combination of curry and tangy pineapple really lifts it. It’s no longer just a side dish but a delicious vegetarian lunch.
How to make curried quinoa
The simple answer is – by adding curry spices into it. But I didn’t just add curry powder to my quinoa. I selected a handful of popular curry spices and added them to the quinoa as it cooked. So after only 15 minutes of cooking the quinoa was infused with delicious curry flavour.
I then briefly fried the garlic, ginger and chilli and poured that mixture over the quinoa to add even more flavour to my dish! All that was left to do now was to prepare the pineapple and the peppers.
Prepping the other ingredients
While the quinoa is cooking away prepare the pineapple and pepper. Simply fry the pineapple slices and the chopped pepper in a griddle pan until nicely browned (do this in batches) and add to the quinoa. Then just stir in the coconut milk, scatter over the fresh cilantro and enjoy!
Once the quinoa has cooked keep it covered so it stays warm while you are preparing your pineapple and pepper.
Serving suggestions
This easy curried quinoa with pineapple is an extremely versatile dish. You can enjoy it as a vegetarian main or side (served with grilled chicken or prawns if you don’t need it to be vegetarian). Even as a salad, the next day (with a drizzle of lemon juice and oil). The proportions in this quinoa curry recipe yield quite a large batch, enough to feed a family of 4 plus there’ll be leftovers to enjoy the next day.
I removed the seeds from the chilli pepper so this dish is moderately spicy. If you want to give it more heat use the whole chilli pepper, including the seeds.
In addition to being nutritious and easy to make this curried quinoa recipe with pepper is both vegan and gluten free. So more people can enjoy it! What’s not to like?
Enjoy!
More quinoa meal ideas
Looking for more easy quinoa meal ideas? Try my curried quinoa casserole with paneer. You might also like this quinoa bowl with papaya or romanesco quinoa herb salad.
Curried Quinoa Recipe with Grilled Pineapple & Pepper
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 teaspoon each: turmeric and cumin powders
- 2/3 teaspoon each: garam masala and coriander powders
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 red pepper bell or sweet pointed, chopped
- 1/2 pineapple peeled, sliced (you should have 3 thick slices)
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 red chili finely chopped (seeds removed)
- 1 and 1/3 teaspoon onion seeds
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 100 ml coconut milk
- Sea salt to taste
- 1.5 cup water
- Cilantro/coriander for garnish finely chopped
Instructions
- Rinse the quinoa, place in a medium pot, add 1.5 cup water with 1/2 teaspoon salt, cumin, coriander powder, garam masala, turmeric and the bay leaf and stir thoroughly. Cover, bring to boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook for approx. 15 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed (give it a stir half way through). Set aside. Keep the lid on so it stays hot.
- In a small frying pan heat up the coconut oil, add the garlic, ginger, chilli and onion seeds and fry over a medium heat for about 3 minutes stirring all the time. Pour the mixture into the quinoa and stir thoroughly.
- Fry the pineapple in a griddle pan for 2 minutes on both sides, then chop into small chunks (remove the core) and add to the quinoa.
- Fry the red sweet peppers in the griddle pan for 4-5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Add to the quinoa mixture.
- Add the coconut milk, cilantro, adjust the seasoning if necessary, stir thoroughly and serve.
Pin Curried Quinoa Recipe with Grilled Pineapple & Pepper
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RECIPE LINK PARTIES
I am sharing this curried quinoa with pineapple and pepper with Meat Free Mondays, and What’s Cookin’ Wednesday. Also sharing with Fiesta Friday (co-hosted by The Not So Creative Cook and Foodbod).
Hi, I am Monika, welcome to Everyday Healthy Recipes! This blog is all about creatively simple recipes with a healthy twist, old classics with a modern take, and an occasional Polish dish thrown into the mix - all easy to make, healthy and delicious, perfect for everyday cooking. 
I’m not sure how I missed this last week but it looks delicious and nutritious.
Tracey
Thank you! I am glad you like the recipe:)
This sounds lovely Monika – I bet the pineapple is delicious in this x
Thanks Mandy! Pineapple is amazing in any recipe and this recipe is successful thanks to the pineapple.
That sounds lovely, I like the coconut sauce 🙂
Thank you!
I like ALL the flavours to be honest!!
Thanks:)
Oh yum! I am going to make this very soon! How delicious! 😀
Thank you! Hope you like it:)
Pineapple, currry and coconut milk – what could be more perfect than them during weekends? This looks really appetizing, Monika. Thanks for sharing and happy FF!
Thank you! Quinoa tastes really delicious with this combination of flavours.
This sounds like a really interesting recipe, I keep meaning to use quinoa but i hardly ever do
Thanks! I thoroughly recommend it! I even eat it for breakfast instead of porridge, with yogurt and fruit:)
I love the idea to put pineapple into a grain bowl! Yum! Pinned for later, Thanks!
Thank you! Pineapple is so versatile, it works with so many ingredients:)
ooh that looks so nice. I love anything with a bit of coriander in & this sounds really tasty 🙂
Thank you! I am also a coriander fan and use it quite a lot in my cooking.
Mmmm, yes please! You’ve done it again Monika and got my mouth watering at the thought of griddled pineapple with the quinoa! Love the idea of using curry flavours to lift the flavour of the quinoa too.
Angela x
Thank you Angela! So glad you like the recipe, pineapple is so amazing it just goes with so many flavours and I love to cook with it:)
Yum! I’m loving the sound of this- Pineapple is one of my all time favourite fruits! x
Thank you! It’s definitely one of mine too:)