Instant Pot Quinoa Biryani Recipe

Name: Instant pot Quinoa Biryani with Chickpeas
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 cup Quinoa; 1 can canned chickpeas / or use already cooked chickpeas; 1 cup mixed veggies (carrots, beans, peas, corn); 1/2 medium sized red onion thinly sliced; 1 cup tomato puree; 1 tsp ginger garlic paste; 1/4 tsp turmeric powder; 1 tsp Biryani masala or garam masala; 1 tsp chilly powder or use Kashmiri chilly powder for a less spicy version; 1 cup coconut milk or vegetable stock or water.; 1/2 tsp cumin seeds; 2 cloves; 1 bay leaf; 1 cardamom; 1 small piece cinammon; salt to taste; 11/2 tsp oil / ghee; 1 tbsp fresh mint leaves

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You probably know by now that we love Quinoa! After my sucessful trial at making Quinoa tomato rice, I have been experimenting with a lot of quinoa dishes and this Instant pot Quinoa Biryani is another successful attempt.

Quinoa works brilliantly as a rice substitute and they are so much more healthier too. This gluten free grain is rich in protein, vitamins and dietary fiber. They also taste good and work perfectly in dishes like these.

I wasn’t a big fan of quinoa before and that was because I could never cook it properly. It would be over cooked, mushy or be undercooked. Cooking them in a pan seemed to take me so much more longer as I have a glass top stove and they take forever to heat up. But then, I got my instant pot and things changed. I figured out how to get it to cook perfectly after a few trials and we have been loving our Quinoa recipes since then.

The husband here has started getting serious about watching what he eats. He prefers to eat more protein and has been trying to avoid white rice as much as possible. Although a rice pandaram (rice lover) like me can never completely eliminate rice from my diet, I try to include millets and quinoa often, so that we are not eating too much of rice. I have also swapped my regular sona masoori rice with hand pound rice. ( I sometimes get brown rice too. But hand pound tastes so much more better). I also got a few varieties of millets from India for my regular use. I use both as a rice substitute and I also include them in my Idli / dosa batter.

I’m not sure if it’s the upcoming holidays or the fact that I have my much awaited India trip in the next couple of weeks, I haven’t had much motivation to cook and most importantly cleaning up after. Last week I was craving some spicy biryani, but the lazy me did not want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. so I came up with this quick quinoa biryani recipe and since I had used quinoa, I did not have to worry about soaking the rice, marinating the veggies/ chickpeas etc.

I used canned chickpeas because they are already cooked and cook well along with quinoa. I would not recommend adding uncooked soaked chickpeas to this recipe as the cooking times for quinoa and the chickpeas would be different. You could substitute the canned chickpeas with veggies or soya chunks or cook the chickpeas first and then use them in this quinoa biryani recipe.

5 from 1 vote

Instant pot Quinoa Biryani with Chickpeas

Cook Time

30 mins

Quick and easy Quinoa channa biryani cooked in the instant pot with canned chickpeas and aromatic Indian spices.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: instant pot

Servings: 3

Author: Preethi

Ingredients

1 cup Quinoa
1 can canned chickpeas / or use already cooked chickpeas
1 cup mixed veggies (carrots, beans, peas, corn)
1/2 medium sized red onion thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Biryani masala or garam masala
1 tsp chilly powder or use Kashmiri chilly powder for a less spicy version
1 cup coconut milk or vegetable stock or water.
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 cardamom
1 small piece cinammon
salt to taste
11/2 tsp oil / ghee
1 tbsp fresh mint leaves

Instructions

Switch on the saute mode in your instant pot and when it becomes hot add the oil, cloves, cumin seeds, bayleaf, cinnamon, cardamaom and let the spices roast for few seconds.
Now add the chopped onions and saute until translucent.
Add the ginger garlic paste and saute until the raw smell goes away.
Now add the tomato puree and cook it until the tomato is reduced and you see some oil in the sides. It takes approxminately 5 minutes. (Do not skip this step or you’ll end up with mushy quinoa)
Deglaze the pan with a tbsp or more of water if necessary. Now add the drained canned chickpeas, mixed veggies, quinoa, spices ( turmeric powder, chilly powder, salt, garam masala or biryani powder) and mix well.
Now add the coconut milk (thin coconut milk) or water or stock whichever you prefer & extra 1/2 cup water
Add mint leaves, close the lid and cook in manual high for 6 minutes. Release pressure after 6 minutes or wait and release naturally.
Open up and let your Quinoa Biryani rest for a bit and fluff up with a fork. Serve hot with a side of raita or papad.

Recipe Notes

Can make this recipe with just the veggies or with just chickpeas.

Can avoid the tadka in the beginning where you add whole spices. You could just add cumin seeds in that step instead.

Looking for more quinoa recipes? Do try this Quinoa Tomato rice, Quinoa chickpea salad, Millet sambar sadham (Swap millets with quinoa)

If you tried this Instant pot Quinoa channa biryani recipe and liked it, do share a picture with the hashtag #cookingwithpree on Instagram or Facebook. Would love to know what you guys have been cooking 🙂

Looking for more Instant pot or Vegan reicpes? Check out Pinterest boards for inspration. Happy cooking!