Pressure Cooker Chicken Quinoa Casserole

This easy pressure cooker chicken and quinoa is a healthy and yummy meal! I’ll show you a simple Instant Pot chicken cabbage soup recipe too! Typically I make a lot of Instant Pot casseroles but this was the first with this grain.

Instant Pot Chicken and Quinoa

If you’re looking for a healthy pressure cooker recipe, this may become a new favorite. Everyone in my family knows that I’m kinda’ obsessed with my fancy multi cooker since they first came out almost 2 years ago. First I made Instant Pot quinoa but wanted to add protein to it, so here it is!

You can make Instant Pot chicken quinoa casserole in a Crockpot Express or as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe too. Doesn’t matter the brand as long as it has the high pressure function and all of the electric versions do. As opposed to making this in the oven or rice cooker the cooking time is very quick.

Ever since then I’ve experimented with just about every type of meat, made side dishes, and even yummy desserts! It is so great to be able to cook grains and meat all together in one pot. There is les to clean but more importantly I can make healthy meals for dinner in no time at all.

Ninja Foodi Chicken and Quinoa

I told my family about my successes and they started jumping on the bandwagon too. When my cousin got one recently she too started experimenting and adapted my Instant Pot stuffed cabbage casserole into her own version using more veggies and quinoa instead of rice.

Of course we all tweak recipes to make it suit our tastes but I used her basic instructions and cooked it up myself tonight…it was yummy! Using leftovers or making this as a fresh chicken recipe works well. It’s naturally gluten free so everyone can enjoy it and you can tweak the flavors as well.

Chicken Breast and Quinoa Instant Pot

She was unsure how to cook quinoa inside this dish so hers came out like an Instant Pot chicken cabbage soup (similar to what you see below).

Then she cooked her quinoa separately, drained the liquid and put her chicken cabbage creation on top (picture of hers at the bottom of this post).

SO…..that is the FIRST way you could make this:

• Make the perfect quinoa in your Instant Pot, slow cooker, or on the stove top
• Then cook this recipe stopping after step 6 of the recipe below, use only 1 3/4 c. chicken broth
• Serve vegetable/chicken/cabbage mixture on top of quinoa

The SECOND way you could make and serve this is:

• Make this as Instant Pot chicken cabbage soup
  • Make recipe below as stated with 2.5 c. chicken broth
  • Stop when the initial cooking is done, step 6
  • Do not add quinoa or cook a second time

Serve as soup and enjoy! Both are great but of course the textures are much different.

Chicken Quinoa Casserole

This is the 3rd method and the one that I feature in the printable recipe card below. There is little to no meal prep timing especially if you use precooked protein. You can jump to recipe below real quick but I like to explain what you need and brief tips before you get to that point.

1. Chicken – I used chicken thighs (I feel they are more tender and have more flavor) but you could use chicken breasts
   1. If you have leftover sous vide chicken you can dice that up and use it too
2. Cabbage should be cut into chunks larger than bite size as they will shrink a lot
3. Fresh green beans are optional, you can leave these out if desired
4. Celery
5. Homemade or store bought chicken broth is best
   • if you wanted a tomato base, add half broth and half enchilada sauce for enchilada quinoa casserole
6. Onions should be diced
7. Traditional quinoa (not quick style) – this is what I used
8. Garlic – minced in jar is what I use
9. Lots of spices – add more or omit any

I like to make everything in one pot if possible. It turned out great. Of course everyone likes a bit different consistency/stiffness when it comes to rice and quinoa I feel but 4 minutes was perfect for us. I will also say that the vegetables and cabbage are soft when done.

Quinoa Chicken Casserole

Cube your chicken thighs and add it to the pot (you can use 2 chicken breasts cubed if you prefer. Add your onion, celery, green beans and all of your spices. Stir until well combined.

• Throw in your cabbage cut into chunks on top of this chicken/spice mixture (don’t fill pot more than 3/4 of the way full, I have a 6 qt. and 1/3 of a head was about what would fit, larger pots you could add a bit more).
• Pour chicken broth on top. If you are making chicken quinoa casserole use 1 3/4 c. broth, if you’re making chicken cabbage soup add 2-2.5 c depending on how soupy you want it.
• Push the poultry button on your Instant Pot and adjust the time to 12 minutes.
• Do a quick release.
• Open lid and add 1 c of uncooked traditional quinoa, stir.
• Close lid, close steam valve, and set to pressure high for 1 minute.
• Allow for a 13 minute natural pressure release and then do a quick release for the rest and serve!

Here was the inspiration and where it all started!! She is a rockstar for creating this as a newbie. As you can see it was served on top of quinoa that was cooked separately…..so if you don’t like to cook everything together this is a great option (she used chicken breasts also, thus the difference in appearance).

Ready?? Here’s our pesto chicken quinoa casserole made in our 6 qt. Instant Pot! Of course you can make it in larger pots and if so you could increase the amount of cabbage inside. 1/3 of a head cubed was enough for mine so I didn’t fill it more than 3/4 of the way full. If you do overfill with cabbage it may not reach pressure at all.

After you’ve tried this you should try our pressure cooker breakfast quinoa recipe too.