Quinoa Enchilada Soup

Quinoa Enchilada Soup is a healthy, protein packed one pot meal that is full of Mexican flavors!! It's a vegetarian, vegan, gluten free recipe that is extremely easy to make and freezer friendly. Serve it with a range of toppings for everyone to customize their own! 

"Mumma this is the best soup!! Can I have it for my lunchbox too!!" - These were the exact words of my daughter after she tried the Quinoa Enchilada Soup for the very first time!! I made this soup recipe for my cooking club and its meant to feed a crowd so I had some leftovers after my club. Was a bit skeptical if anyone at home would like it since the kids are just starting to like the soup concept and the hubs is not a big soup fan. I on the contrary could live on soups so had planned to freeze and take it for lunch. But to my surprise, the kids and hubs wanted to try it and the leftovers were licked off clean.

Its one of those one pot meals that is hearty, healthy and yet delicious! Its full of veggies, beans, grain (quinoa) making it such a nutritious meal. The soup on its own is sufficient but the toppings make it even better and gives everyone to make the soup their own. This easy dump and go meal is suitable for weeknight dinner or for potlucks and gatherings.

What you will need to make the Quinoa Enchilada Soup:

Like most soups, Quinoa Enchilada Soup is highly customizable too. I've mentioned some alternatives incase you don't have the listed ingredients and still want to make this delicious Mexican soup! These are the main categories and you can play around with ingredients available to you. 

Beans - I love using black beans for my Mexican recipes but you can definitely add other beans like red kidney beans or pinto or even garbanzo beans. Use canned ones since it quickens the cooking process.

Veggies - I've used sweet potato, red bell pepper, frozen corn kernels and canned tomatoes for this soup. This combination along with beans tastes amazing but feel free to use any veggies you have on hand like carrots, celery, zucchini would be nice too!

Grain/Carbs - My grain of choice for this enchilada soup is Quinoa for the obvious reasons. Quinoa is high in fibre, minerals and antioxidants making it super nutritious. In addition to this, its gluten free and excellent source of protein making it a win win grain over others. My kids had not tasted quinoa before but neither of them questioned or tasted quinoa, it blended that well with this soup! But you can swap quinoa with rice or pasta. If you go with rice, just make sure to wash rice  3-4 times until the water runs clear. Soak for 30 mins until you prep the ingredients and then when ready, drain the water and add rice.

Proteins - I'm using quinoa as my protein too so haven't added any meat as I wanted to keep it vegetarian. You can add tofu or even chicken if you did like to make it more filling.

Enchilada Sauce - I've used mild red enchilada sauce for this recipe You could use store bought or homemade sauce. If you can't do any of these use a tomato sauce, the taste will change a bit but still delicious.

How to make Enchilada Soup:

This soup can be made either in a soup pot on a stove or in the instant pot (my preferred way). All you need to do is sauté some onions with garlic and dump in the veggies, beans, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, vegetable stock, spices and quinoa. Stir to combine and cook until veggies and quinoa are cooked That's it!  your delicious and hearty enchilada soup is ready!! This soup can be stored in the refrigerator in an air tight container for few days or frozen for longer usage. Just thaw, heat and serve with toppings of choice on side.

Step by Step Method (using Instant Pot):

Switch on the instant pot to sauté mode. Once it displays "HOT", add the olive oil followed by onions, garlic and cilantro and sauté until onions are translucent (approximately a minute). Adding cilantro during the cooking process really takes the soup to the next level. So highly recommend adding it.

Next add in the veggies (red bell pepper, corn, sweet potato), black beans, diced tomatoes, enchilada sauce, spices (oregano, cumin, red chili powder/paprika, salt and black pepper). Stir to combine and deglaze if needed.

Add the quinoa and the vegetable stock  (I made mine using better than bouillon vegetable base) and give it one more stir so everything is well combined. Close the Instant Pot lid, vent in sealing position. Cook on Manual Or Pressure cook mode on High Pressure for 5 mins. Do a quick release when cooking completes. If you are out and about doing your chores you can let the pressure release naturally too. Press cancel. Open the lid and squeeze in some lemon juice and adjust seasoning if needed. That's it the Instant pot enchilada soup is ready!

Serve warm with a range of toppings for everyone to customize their own like tortilla strips, cheddar cheese, avocado, sour cream, jalapeños (optional), pico de gallo, green onions.

More such delicious Mexican recipes for you to try:

• VEGETABLE QUESADILLA
• BLACK BEANS CURRY
• INSTANT POT TACO PASTA
• TORTILLA ENCHILADA PIZZA
• VEGETARIAN BLACK BEAN ENCHILADAS

Hope you enjoy this Quinoa Enchilada Soup as much as we do!! If you give this recipe a try, we did love to hear from you ❤️ Please let us know your rating ⭐️and feedback in the comments below. Thank you!

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5 from 1 vote

Quinoa Enchilada Soup

Quinoa Enchilada Soup is a healthy, protein packed one pot meal that is full of Mexican flavors!! It's a vegetarian, vegan, gluten free recipe that is extremely easy to make and freezer friendly. Serve it with a range of toppings for everyone to customize their own! 

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time40 mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings: 6 people

Author: Shweta Arora

Equipment

• Instant Pot

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 cup onion chopped
• 1 cup red bell pepper chopped
• 1 cup corn kernels frozen
• 1 can black beans rinsed and drained
• 1 cup sweet potato chopped in small cubes
• ½ cup quinoa rinsed and drained
• 1 10 oz can enchilada sauce using mild, store bought or homemade
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes fire-roasted can be used too
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin seeds powder
• 1/2 to 1 tsp red chilli powder or paprika to taste
• 1/4 tsp black pepper or to taste
• 4 cups vegetable stock or water
• 1 tbsp cilantro finely chopped
• 1-2 tbsp lemon juice or to taste
• toppings: tortilla strips ,diced avocado, grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro, pico de gallo, green onions.

Instructions

Using Instant Pot:

• Switch on the Instant pot to sauté mode.
• Once it displays “HOT”, add the olive oil followed by onions, garlic and cilantro. Sauté until onions are translucent (approximately a minute).
• Add the veggies (red bell pepper, corn, sweet potato), diced tomatoes, black beans, enchilada sauce, spices (oregano, cumin, red chili powder/paprika, salt and black pepper). Stir to combine and deglaze if needed.
• Add the quinoa the vegetable stock and give it one more stir so everything is well combined.
• Close the Instant Pot with lid, vent in sealing position.
• Cook on Manual (pressure cook) High Pressure for 5 mins and do a quick release when done (natural release will work as well). Press cancel.
• Open the lid, squeeze in some lemon juice and give it a stir. Enchilada soup is ready!!
• Serve warm with your choice of toppings - all or a combination of tortilla strips, cheddar cheese, avocado, sour cream, jalapeños (optional), pico de gallo, lime and cilantro.

Using Stove top:

• Heat olive oil in a soup pot or dutch oven and once its hot, add onions, garlic and cilantro and sauté until onions are translucent (approximately a minute).
• Add the veggies (red bell pepper, corn, sweet potato), diced tomatoes, black beans, enchilada sauce, spices (oregano, cumin, red chili powder/paprika, salt and black pepper) quinoa and vegetable stock. Stir to combine and deglaze if needed.
• Bring it to boil and then reduce it to low-medium heat. Cover and cook until the quinoa is cooked and the veggies are fork tender.
• Lastly squeeze in some lemon juice and give it a good stir. Enchilada soup is ready!!
• Serve warm with your choice of toppings - all or a combination of tortilla strips, cheddar cheese, avocado, sour cream, jalapeños (optional), pico de gallo, lime and cilantro.

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Happy Cooking!!
Shweta