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Gluten Free Sesame Orange Instant Pot Quinoa (Vegan)

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Sesame Orange Instant Pot Quinoa is so easy to cook! It’s a great side dish for Asian recipes, and it’s gluten free, nut free, and vegan.

image collage of black bowl filled with gluten free sesame orange instant pot quinoa

I don’t know about you, but this Instant Pot trend has really been interesting! Like usual, I’m kind of behind on most trends, so I just got my pressure cooker last fall and I’m still playing with it and learning how to use it. Following recipes online is easy, creating my own recipes for the blog from scratch is not so easy!

But, I wanted to start adding more Instant Pot recipes to The Fit Cookie, so I’m going to keep experimenting with it so I can give you guys more allergy friendly recipes to try 🙂

overhead photo of black bowl filled with soy free gluten free sesame orange instant pot quinoa

This Sesame Orange Instant Pot Quinoa recipe goes great with Asian entrees instead of rice, like our Slow Cooker Asian Chicken or our Ginger Chicken and Rice Bowl. You can even chill this and make a salad with it, or use it for meal prep bowls.

The great thing about this instant pot quinoa recipe is that it is allergy friendly and top 8 allergen free! It’s gluten free, dairy free, nut free, vegan, and best of all, soy free. It’s hard to find great Asian recipes that don’t have soy sauce in them.

vegan sesame orange pressure cooker quinoa on a wood board

How to cook quinoa in a pressure cooker

Cooking quinoa in the Instant Pot/pressure cooker is super easy: you put your ingredients and liquid and cook according to the recipe directions, release the pressure, and you have your cooked quinoa! No more boiled-over quinoa on the stovetop.

Most stovetop quinoa recipes cook for 20 minutes after the water has started boiling, and this recipe takes 12 minutes actual cooking time, but takes about 20 minutes to build pressure, cook, then release pressure. So you don’t necessarily save on time, but it’s a really easy recipe to just “set it and forget it” with quinoa.

nut free soy free sesame orange instant pot quinoa with small oranges

In this post, I call a pressure cooker an Instant Pot since it’s a common household name for pressure cooker these days. But I’m currently using the 6-quart Crock Pot Express pressure cooker instead of the Instant Pot name-brand pressure cooker.

The instructions for this recipe will remain the same regardless of whether you have the Crock Pot pressure cooker or the Instant Pot pressure cooker. both pressure cookers use the same type of rice cooking function which we use for cooking quinoa.

black bowl full of gluten free pressure cooker sesame orange quinoa with black sesame seeds

Just a word of caution with quinoa: some brands kinds of quinoa have sand in them (I’ve crunched on a few pieces, ouch!) and rinsing usually doesn’t get rid of those big sand pieces. Some brands of quinoa are better than others, so make sure to find a good brand that has been cleaned really well. and has good reviews.

Check out our other pressure cooker quinoa recipe: Cilantro Lime Instant Pot Quinoa!

vegan sesame orange pressure cooker quinoa in a black bowl next to mandarin oranges

Sesame Orange Instant Pot Quinoa

Sesame Orange Instant Pot Quinoa is so easy to cook! It’s a great side dish for Asian recipes, and it’s gluten free, nut free, and vegan.
Gluten free, vegan; Free of: nuts, soy, eggs, dairy
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Side Dishes
Cuisine: Asian
Keyword: instant pot quinoa, pressure cooker quinoa
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Pressure release: 10 minutes
Total Time: 37 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 183kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Zest your orange and set aside 2 teaspoons of zest, then juice the orange and set aside 1/4 cup orange juice.
  • Place the orange juice, 1 teaspoon orange zest, quinoa, and water into the pressure cooker and stir to mix. 
  • Cover, close lid and lock. Move pressure valve to pressure cook, and set the pressure cooker to the Rice/Grain setting for 12 minutes on low pressure.
  • Cook for the allotted time. Once it’s done cooking, allow pressure to naturally release for 5 minutes, then do a quick pressure release by opening the pressure valve with a kitchen utensil.  
  • Allow the pressure to release completely, then open the lid. Stir into the quinoa the rest of the orange zest, sesame oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and ground ginger (if using). 
  • Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced chives if you like, and serve immediately alongside your favorite Asian entree or save for meal prep bowls. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 183kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 293mg | Potassium: 270mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 30IU | Vitamin C: 9.1mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1.9mg
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5 thoughts on “Gluten Free Sesame Orange Instant Pot Quinoa (Vegan)”

  1. How would I go about this without an instant pot? I’m guessing rinse & drain my quinoa, bring to a boil, cover and boil about 20 minutes, then add the orange juice, zest, sesame oil, spices, and garnish at the end?

    Reply

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