I love Mexican food and am always looking for new variations of classic flavors. This recipe is a fairly quick and easy dish that you can make that will give you left over lunches to have throughout the week. It’s a filling one pan meal that is packed with a bit more nutrients than classic enchiladas since it has black beans, chicken and quinoa. It’s a great lunch when I have a busy day at work, but need something to keep me fueled through the day.
Quinoa Enchilada Skillet
skillet meal filled with quinoa, refried black beans, chicken and topped with two kinds of cheese
Servings 4
Equipment
- 1 Pressure cooker
- 1 oven safe skillet
Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded chicken
- 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1/2 onion diced
- 4 oz can diced green chilies
- 16 oz can refried black beans
- 1 cup shredded colby jack or Mexican style cheese
- 1/2 cup queso fresco
- 1 cup green enchilada sauce
- 1 avocado
- shredded lettuce
- cherry tomatoes halved
Instructions
- Place 2-3 large chicken breasts in a pressure cooker with 1 cup chicken broth. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. Release pressure and transfer chicken breasts to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until the chicken is shredded. Note: you will have some left over shredded chicken that you can freeze to use for other recipes.
- While the chicken is cooking add quinoa with 1 cup of water to a small pan. Bring to a boil and then lower temp to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Pre-heat oven to broil. Dice onion and sauté in a medium sized skillet with a little olive oil over medium heat. Remove onion from skillet and place in a medium bowl.
- Add cooked quinoa and shredded chicken to the bowl with the onion. Add enchilada sauce and diced green chilies. Stir until all combined.
- Add refried beans to the skillet and cook on medium heat until soft enough to spread the beans out across the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and scoop quinoa mixture on top of beans. Spread out so that the beans are completely covered. Top with the shredded colby jack cheese and then crumble queso fresco over top of mixture.
- Place skillet in oven and broil for 5 minutes until the cheese is melted and you start to see darker speckles in the cheese. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a minute or two.
- Before eating top with sliced avocado, lettuce, and diced tomatoes. You can also add sour cream if you like.
Tips:
- If you just want 2 servings you can easily cut this recipe in half and make in a smaller skillet.
- Red enchilada sauce would work as well. I just find the green enchilada sauce to be a little bit of a lighter side and has a fresher taste.
- Cotija cheese also is great to use for topping this recipe if you can’t find queso fresco.
