Spanish Quinoa Pilaf
In this episode of Gluten Free Tasty, Phoebe Lapine spices things up with one of her favorite side dishes. Phoebe's Spanish Quinoa Pilaf with chorizo

In this episode of Gluten Free Tasty, Phoebe Lapine spices things up with one of her favorite side dishes. Phoebe's Spanish Quinoa Pilaf with chorizo and kidney beans pairs nicely with tacos or any roasted meat.
Ingredients
- ¼ pound dried Spanish chorizo, diced
- 1 small red onion, finely diced
- 1 small red bell pepper, finely diced
- 1 large clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- One 15-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups water or stock
Instructions
In a medium Dutch oven, sauté the chorizo over medium-high heat until beginning to brown. Add the onion and peppers. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cumin, chili flakes, paprika, and salt and cook for another minute. Add the quinoa and stir until coated in the vegetable mixture. Toast the quinoa, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Add the tomato paste, beans, and water or stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook quinoa until the water has absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes. Stir once, replace the lid, and allow to steam off the heat for 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning and serve warm or at room temperature. Serves 4
Nutrition Information
Nutrition Information Based on a Single Serving
*Percent Daily Value are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Dietary Needs



Cholesterol
Phoebe Lapine is a food and health writer, gluten-free chef, wellness personality, culinary instructor, blogger, recipe developer and speaker, born and raised in New York City, where she continues to live and eat.
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[MUSIC]
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Hi, I'm Phoebe Lapine and you're watching
Gluten-Free Tasty.
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Today I'm gonna show you how to make one
of my favorite gluten-free side dishes and
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that is a Spanish quinoa pilaf with kidney
beans and chorizo.
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Now what makes a pilaf different from a
regular grain dish is that we're actually.
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I'm actually going to saute the quinoa in
the aromatics, which is,
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in this case going to be some onions and
peppers.
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So, I'm just going to start, by getting my
pan nice and hot.
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And, we're going to saute the chorizo.
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Now, I'm not putting any oil down in
there, because the chorizo is very fatty.
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And it'll release some of its natural
oils.
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So, yes, we are adding something that's a
little bit fattier, but
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it's also gonna be our source of oil for
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the whole dish and add tons of flavor,
because this is very well spiced.
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All right, so, you can hear these sizzling
away already, so
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make sure it's in a nice, even layer.
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So as you can see the chorizo itself has a
lot of fat, so
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it's starting to release that oil.
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And we're just going to cook it until it's
beautiful and brown.
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We're going to add the peppers and onions.
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I like to use red onions.
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Just to give it some added color.
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Just sautee it up, and the vegetables are
gonna release some of their moisture.
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So if you have any brown bits on the
bottom of the pan from the chorizo,
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that's totally fine.
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They'll come up in this step.
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So you wanna cook these until soft, about
five minutes.
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Now I'm gonna add the garlic, and
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some salt, red chili flakes, smoked
paprika and some ground cumin.
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These are gonna get nice and toasty and
beautiful.
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So now I'm really smelling that garlic and
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my spices, especially the smoked paprika
with the treso.
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So I'm gonna add our kidney beans, and
some tomato paste.
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Which will give the whole thing, in
addition to the spices, a nice,
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pretty reddish hue.
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And our key lime to get it nice and
toasted.
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So, this is the step that really makes
this a pilaf.
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I'm toasting up the quinoa with the
vegetables.
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It's a similar set for what you do with
risotto, when you saute it all together.
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Because you cook it for so long and with
so much liquid,
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that you want to make sure the grains
don't just fall apart in to mush.
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Now that my quinoa is all toasted, the
last step is to add the liquid.
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In the same kind of proportion as if you
were making it
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in a normal pot with out the saute pilaf
technique.
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The liquid's gonna come to a boil pretty
quickly.
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Just wanna make sure you get all of the
stuff down into the pot.
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So now that this has come to a boil just
like any other grain dish,
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we're gonna turn the heat down to low,
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cover it, and we're gonna let it simmer
for about 20 to 25 minutes.
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So I'm gonna check on this.
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Beautiful.
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All right.
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This looks perfect.
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And now, just like [SOUND] any other grain
dish, we're gonna take it off the heat,
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replace the top so that it can steam out.
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And that's gonna help the grains kind of
separate and
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just finish cooking in a really mild,
gentle way.
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All right.
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So, this is steamed off for ten minutes
off the heat.
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And now it looks fluffy and beautiful.
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So let's just get into our serving bowl,
this is a great side.
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If you wanna do kind of a Spanish style
taco or
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any sort of roasted meat with those types
of flavors.
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Now it's time to taste it.
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Get a little bean in there, a little
chorizo.
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Mm.
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The pilaf is the way to go.
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This is so much more flavorful than if you
had just mixed all of
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the finished ingredients together.
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You can really taste the background flavor
of the stock that we created by
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sauteing all of those things.
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I'm Phoebe Lapine.
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You've been watching Gluten Free Tasty,
and I will see you next time.
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[MUSIC]