This baked quinoa casserole is an easy, hearty main dish. It’s ready in under 30 minutes and is a great gluten-free dinner recipe to feed a crowd!

This quinoa casserole recipe a healthy, comforting dish that feeds a crowd. Plus, it’s ready in 30 minutes and is loaded with delicious fall flavors including apples and veggies.

Quinoa casserole is a perfect dish for entertaining. Whether you bring it to a potluck, book club or serve it while you watch the big game, it’s a healthy and flavorful meal everyone loves.

What I love about this Baked Quinoa Casserole is that it satisfies the health-conscious while being hearty enough for people who prefer more substantial meals. Plus it’s gluten-free so it can be served when you’re entertaining people with food allergies.

Quinoa Casserole Recipe: Ingredients and Substitutions

• Quinoa. Obviously quinoa is one of the main ingredients in this recipe. So I don’t recommend substituting it. However, an equal amount of cooked brown, rice or wild rice can be used in its place.
• Smoked Sausage. Use your favorite sausage variety in this recipe with great results: chicken sausage, Italian sausage, etc.
• Green Peppers. Use any color bell pepper, omit them or substitute a different vegetable such as carrots, celery, more onion, etc. etc.
• Apple. I used Pink Lady apples in this recipe for their slightly sweet, slightly tart flavor and firm texture. Use your favorite apple variety.
• Fire Roasted Tomatoes. regular diced tomatoes work great.
• Whole Milk. 2%, cream or half and half are good substitutes for whole milk.
• Sharp Cheddar Cheese. Choose your favorite cheese – cheddar, Colby Jack, mozzarella, etc.

How to Cook Quinoa Perfectly

The first step in this recipe is to cook the quinoa. You can cook it up to one day prior and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Quinoa is really easy and quick to make, however it is also fairly easy to cook improperly. Follow these steps for perfectly cooked quinoa to use in your favorite recipes (quinoa salad, Asian quinoa salad, etc.)

1. Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh metal strainer until the water runs clear.
2. Use a 1:2 ratio of quinoa to water. So cook 1 cup of quinoa in two cups water.
3. Bring water to a boil.
4. Add quinoa & return to a boil. Stir after adding the quinoa.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer. If you cook the quinoa on too high heat, the water will boil off before the quinoa is cooked and the result will be crunchy quinoa.
6. Cook for 15 minutes. 
7. Fluff. After 15 minutes all the water should be absorbed and the quinoa should be soft (not crunchy or hard). Take a fork or a wooden spoon and fluff the quinoa.
8. Cover and let it rest for 15 minutes. This is another key step in cooking quinoa that is often overlooked. Letting the quinoa cook in the residual heat from the burner (turned off) and in its own steam really finishes the process and results in a perfectly fluffy quinoa every time!

How to Make Quinoa Casserole

Now that you know how to cook perfect quinoa, let’s discuss how to make this cheesy Quinoa Casserole recipe.

Make the Filling

Once the quinoa is cooked, brown the sausage and veggies. Start with the sausage alone, and once it just begins to brown add the onion, bell pepper and minced garlic. Cook until the vegetables and sausage are nicely browned.

I recommend starting with 1 Tablespoon olive oil and add more if the sausage doesn’t seem to be browning.

Once the mixture is cooked, remove it from the heat and stir in the apples.

Next, stir in the milk and cheese.

The only note about this step is that you may need to return the pan to your heat source and warm the mixture over medium-low heat to get the cheese to milk. However if you work quickly and use a pan that retains heat (like a cast iron skillet) it should melt right away.

Once the cheese is melted, add the cooked quinoa and stir to combine. At this point there will be no need to cook over the stovetop anymore. The rest of the cooking/melting will be done in the oven.

Assemble the Quinoa Casserole

Notice that the final texture here is wet, but not soupy.

As long as the quinoa is cooked correctly, it will absorb some of the liquid and you will get a mixture that looks like the picture below. Be sure everything is evenly distributed throughout the Baked Quinoa Casserole mixture before adding the cheese to the top.

Before putting the dish in the oven, top it with a generous serving of cheddar cheese. 

Bake the Quinoa Casserole

Now it’s time to bake the casserole. Since everything is already pre-cooked on the stovetop, the goal of baking here is to warm the dish all the way through and melt the cheese on top.

I recommend baking this quinoa casserole at 400 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes, util the cheese is melted.

Serve

Once the cheese is melted, remove the Quinoa Casserole from the oven (be careful, it’s heavy), and let it cool for about 5 minutes or serve it right away.

This is an entire meal in one skillet, which I absolutely love. And everyone in my family enjoyed it a little differently. You can serve it with a side salad (like this kale salad) or some homemade no knead bread.

Store

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Freeze

You can freeze the entire casserole before baking (meal prepping for having a baby, giving a meal to a friend, etc.). Assemble the casserole and then cover it tightly with plastic wrap and foil and freeze. Let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then bake according to the recipe instructions.

You can also freeze leftovers in an airtight contianer in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Quinoa Casserole Recipe FAQs

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