A quick and easy one-pan meal, this Thai Peanut Quinoa Bake makes a flavorful vegetarian dinner recipe for the whole family. Topped with a zesty peanut sauce, your weekday dinners are officially complete!
Sometimes it feels like I’ve spent the majority of my adult life figuring out what balance looks like to me. I basically went from carnivore to vegan and now find myself somewhere in between. I went from buying 100% conventional produce to thinking organic is the only way. I’ve realized I can eat meat and be conscious about where my meat is sourced. I can buy organic when it’s available but not stress when I have to occasionally buy conventional. Healthy living doesn’t fall on one extreme or the other for me… it falls somewhere in the middle.
Which brings me to this thai peanut quinoa bake recipe. I used to have very polarizing opinions about Costco but have recently realized, it’s okay to fall somewhere in the middle! This recipe came about when I came across a gigantic bag of quinoa at Costco for $16. $16!
Dinner doesn’t get much easier than this – you need a few key ingredients, one baking dish and you’ve got a delicious meal ready in no time.
Thai Peanut Quinoa Bake Ingredients:
- uncooked quinoa
- vegetables – red onion, broccoli, red bell pepper, and frozen shelled edamame.
- coconut milk
- seasonings and spices – curry powder, ground ginger, cayenne powder and sea salt.
The most important part (in my opinion) is this peanut sauce!
Here’s what you need for the sauce:
- natural smooth peanut butter
- garlic clove
- rice vinegar
- tamari (or soy sauce if not gluten-free)
- honey (use maple syrup if vegan)
- sesame oil
- red pepper flakes
- ground ginger
Do You Have to Precook the Quinoa?
No! One of the best things about this recipe (besides the flavor) is that you don’t have to pre-cook the quinoa. You can literally mix all of the ingredients together and bake. It doesn’t get much simpler than that… it’s the perfect recipe to assign to your partner that might not be super comfortable in the kitchen. The quinoa takes on all of the amazing flavors it’s surrounded by in the dish.
How to Make This Thai Peanut Quinoa Bake [Step-By-Step]
STEP 1: Preheat oven and grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.
STEP 2: Add uncooked quinoa to casserole dish and top with red onion, broccoli, edamame and bell pepper.
STEP 3: Combine water and coconut milk and stir in curry powder, ginger, cayenne and salt.
STEP 4: Make peanut sauce by combining all ingredients in a jar and shaking everything together (or mix in a bowl).
STEP 5: Pour water-coconut milk mixture over quinoa-vegetable mixture until well coated and then drizzle with HALF of thai peanut sauce.
STEP 6: Cover with tinfoil (or a top if your casserole dish has one) and bake for 45 minutes covered.
STEP 8: Remove tin foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed by quinoa.Top with remaining peanut sauce and serve.
PrintThai Peanut Quinoa Bake
A quick and easy one-pan meal, this Thai Peanut Quinoa Bake makes a flavorful vegetarian dinner recipe for the whole family. Topped with a zesty peanut sauce, your weekday dinners are officially complete!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 65 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Thai
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- coconut oil, for greasing
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained*
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 3 cups broccoli, chopped (about 1 head)
- 1 1/2 cups frozen shelled edamame
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup water
- 1 14 ounce can coconut milk
- 1 1/2 tsp of curry powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- pinch of cayenne powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
For the Peanut Sauce:
- 1/4 cup natural smooth peanut butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce if not gluten-free)
- 1 tbsp honey (maple syrup if vegan)
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp ground ginger
Instructions
For the Peanut Sauce:
- Add all ingredients together in a large bowl.
For the Casserole:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a large casserole dish (9×13) with coconut oil or coconut oil spray.
- Add uncooked quinoa to casserole dish and top with red onion, broccoli, edamame and bell pepper.
- Combine water and coconut milk and stir in curry powder, ginger, cayenne and salt.
- Pour water-coconut milk mixture over quinoa-vegetable mixture until well coated.
- Top with half of peanut sauce and cover with tin foil.
- Bake for 45 minutes covered with tin foil.
- Remove tin foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed by quinoa.
- Top with remaining peanut sauce and serve.
*I used white quinoa however you may need to bake for longer with tricolor quinoa – approx 50 minute covered and 15-20 minutes uncovered.
Like this post? Here are other simple dinner recipes you might enjoy:
- Eggplant Parmesan Quinoa Casserole
- Instant Pot Kung Pao Chicken
- Everything Bagel Baked Chicken Tenders
- Veggie Pad Thai
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48 Comments
Bettina Bogar
April 20, 2020 at 7:42 pmOkay, can I just say this peanut sauce is the best one I’ve ever had? It’s a fact, based on two opinions (Adam+mine), haha.
I also love how this recipe is totally customizable for whatever you have in your pantry. I didn’t have edamame and just ended up using pigeon peas 🙂 DELICIOUS all the way. We’ll be making it again. Thanks Davida!
★★★★★
Davida Lederle
April 21, 2020 at 5:55 pmYAY B! So happy you guys enjoyed 🙂 It’s a classic around here and a great reminder to go in and reshoot these pics 😉
Jenni
January 5, 2019 at 8:29 amthis is amazing. I’ve used rice and also done it on the stovetop and it’s always excellent.
★★★★★
Trish
August 17, 2018 at 12:31 pmMy husband and I are obsessed with this recipe and have it once a week. I make a big ol’ pan for leftovers too. Usually eat it on its own in a big bowl. Sometimes I make sauteed brussels sprouts and throw that in my bowl with it. I put it over diced chicken or tofu, or I just add that to the mixture depending on the day. It’s so easy to tweek. I just throw whatever veggies I have in the fridge.
Every time we eat it we are just like “my god this is so amazing.” haha THANKS1
Jennifer
May 17, 2017 at 12:11 pmI modified this by cooking rice with the coconut sauce on the stove-top and steaming veggies separately, and putting peanut sauce on everything. (It was too hot to bake).
All I can say is OH.MY.GOODNESS was this ever good! My 4-year old even took a few bites and said “I want to eat this EVERY DAY!”
Davida @ The Healthy Maven
May 23, 2017 at 6:00 pmOh my goodness, Jennifer! Thank you so so much. So happy you both enjoyed!
Eric
January 27, 2017 at 6:59 pmMy girlfriend sent me this recipe and asked me to cook it for dinner. We had most of the ingredients on hand so I gave it a go. It’s so good, addictively good! And it comes together so quickly, it’s definitely going to be one of our go to meals. Only thing I subbed out was peas for the edamame, we didn’t have it on hand.
Andrea
January 10, 2017 at 11:03 pmI absolutely LOVE this recipe. It is one of my favs. I brought it to our Thanksgiving meal and received lots of compliments by everyone 🙂
Kelly Chehardy
December 14, 2016 at 7:54 pmI made this for dinner tonight and OMG so delicious!!! (and I am a picky eater) This is just perfect. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Davida @ The Healthy Maven
December 15, 2016 at 1:21 pmSo happy to hear that! One of my favorites!
Kayla
October 27, 2016 at 9:32 amThis recipe has become a new favorite of mine, thank you for creating this!! Do you have the nutritional information on this by chance?
Davida @ The Healthy Maven
November 4, 2016 at 11:59 pmI don’t, unfortunately but I’m thrilled you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for the support 🙂
Emma
October 22, 2016 at 6:36 pmMaking this for the BF and his parents tonight! So excited to debut this amazing recipe – thanks for being my go-to for a healthy perspective on food and life in general. Major life goals!!
Davida @ The Healthy Maven
October 23, 2016 at 6:52 pmAw thank you, Emma! This totally made my day. I hope you and the fam enjoy it. Total hit around here!
Megan
October 3, 2016 at 6:05 pmGreat recipe. I don’t mind the coconut milk fat/calories given that this is a meat free dish and the fat is plant based. Haven’t tried it with Light Coconut milk but assuming it would work just fine. I will say, I like a LOT of flavor so I add about 3T of curry powder as well as 1T coriander, 1-2 t cumin, and 1-2t chili powder. I also use fresh grated ginger to sub for the powder. Love it this way but if you’re not accustomed to a lot of ethnic flavor it might not be for you!
Davida @ The Healthy Maven
October 4, 2016 at 9:22 amThanks for letting me know! Love the tweaks you made 🙂
Nicky
September 7, 2016 at 11:31 amI just made this, it was good and my dad really liked it!
But I would say the amount is 3 main meal servings.
I just used half of the can of coconut milk (and rest water), but for me it was still a bit too fatty so I will try it with a quarter of a can next time. And I just used 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter…that was plenty..
Thanks so much for this recipe! Finally a veggie dish my dad likes! The title really holds its promise 🙂
Katie
August 30, 2016 at 3:20 pmIs the coconut milk 1 1/4 cups or 1/4 cup?
The font is difficult to decipher.
Thanks!
Davida @ The Healthy Maven
August 31, 2016 at 8:04 amit is 1 (one) 14 ounce can of coconut milk. Hope this helps! D