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I love pineapple! I remember when I was young, my family took a trip, while we were in Hawaii, to the Dole Pineapple plant. I don’t remember everything, but I do remember that they had a faucet that you could get pineapple juice from as if it were just regular water, and, I could drink as much as I wanted. Little kid heaven! I also really enjoy quinoa dishes, plus, since I’m trying to increase my protein, as per the dietitian’s recommendations, I added edamame as well. I’d seen recipes for a really simplified version of this type of dish in a couple of cookbooks over the years, but this is definitely my version of the concept of pineapple and quinoa. It has the sweetness of the pineapple, and the spice from the green chile, and all of the texture differences from the different veggies and the edamame. The sauce is very flavorful and goes well with the pineapple and quinoa.

So, lets break it down.

First you need to get the quinoa cooking. It’s important to rinse the quinoa really well under running water in a fine mesh sieve. You’ll see bubbles coming to the surface when you do this and you want to rinse the quinoa until those bubbles are mostly gone. There will still be a few bubbles just from the water passing through the sieve, but you will notice a big difference after about 2-3 minutes. If you don’t rinse your quinoa, it will taste bitter when you try to eat it.

I like things with a lot of flavor in them, so I decided to cook the quinoa with pineapple juice and broth instead of just water. You need a total of 2 cups of liquid to 1 cup of quinoa. So, you need 12oz of pineapple juice and 4oz of broth. I recommend Dole pineapple juice, and two of the small cans is 12oz. Or, you can use the juice in the can of pineapple chunks, which you need to drain anyways, plus one 6oz can of juice and just top it off with broth to the 2 cup mark. However is easiest for you to do.

To cook the quinoa, you’ll add it and the liquids to a medium saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover it, and cook for approximately 15-20 minutes. I’m at higher altitude and need to do 20 minutes, while most instructions say that 15 minutes is fine. Either way, if there is a little bit of liquid remaining in the pot after 15-20 minutes, simply remove it from the heat and leave it covered from about 10 more minutes and the liquid should absorb.

While the quinoa is cooking, you want to prepare the salad ingredients. Start by steaming the edamame if it’s frozen. I use a steam in the bag variety from Target and it took 5 1/2 minutes to cook and about 10 minutes to cool back down. The 12oz bag was approximately 2 cups.

Next, I prepared the salad. You want the pieces of the veggies to be smaller rather than larger, especially the shallot and green onion, so you’re not overwhelmed by the flavor. I just chopped the cashews with my chef’s knife, and cut the mint leaves into ribbons. Be sure to drain the pineapple chunks before you add them. You could also use crushed pineapple in this recipe as well, but I enjoy the large pieces for the texture differences. I have made this in the past with fresh pineapple, and this is the best way to make, in my opinion

For the sauce, it’s pretty simple, just mix everything in a small bowl until well combined. Adjust the amount of green chile to your taste, but you don’t want to overpower the other flavors. I used 1/4 cup of medium Hatch green chile, but if you use mild, you may want to use 1/3 cup to get the flavor without as much heat. Remember that you can always add more but once it’s in there, well, you’re sort of stuck.

To put this all together it’s super easy. Place all of the salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stir in the cooled quinoa, then mix in the sauce. Easy peasy!

I hope you enjoy!

Vegan Gluten Free Pineapple Quinoa

Quinoa

-1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

-12oz pineapple juice

-4oz broth

-1 tbsp tamari

Salad

-1 shallot, finely diced

-4 green onion stalks, chopped small

-1 colored sweet bell pepper, diced small

-20oz can or about 2 cups pineapple chunks, drained

-2 cups (12oz bag) shelled edamame, steamed and cooled, if frozen

-1/2 cup cashews, chopped

-1/3 cup chopped fresh mint leaves, loosely packed

Sauce

-3 tbsp tamari

-4 tbsp lime juice

-1 tbsp Dijon mustard

-2 tbsp agave syrup

-1 tsp ginger powder

-1/2 tsp garlic powder

-1/4 cup chopped green chile, or to taste

Rinse and drain the quinoa. Place the quinoa and liquids into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for approximately 15-20 minutes. After that time, there may be a little liquid still present. If so, allow the quinoa to sit, covered, off the heat, for 5-10 more minutes. Then allow to cool.

While the quinoa is cooking, steam the edamame if it is frozen, according to package directions. Prepare all of the salad ingredients and place them in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together all of the sauce ingredients until well combined. Once the quinoa is cooled, add it to the bowl of salad ingredients and mix to combine. Add the sauce and mix until everything is evenly coated.

Have you ever cooked a grain in a fruit or vegetable juice before? What did you use? How did it turn out? Do you have any memories of pineapple growing up? Let me know if you try this and how you like it!