This is officially my new favorite way to eat quinoa. Quinoa is probably the thing I make most on repeat at my house. It is so good for you, a perfect side for pretty much anything, and it tastes awesome! I also like the texture – it’s kind of chewy…in a good way! So, as you can imagine, I have made about a billion and one types of quinoa over the years, but this one takes the cake with zero competition. Like…zero.
I was absolutely amazed by how well this turned out with how CRAZY easy it is to make! So amazed that I brought it to work and shoved some in my coworkers face just so I could tell her how simple it was to make. She went home and made it that night!
You guys…the flavor of this quinoa is such a perfect balance between coconut and lime. It’s almost rich from the coconut milk, and it is so addicting that you will never be able to stop eating it. EVER. The end.
Alright, so I have to tell you how to make this so you can marvel at its simplicity.
When you cook quinoa, you use a 2:1 mixture – two parts liquid and one part quinoa. So, in this recipe, we use one cup of dry quinoa, so we need 2 cups of liquid. Our liquid is a delicious mixture of coconut milk and lime juice (and a splash of water to get us up to two cups).
So – here’s what you do (if you’re using a rice cooker, which I VERY highly recommend, because they are amazing):
- Add quinoa to rice cooker.
- Measure out your coconut milk and lime juice. Depending on the size of your lime, you may need to add a bit of extra water to reach the two cups of liquid that we need.
- Turn on rice cooker.
- When done, stir in shredded coconut and lime zest.
Done! It requires basically zero effort…the hardest thing you do is zest a lime, which I think we can all handle even on our most stressed and busy day 😉. The real magic alllllll happens in your rice cooker as that coconut milk and lime juice absorb into the quinoa. NOTHING IS BETTER.
Have you guys seen the show “This is Us”? Oh…my goodness. My mom convinced me to watch one episode with her the other night, and I instantly became obsessed. It is the best show ever. If you haven’t seen it, power up dat Hulu and get your binge watching sweats on – MAKE IT HAPPEN!
I have only seen two episodes, because I liked it so much that I wanted to wait until Seth got home so we could watch it together. He’s in California right now for work but is coming home on Sunday for a few days before heading out again. Once he leaves again, he won’t be back until mid February, sooooo what that means is that we have to binge watch the entire season before he leaves again…right? That’s the logical conclusion I came to anyway, and I’m sticking to it 😀. Hello, Sunday afternoon!
It took some serious self-control not to just power through the entire season this week while he was out of town. I had to resentfully click the back button as it started auto-playing the next episode. This show gets you hooked, man! Hooked hard. It’s this perfect mixture of drama, humor, awesome acting, awesome writing, and raw, real-life stuff. But it’s not depressing – I hate depressing shows.
LET’S WATCH IT TOGETHER AND BE FRANDS.
And then we can all hang out and have a binge watching party while we eat Coconut Lime Quinoa. Kay? Yayyyy.
For my 21 Day Fix people, here are your container amounts (per serving!):
- 1 yellow (quinoa)
- 1 blue (coconut milk and shredded coconut)
*The lime juice and zest are “free”*
PrintSuper Simple Coconut Lime Quinoa

- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 1 15.5 oz can coconut milk, shake well before opening
- 1 lime, zest and juice (you will need 1/4 teaspoon of zest)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Zest your lime and set the zest aside (you don’t want to zest it after you already squeeze it – that’s difficult!)
- Add your dry quinoa to your rice cooker*
- In a two cup measuring cup, measure out your entire can of coconut milk and the juice from one lime. Fill any remaining space left in the two cups with water so that you have two cups of liquid for one cup of dry quinoa
- Add the two cups of liquid to the quinoa along with a little bit of salt and stir to combine
- Turn your rice cooker to the white rice setting, and let it cook
- When it’s done, fluff the quinoa and stir in your shredded coconut and 1/4 teaspoon of lime zest
- Season to taste with salt
- *If you don’t have a rice cooker, follow the quinoa’s package instructions for cooking, but use the coconut milk and lime juice as a liquid instead of water.*
Nutrition info is for 1 serving. Each serving is 1/2 cup.
If you make this or any of my other recipes, be sure to Instagram it and hashtag #thegarlicdiaries!
In the mood for more quinoa goodness? Check these out:
Warm Black Bean and Quinoa Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing
Spicy Shrimp Bowls with Parmesan Quinoa and Garlic Kale
YUM – NICE VEGAN FRIENDLY DISH. ATE IT FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND DINNER
★★★★★
wow! this is so delicious and turned out to be super good…tried this already..thanks for sharing and a happy Christmas to you :)
★★★★★
I’m so glad it turned out well for you!! I love this quinoa!