Sweet Potato Green Curry Quinoa Casserole
Published 3/19/2024
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This is one of the very first quinoa casserole recipes on Fit Foodie Finds and is quite possibly my favorite out of all of them! In less than an hour, you can have this delicious Sweet Potato Green Curry Quinoa Casserole ready for the whole family.
This casserole dish really is the ultimate vegetarian meal — it’s protein-packed thanks to protein and has so many veggies. You literally just dump everything into a casserole dish, mix, and bake 🤯
This is one of my favorite dump recipes because you literally mix everything up uncooked and bake it. But the even cooler thing about this vegetarian casserole is that you hit your protein and whole grains with one ingredient —> quinoa!
While I know quinoa is actually a seed, I like to think of it as a protein-filled whole grain because you can use it in place of rice. This comforting cooked quinoa casserole is great for those busy weeknights when you want both a nutritious AND delicious dinner, because #goals.
What’s You Need for this Curry Quinoa Casserole
- Quinoa: We used sprouted Quinoa, and it cooks perfectly in 60 minutes for this casserole. Sprouted quinoa is more nutrient-dense and cooks a bit quicker.
- Sweet potatoes: The sweet potato in this recipe is what makes it, so don’t skip it! It adds a natural sweetness and heartiness to the meatless meal.
- Veggies: This curry is packed with vegetables like red pepper, green bell pepper, onion, and sweet peas to add color, flavor, and nutrients.
- Full-fat coconut milk: I’ve tried this healthy casserole with “lite” coconut milk, and it just doesn’t have the same full-bodied flavor. Yes, full-fat coconut milk contains a lot of fat and calories in it, but it’s good fat and essential for this recipe!
- Green curry paste: This paste is the most flavorful ingredient in this dish. It’s a combination of lemongrass, lime leaves, and green chilies, among other spices.
- Spices: Garlic powder, chili powder, turmeric, and basil make up the spices of this flavorful dish.
- Green dragon sauce: AKA green hot sauce, this spicy addition kicks up the heat and adds another layer of flavor to the dish.
Tasty Ingredient Swaps & Additions
The cool thing about this recipe is that you can pretty much throw in whatever veggies you have on hand! You could use any kind of pepper, potatoes, celery, etc.! Get creative, people—make this your own meal.
Veggies: Feel free to add other veggies, such as broccoli or mushrooms.
Protein: Want more protein? Add some black beans or chickpeas to the mix. You could even add shredded chicken for even more protein.
Curry paste: Feel free to swap the green curry paste for red curry for a different flavor profile!
Topping Ideas
- Toasted cashews or peanuts
- Fresh basil
- Green onions
- Sesame seeds
FAQ – Quinoa Casserole Recipe
We didn’t test this recipe with regular quinoa. Therefore, we don’t recommend using regular quinoa because it doesn’t cook the same way, and the results may vary.
Yes! Place it in an instant pot for 30 minutes on high pressure, then quick release. Or you could place it in a slow cooker for 4 hours on low.
We used a 9×13 casserole dish. You can find it here! It’s a standard size, but if you’re using a smaller dish, you may need to adjust the cooking time.
How to Store & Freeze
Refrigerator: Store in an air-tight container, such as a glass Pyrex, for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Freezer: If you plan to freeze, we suggest baking this in a disposable/aluminum casserole dish. Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the cooked, cooled casserole and press out all of the air. Then, wrap the entire casserole in tin foil and place it in the freezer. Write the name and date of the casserole on the tin foil.
To reheat, take the frozen casserole out of the freezer and let thaw in the fridge overnight. Either reheat single servings of the casserole in the microwave or reheat the entire thing in the oven (we suggest 40 for 20 minutes).
Sweet Potato Green Curry Quinoa Casserole
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 15 oz. canned full-fat coconut milk
- 1 cup vegetable broth, or water
- 1/4 cup green curry paste, or red curry paste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 2-3 teaspoons green dragon sauce/sriracaha, depending on how spicy you like it
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- lime juice, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF and spray a standard-size casserole dish with coconut oil cooking spray (be generous!).
- Add all of the ingredients for the quinoa casserole into your casserole dish and toss.
- Next, make the sauce. Whisk together all of the ingredients.
- Add sauce mixture to the casserole dish and use a large spoon to mix all ingredients together, making sure everything is (mostly) covered.
- Cover with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes. Then, remove and stir. It will still be a little soupy, but don't worry this is how it's supposed to be! Place back in the oven for 30 minutes, covered.
- Remove and let cool.
- Top with a squeeze of lime and enjoy
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Don’t forget to tag your posts on social media with the hashtag #fitfoodiefinds, we’d love to see what you’re up to!
I read the comments while preparing this so I decided to put mine in the instant pot for 30 minutes. I didn’t have sprouted quinoa. I soaked it but didn’t have much time. It turned out great! Thanks for the recipe and thanks to the reader who left the comment. It is really good flavour. My first time using quinoa. 🙂
Glad you loved it! Looking forward to trying this in my own Instant Pot!
I just made this and I love it a lot, I think, but a couple of thoughts.
I didn’t think twice about using regular rather sprouted quinoa but the quinoa was not even starting to cook after an hour in the oven and all the veggies were still crisp and the potatoes hard. Caveat, I doubled the recipe which might have affected cooking time.
I am putting it in the slow cooker overnight and hope it’s done in the morning for the lunch I’m taking it to.
The flavor is amazing. Be careful with the sriracha. I’ve never used it and used 3 teaspoons in my doubles recipe and it’s hot.
My final thought is that I don’t know what it’s like with the quinoa mixed in and cooked. I ate some over rice before it was fully cooked.
This is a great recipe though – I love green curry but am trying to move my family away from so much meat.
Update. It got mushy overnight in the slow cooker. Flavor is awesome. I will try it again because this would be a super easy dish if the texture comes out right. Thanks.
This was excellent!
This was delicious but it took 20 additional minutes in the oven. At 1 hour it was still totally not done. While we really liked it and I might make it again 1 hour & 20 minutes plus 20 minutes prep time minimum is a lot of time for dinner.
I left my boyfriend in charge of making this recipe for our dinner and it turned out perfectly! Flavors were bang on, my boyfriend commented on the minimal prep work and easy assembly and within about an hour we had a delicious plant based supper! This dish is providing us with two containers of lunch sized portions as well as one larger dinner sized portion for leftovers. Make this one, you won’t be disappointed!
YAY! So glad you guys loved this <3
This looks AMAZING!! Do you cook the quinoa before putting it in the casserole dish? Or just add it like that?
Just add it raw! No need to cook it beforehand <3
Making this tonight with butternut squash, mushrooms, bell pepper, onion, and jalapenos. Th e grocery store didn’t have green curry paste so I improvised with red curry paste + a green pumpkin curry simmer sauce. I also only picked up one can of coconut milk by mistake so hopefully that doesn’t hurt the recipe (I’ll add some almond milk in if it looks too dry ;))
YUMMMMMM!
I really enjoyed this! Thanks so much for the recipe.
I had to cook it an additional 20 minutes for the sweet potato cubes to be done.
This looks good and I’d like to try it but just have regular quinoa, not this jazzy sprouted kind. If I rinse it twice (as I always do before cooking it) would it cook in the same amount of time?
Is it really 561 calories a serving? And if so, how big is the serving? It tastes awesome by the way!!!
It is high in calories because of the full fat coconut milk. You could sub one can for a “lite” version to low the calories. A serving is 1/6 of the casserole!