Beans and quinoa doesn’t sound like the most exciting lunch, but when done right and sprinkled with a few simple yet flavorful toppings, it’s a combination that’s absolutely craveable. Like many great recipes, this one was created out of necessity: namely, an empty fridge (well, as empty as any food writer’s fridge ever is) and a deep-seated desire to avoid leaving the house on a lazy Sunday.
A bit of fridge and pantry scrounging produced a knob of sharp cheddar cheese, a pound of dried beans, a couple cloves of garlic, some quinoa, and half a bottle of vinegary hot sauce from my favorite Puerto Rican restaurant. (Seriously, if you find yourself in the Bay Area, go, and take home a bottle of their pique as a souvenir.) An odd-sounding roster of ingredients, to be sure, but just trust me: here, it works. The beans, garlic, and bay leaves went into the slow cooker along with salt and water, the quinoa was tossed into a pot, and the cheese got shredded.
Layered together with plenty of hot sauce, it’s kind of Tex-Mex in flavor, but mostly just really good. And excitingly, it reheats wonderfully and can be packed into a mason jar for toting to work. For all of these reasons, I’ve been making it nearly weekly since my discovery. It’s since evolved to include sliced scallions and cilantro, though in all honesty it doesn’t need it — they merely enhance everything else.
Slow-Cooker Beans and Quinoa With Scallions, Cheddar, and Hot Sauce
Notes
Heirloom beans like Rancho Gordo’s Christmas lima beans are absolutely worth the (relative) splurge here: their texture and flavor are superlative. If you’re particularly sensitive to heat, reduce the hot sauce to 1/2 tablespoon per mason jar — as is, the recipe is mildly spicy.
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