It might sound like a complicated mouthful, but this gluten-free and real food Quinoa & Beef Stuffed Chard in the Instant Pot is surprisingly easy and amazingly delicious!
Garden-fresh goodness.
Every year I try and grow a garden in our backyard. I say try because it never really works. Apparently I’m on of “those” people who just kills gardens naturally. No help needed!
Thankfully I have wonderful neighbors who keep us in supply of fresh greens, and if I’m really in need there’s always the farmer’s market!
What to do with chard?
This year we were gifted a box of organic produce from one of the local farms. I was overjoyed to see delicious things like tomatoes, peppers, green beans, mushrooms… and rainbow chard. And even though I’ve lived in the south for years, I had no idea what to do with chard.
So I set to brainstorming.
Chard can be used pretty much like any other green. It’s a little hardy, like cabbage, so how about stuffed chard instead of stuffed cabbage? My family loves stuffed cabbage and I rarely make them because it takes fooooooorever. But unlike cabbage, chard doesn’t require any pre-cooking to make rolls out of. Win!
Instant deliciousness.
Onto the cutting board went the rainbow chard! The stems were lacto-fermented for my kiddos to enjoy, and the leaves were wrapped around onions, ground beef, and quinoa, and placed in my 2nd best friend – the Instant Pot to make stuffed chard. (My 1st best friend is my Blendtec, if you’re wondering.)
My family devoured them. Only a few minutes of prep, pressurizing time, and about 5 minutes of cooking and voila! A new family favorite with the help of a fun and tasty green.
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Quinoa & Beef Stuffed Chard in the Instant Pot
Free from gluten, eggs, dairy, and sugar.
Ingredients
- 10-14 Swiss chard leaves
- 1 lb. organic ground beef
- 1 c. cooked quinoa (you can use leftover rice, if you can handle it)
- 1/2 yellow onion
- 2-3 T. minced garlic
- salt, pepper, parsley, to taste
- 2 c. tomato sauce
Instructions
In a bowl, combine everything but the chard leaves and the tomato sauce.
Wash chard and remove stems. Place 1/4 cup of filling into the center of the leaves and roll up like a burrito. You can use more filling if your leaves are huge.
Place the trivet rack in the bottom of the Instant Pot liner and pour in tomato sauce. Place chard wraps seam-side down on top of trivet. It’s ok if you layer them.
Put on the lid and set your IP to 5 minutes on manual. When it beeps, natural release for 10 minutes before turning the vent.
Serve stuffed chard with tomato sauce on top!
Note
You can get the Instant Pot that I use HERE.
If you’re a fan of the Instant Pot (as you should be), here are a few of my favorite recipes to make in it!
So nice of your neighbors to share from their garden! Love what you did here with this recipe! Looks so delicious for dinner!
Thank you! I do have the best neighbors. 😉
What a great idea! I love swiss chard! I grew up on it as my parents always grew it in their garden. However, we never used it to stuff anything. I’m going to be pinning this recipe.
Thank you, Teresa! I hope you get to enjoy it!
I make a quinoa and beef chili and it’s such an awesome combo! The stuffed version would be AMAZING
That sounds delicious, too!
I cannot wait to make this!! I love cooking and eating chard!!
I will add chopped basil and maybe snip some more herbs too (can’t resist!)
THANKS so much for this. I’ve printed it and making asap!!
Haha. The more herbs the better! I hope you enjoy it, Carol!
These little meat pockets are genius! I bet even picky kids would eat these because they’re so fun!
Haha, thanks. That was the general idea. 😉 And my kids devoured them, so I guess it worked!
These are so beautiful and much remind me of dishes I had growing up in Romania! I’m definitely going to have to try this!
Aw, thank you! I hope you get to enjoy them!
I am new to this, so question is. Di I cook the ground beef first?
No, you don’t need to pre-cook the ground beef. 🙂 It will cook once it’s wrapped in the chard. 🙂