Quinoa Bowl Recipe

Nutritious And Delicious Quinoa

Quinoa is a delicious and nutritious seed that we use like a grain in our Quinoa Bowl Recipe and other tasty serving ideas. Yes, I said seed. Unlike rice or wheat, for example, quinoa is a complete plant protein all on its own. That means it includes essential amino acids properly proportioned for our human health needs. It also is filling and rather neutral in flavor. This means you can use it as a canvas for creating your masterpiece of a dish for any time of day.

We love the flexibility of quinoa. You can serve it hot, cold, or room temperature. It’s easy to integrate it into salads, serve it as a side dish, or blanket it with your favorite combination of flavors. A quinoa bowl is a popular way to combine ingredients to make a complete meal.

It’s easy to prepare quinoa. You simply choose the amount you want to make. Then boil it briefly with the correct amount of water or broth and simmer for about 15 minutes. We’ll give you all the details below.

For Any Meal In Any Season

If there’s one thing we want to stress, it’s that quinoa itself and our Quinoa Bowl Recipe are easy to customize for your own personal taste. We will provide you with our basic recipe here. But you can dig into your pantry, fridge, freezer, and basket of goodies to put together any quinoa bowl you like. We’ll offer up some combinations that we like as well as how to season quinoa for different tastes and meals.

We have quinoa bowls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And every meal is different based on what ingredients we have on hand. That’s why you can be sure we usually have a bag of quinoa sitting on our pantry shelf. Depending on the season we can create a warm delicious dinner, a cool salad for lunch, or a delicious breakfast bowl with fresh or dried fruit and nuts. In less than 30 minutes, we can easily create a beautiful, tasty, nutritious meal that never gets boring.

Three Colors of Quinoa

Quinoa comes in three colors: white, red, and black. You can buy one or all colors and mix them together or serve them separately for a lovely display. You can also find premixed blends that cook up beautifully and offer a nice colorful display to brighten up your dish or bowl.

Good For Sustainability

We also like that we can buy organic quinoa from Costco and other favorite stores and support the small-holder farmers in the Andean Mountains. It’s a great way to support their cultural heritage and sustainability while enjoying a wonderful clean product.

Quinoa Bowl Recipe

Here is our basic quinoa bowl recipe. Remember that the quinoa can be a platform for your other ingredients to dance on. Or, you can mix them all together. Anything goes when it comes to a delicious quinoa bowl. We’ll provide some other quinoa recipes and ideas for you too.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water or broth
vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, proteins as you like (we’ll provide you with some ideas)
salt, pepper, herbs, and spices as desired

Directions

Follow the directions on your package of quinoa. If there are no directions, here are the basic directions for cooking quinoa that should work for most quinoa types.

1. Place quinoa and water or broth into a saucepan.
2. Allow the pan to come to a rolling boil, then turn down to simmer and cover.
3. Check after 10 minutes to see if the water has been absorb. If not, simmer for another 3-5 minutes depending on how wet the quinoa is. You can take it off when no visible liquid remains.
4. Remove from heat and let sit for five minutes to absorb any remaining liquid.
5. While quinoa is cooking cut and prepare your choice of fruit, veggies, protein, cheese, nuts, seeds, and whatever you’d like to have in your quinoa bowl.
6. Place quinoa in a bowl and top with your favorite ingredients. You can blend together if you like.
7. Season with herbs and spices as desired.

How To Season Quinoa

Quinoa has a neutral flavor making it the perfect canvas on which to create your flavorful masterpiece. You can uses the herbs and spices of a particular place to create the taste of that cuisine. For example, oregano and basil work well for Italian while chili and cumin create a Mexican profile. Curry or garam masala help bring out Indian flavors while sesame and ginger add an Asian taste.

You’re not limited to herbs and spices. You can use your favorite sauce or salad dressing too. A nice Italian dressing on a bowl with tomato and mozzarella adds some brightness. A sweet and spicy peanut sauce can turn your Asian bowl into a Thai feast. Use your imagination and add whatever would taste good to you.

Quinoa Bowl Recipe Ideas

We want to give you a few ideas for creating a variety of quinoa bowls. So here are some ingredient and flavor combinations we think you might enjoy. Use them as-is or adapt to your own tastes. Your own kitchen and pantry will help you decide what quinoa bowl is just right for you. Remember, the quinoa always serves as the foundation for each bowl.

Greek – tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives, parsley and/or mint leaves, feta cheese

California – avocado, hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, black olives

Middle Eastern – hummus, chickpeas, pickled turnips, falafel patties, tomatoes, tahini

Italian – mozzarella, tomatoes, basil

Mexican – corn, black or pinto beans, onion, tomato, cilantro

French Nicoise – canned tuna, black olives, radishes, tomatoes, green beans, hard-boiled egg

You can add a protein like chicken, tuna, turkey, fish, or any ground meat you like as well.

Quinoa Breakfast Bowl – fresh strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, chia or flax seeds, pistachios, almonds or walnuts. A splash of honey works nicely here too. If you want to serve it hot, you can add a splash of milk, cream, almond or other plant milk.

Asian – broccoli, carrot, water chestnut, mushroom, bean sprouts, scallion, hard-boiled egg

More Tasty Quinoa Recipes And Ideas

Quinoa also makes a great ingredient in other dishes where it plays a supporting role.

We love to serve it as an accompaniment to fish like salmon along with some veggies.

Make your favorite chili recipe and add quinoa into the mix.

Stuff your baked regular or sweet potato with a mixture of quinoa, caramelized onions, and broccoli.

Then top with some cheddar cheese for a hearty and delicious meal.

Blend quinoa with chopped parsley and mint, tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers. Add asparagus or other veggies as you like. Dress with a little lemon and olive oil for a wonderful quinoa tabbouleh.

Add quinoa to your vegetable or chicken soup.

Mix in some veggies or sausage and top with a fried egg.

Use it as an ingredient in your favorite stuffing mix and place it inside a pepper, acorn squash, zucchini, or other vegetable. Then roast in the oven.

Versatile Quinoa

We hope this gives you some ideas you can use to create some of your own delicious meals with the incredibly versatile quinoa. Let us know what you do to make a dish that tastes great to you!

Check out some of our other Pantry Cooking recipes and ideas like Easy Shakshuka and traditional Cuban beans and rice Moros Y Cristianos.

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