If you’re in a cooking rut and need some new healthy dinner ideas to make this week, try this 15-minute one pan quinoa with chicken and kale. This easy weeknight dinner recipe is absolutely delicious, healthy and it’s also gluten free. Bonus: this easy meal will also help you clean out your fridge and use up the leftovers you don’t know what to do with. This quinoa and chicken recipe comes with a variety of vegetables like kale, arugula, tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini, but free to use the vegetables you already have at home for this one.
One Pan Quinoa With Chicken And Kale
Best things in life are the ones you don’t expect to happen. The ones you don’t plan for. Like this simple meal with quinoa and chicken. It’s full of vegetables and protein, it’s healthy and it’s also full of flavor. Add some pesto and cheese and it’s simply amazing. I’m so glad I took my camera and shot the video and the images for this, because as it turns out – it has become one of my favorite meals this year. I hope you try it and enjoy it too!
Ingredients
As I mentioned, this meal is full of vegetables, because I was making it quite at the end of the week and I still had some leftovers and new vegetables to use up. Feel free to change things up and to use vegetables that are available to you.
Some examples of vegetables that would also go here are carrots, spinach, asparagus, bell peppers, thinly chopped broccoli or cauliflower…Here’s the list of ingredients I originally used:
- cooked quinoa
- cooked chicken
- garlic cloves
- arugula
- kale
- crushed red pepper
- pitted olives
- zucchini
- cooked eggplant
- green pesto
- tomato
- shredded cheese
- olive oil
- salt
How To Make This Quinoa & Chicken Recipe
The process is pretty simple and quick. You basically chop the vegetables and the chicken and put everything one after another in a non-stick pan and cover with a lid from time to time. At the end you stir in some cheese and freshly minced garlic, because who doesn’t love garlic? Especially in 2020 – nobody would know you ate it.
- Chop the ingredients that need chopping
- Put the ingredients in a non stick pan with a lid and let them cook, cover with a lid intermittently.
- Stir in the cream cheese and turn the heat off. Enjoy!
Here’s the exact recipe:
15-Minute Quinoa With Chicken And Kale
This is a 15-minute one pan quinoa with chicken and kale dinner recipe. It's an easy weeknight meal that is absolutely delicious, healthy and gluten free - super easy and healthy dinner idea! Bonus: this easy quinoa recipe will also help you clean out your fridge and use up the leftovers you don't know what to do with.
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa, cooked
- 1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2/3 cup arugula, chopped
- 1 ½ cup kale, chopped
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper
- ½ cup olives, pitted
- ½ zucchini, chopped
- ½ eggplant, cooked (optional)
- 1 tbsp pesto
- 1 big tomato, chopped
- 2/3 cup shredded cheese
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Add olive oil and the chopped tomato to a non-stick pan, cook at medium high and cover with a lid.
- Add in the chicken and one garlic clove and cover again for 2 minutes. Next stir in the chopped zucchini and cooked eggplant.
- Add the pesto, some salt, quinoa and ¼ cup of water. Cover with a lid and let the meal cook like this for 2-3 minutes.
- Next stir in the kale, arugula and olives. Add some crushed pepper and cover with a lid again for 2-3 more minutes.
- Add the rest of the garlic and stir in the shredded cheese. Turn the heat off - your easy weeknight dinner is ready!
Notes
Feel free to change ingredients and use up the non-starchy vegetables available to you: carrots, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, bell peppers would all be great here.
Nutrition Information
Yield 3 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 439Total Fat 26gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 16gCholesterol 69mgSodium 608mgCarbohydrates 32gFiber 7gSugar 6gProtein 23g