This Quinoa Chicken and Roast Vegetable Salad is a really flavoursome but simple dish that’s great warm or cold, for dinner or lunch. I love to make it the day after I’ve roasted a chicken to use up the left overs. It’s really easy to cook quinoa too – I cook it the same way I cook rice – in my rice cooker! Set and forget! Packed with roasted vegetables and chicken, this dish is packed with nutrients and will leave you feeling satisfied.
Quinoa Chicken and Roast Vegetable Salad Recipe
- 2 cups white quinoa, rinsed well to avoid a bitter taste when cooked
- 4 cups of water
- ½ roast chicken (you can buy pre-cooked or roast your own, I like to roast my own so I can coat it with yummy spices!)
- ½ butternut pumpkin, diced
- 1 large eggplant, sliced 1cm x 5cm
- 1 cup mushrooms, sliced finely
- 2 zucchini, sliced length ways 1cm and halved
- large handful of fresh parsley, chopped roughly
- ½ - 1 lemon, squeezed and added to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
- baby spinach, if desired
- In a baking dish place the pumpkin and coat lightly with olive oil and bake for 20-25 minutes on 180°C, turning once after 10 minutes.Using a rice cooker place the quinoa and rice in to cook (takes about 15 minutes, but cook until light and fluffy if it needs longer add a drizzle of water and return it to cook).
- In a grill pan or grill press, grill the eggplant, mushrooms and zucchini.
- Mix the cooked and remaining ingredients together in a large bowl ready to serve.
What’s the difference between white, red and black quinoa?
- White cooks the quickest. Black takes the longest and red is between white and black.
- Very little/No difference in calorie intake.
- Red quinoa has slightly more fibre than white quinoa.
- No difference in protein intake.
- Red and black quinoa is more chewy than white quinoa, therefore the white is best if using as a rice substitute because it is lighter and fluffier.
Want some more quinoa recipes?
If you too were surprised how easy it is to cook quinoa in the rice cooker, you can cook a batch and freeze it or refrigerate it for the week and try making some of these yummy recipes:
How do you like to use quinoa? Share your ideas or recipes in the comments below!
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Amy Darcy
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