Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa



Good afternoon ladies. I posted this photo yesterday on Instagram and tons of you wanted the recipe. It was a definite winner. My husband loved it, even though he will typically eat anything. The recipe called for chicken breasts and all we had (that wasn’t frozen) were boneless skinless chicken thighs so I used that. I’d definitely use breasts next time but this worked. 

I found the recipe on Half Baked Harvest, but adjusted it a little. Her recipe is fantastic, I just did it Kassie-style, and dirtied up my whole kitchen.




 Buffalo Chicken Quinoa

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 cup broccoli florets
  • 3/4 cup shredded carrots
  • 3/4 cup shredded cabbage
  • 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles, plus more for garnish
  • 4 green onions chopped, save half for garnish
  •  
    Dressing
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup Frank's hot sauce
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Cut chicken into bite size pieces.

Put 2 cups of water to boil. Once boiling, add 1 cup quinoa. Keep an eye on it and stir frequently. Remove from heat when all water is absorbed. 

While quinoa is going, cook broccoli in saucepan with nonstick spray. Your broccoli won’t be soft, you just want to toast it up a bit. Here’s where I ventured away from the recipe.  I added my carrots and cabbage to the pan and cooked them down a bit so they weren’t raw. They still had a little crunch but it wasn’t as noticeable. I would do it this way next time.

After veggies are cooked to your liking, remove from pan and set aside.  Add more non stick spray and cook chicken till no longer pink. I cut one in half to be sure.   

While chicken is cooking, mix hot sauce and olive oil. I used ¼ cup of olive oil, as opposed to her half cup. I also used garlic powder in the place of her seasoned salt. 

Once chicken is completely cooked, add half of sauce mixture and cook for a few additional minutes till chicken absorbs most of the sauce. Then, add all vegetables, green onions and quinoa. Mix well. Add bleu cheese on top and additional green onions, if you choose. My husband loves bleu cheese so cutting it out was not an option. I also think it helps in cutting the overwhelming hot sauce taste.

I’ve made recipes before with hot sauce/buffalo sauce and they were entirely too overwhelming, and I LOVE buffalo sauce. This recipe was not overwhelming.  It was just as good as it looks. Because buffalo sauce is high in sodium, I wouldn’t make it weekly, but it’s definitely in the rotation! Hope you enjoy. 


8 comments:

  1. Oh that looks SO delish!!! I love Franks Red Hot so this is a winner with me!!! I may have to try it this weekend!! Thanks girl for the new recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That looks so yummy! I have yet to try quinoa, but this recipe looks too good not to try it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks so good! I will have to try this recipe!

    http://summatingpromise.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. I cannot WAIT to try this! YOu always have such good ideas! And I love that you love buffalo sauce as much as me :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. looks delicious. Pinned!

    -Honeybee
    http://herweightlossdiary.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. This recipe looks awesome! I need this in my life...now because I haven't eaten lunch yet. Thanks for the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This looks so delicious!! I love recipes with a lot of vegetables!

    ReplyDelete
  8. That looks incredible! And hello fellow Southern Louisiana lady :) So glad I stumbled upon your blog! I'm definitely going to have to keep up with your blog from now on! Happy Thursday and Happy almost weekend!

    ReplyDelete