Buffalo Chicken Quinoa

If your mouth starts watering when you hear the words, 'buffalo chicken,' this one's for you. Don't let the quinoa scare you if you haven't cooked with it before. The protein-packed whole grain is deliciously nutritious and very easy to make. Have you seen the Bud Light commercial referencing quinoa? HILARIOUS. If you haven't and you're a quinoa lover, you better watch it right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcQmBCM3JMs.

The original recipe is from the blog, Half Baked Harvest. I didn't use shredded carrots or shredded cabbage and I decided to serve the broccoli on the side. The following recipe reflects the changes I made.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

water

3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles, plus more for garnish

4 green onions chopped, save half for garnish

 

Sauce

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup hot sauce (I used Franks)

1 tsp. seasoned salt

 

Directions

In a fine-mesh strainer, rinse the quinoa. If you forget to do this, your quinoa may taste bitter. Cook the quinoa using the directions on the package (the amount of water and cooking time varies depending on the brand). If you bought your quinoa in bulk and there are no directions to follow, this is a good rule of thumb: In a medium pot, combine quinoa and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn heat to low. Cook until all the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and fluff the quinoa with a fork.

 

While the quinoa is cooking, make the buffalo sauce and cook your chicken. Prepare the sauce by combining the olive oil, hot sauce, and seasoned salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

 

Cut your cooked chicken into bite size pieces OR shred it with your Kitchen Aid mixer. Didn't know you could do this? I didn't either until a few months ago. It changed my life!! Use the standard paddle that comes with the mixer. Throw in your cooked chicken breasts (whole), turn the mixer on (use a low speed), and watch it shred baby!! In seconds. Yeah. It's that easy.

 

Add 1/4 cup or so of the buffalo sauce to the shredded chicken. When the quinoa is ready, add the chicken and as much of the remaining dressing as desired (I ended up using all of the dressing, but we like things extra saucy). Add the blue cheese and half of the green onions. Toss and serve warm with extra blue cheese crumbles and green onions. I served steamed broccoli florets on the side.

 

 

Yum.