This Chicken Pesto Quinoa Bowl is loaded with juicy chicken with pesto, buttery quinoa, greens and crispy roasted broccoli! So fresh and delicious!
You guys know by now that I love bowls of food. I mean, goodness, I named my blog after a bowl. So, I absolutely love taking a bowl, layering it with delicious ingredients, flavors, textures and then devouring it!
I know that they might be considered trendy but I truly just LOVE them. You’re able to get so much nutrition and deliciousness in one big ol’ bowl.
Why This is a Power Bowl:
First of all – why did I call it a power bowl?! Because I promise you are going to feel POWERFUL after you eat this goodness. It’s loaded with nutrient dense ingredients and whereas after I eat a pizza (although I love you forever pizza) I feel sluggish, with this bowl, I feel so comfortably full and GOOD. You know?
So, let’s get into what’s in this goodness. Time to dissect!
First, hello bed of greens! I used spinach for this particular recipe but feel free to use massaged kale, mixed greens…whatever floats your boat! That’s what I love about bowls like this. They are SO customizable.
On top of the greens, I added quinoa. That had been mixed with butter to give it extra richness, of course. Talk about flavor! No quinoa? Sub any grain you have! Rice, whole wheat pasta, farro…you name it!
Veggie time! I added my all time favorite vegetable: broccoli! And not just any broccoli, CRISPY roasted broccoli! Crunchy little cute trees of goodness.
Lastly, and this is one that’s pretty uncustomizable…the most amazing pesto chicken EVER. Diced bite size pieces of chicken smothered in delicious flavor packed pesto. Yes please! Now, I didn’t make fresh pesto for this, although my cashew pesto would go amazing with it.
For sake of time, I used a high quality store-bought jar of pesto. I love the Aldi brand – it’s delicious and affordable!
Loaded all together this bowl combines all the textures, tons of flavor and delicious taste all in one. Let’s get into how to make it!
Ingredients You Need:
- chicken breast
- jarred pesto (or use fresh!)
- broccoli
- quinoa
- greens
- salt, pepper, garlic powder
- butter + olive oil
- parmesan cheese
How to Make Chicken Pesto Quinoa Power Bowl:
Let’s start by prepping all of the ingredients and preheating the oven. Preheat to 400 degrees. Dice your head of broccoli into florets and set aside. While you have your knife out, dice the chicken breast into bite size pieces.
Place the broccoli florets on a large sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for 20 minutes – flipping halfway.
Start making the quinoa. Place the quinoa and water in a pot and let it come to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to simmer, cover and let it go for about 12-15 minutes or until the water has evaporated. Remove from the heat, fluff with a fork, add about 1 tbsp of salted butter and salt and pepper if desired and set it aside.
While the broccoli and quinoa are cooking – heat a skillet on medium heat with olive oil. Let it get hot and then add in the chicken. Add a large pinch of salt, a crack of black pepper and some garlic powder if desired. Cook until done, about 6-8 minutes.
When the chicken is done, add in about 2 tablespoons of pesto. Mix together. Taste and adjust for seasoning. It should look something like this:
And now it’s time to assemble the bowls!
This is how I did mine:
Spinach first.
Followed by quinoa.
Hey, roasted broccoli!
And finally, pesto chicken + additional pesto on top. Oh, and some shredded parmesan cheese because #BALANCE.
It’s a delicious bowl of pure goodness. Perfect for lunches, dinner, meal prep…you name it!
Hope y’all enjoyed this recipe. Are you as obsessed with bowls as I am?
Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are some others you might like:
Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Rice Bowls
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! Like a recipe that you saw? Follow me on Pinterest here! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Chicken Pesto Quinoa Bowl
This Chicken Pesto Quinoa Bowl is loaded with juicy chicken with pesto, buttery quinoa, greens and crispy roasted broccoli! So fresh and delicious!
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken breast, diced into bite size pieces
- 1 large bunch broccoli, diced into florets
- 1/2 cup quinoa
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt, pepper and garlic powder to season
- 2-3 tbsp pesto
- 2 cups spinach (or your choice of greens)
- freshly shredded parmesan cheese (optional for garnish)
Instructions
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Preheat to 400 degrees. Dice your head of broccoli into florets and set aside. Dice the chicken breast into bite size pieces.
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Place the broccoli florets on a large sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for 20 minutes - flipping halfway.
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Start making the quinoa. Place the quinoa and water in a pot and let it come to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to simmer, cover and let it go for about 12-15 minutes or until the water has evaporated. Remove from the heat, fluff with a fork, add about 1 tbsp of salted butter and salt and pepper if desired and set it aside.
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While the broccoli and quinoa are cooking - heat a skillet on medium heat with olive oil. Let it get hot and then add in the chicken. Add a large pinch of salt, a crack of black pepper and some garlic powder if desired. Cook until done, about 6-8 minutes.
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When the chicken is done, add in about 2 tablespoons of pesto. Mix together. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
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Assemble the bowls! Layer spinach first, add quinoa, roasted broccoli and then chicken. Add more pesto on top of chicken if desired. Enjoy!
We LOVE bowls like this Haylie!!! Even my kiddos love eating healthy bowls like this when they’re all loaded up! Pesto is such a good flavor. I am craving this for dinner big time now!
Thank you so much, Katherine!
Power bowl indeed! We love ‘bowl’ meals in our home and especially love pesto! These would hit the spot for dinner…or even a hearty lunch! Love all the vibrant green in here! Delish, my friend 🙂
Thank you my friend! Gotta love the green in it! 🙂 Especially when that green is pesto Lol!
How many calories per serving?
Hi Kate!! If I need to find out the nutritional facts on something, I usually plug in each ingredient into a free calorie counter on Google and then divide it by servings 🙂 I hope that helps!! Thank you for visiting my site! – Haylie
Absolutely delicious! The only modification I made was sautéing the spinach because I love it that way. I absolutely loved this!
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Emilie!! 🙂
Can this be made ahead of time and frozen?
Hi Jennifer! I would say that the chicken could be made and frozen ahead of time. I would do the broccoli and quinoa at the time of cooking though, for best results. You could always grab a pack of frozen quinoa or broccoli for ease 🙂 Hope you enjoy!!