~ The family-pleasing flavors of chicken fajitas, in a simple baked casserole! Bonus: the base is super-healthy quinoa, with no pre-cooking needed! Seriously delicious, and soooooo easy! ~
This Recipe Is: • Gluten Free •
Hark, tiny quinoa, how I doth love thee …
Oh dear … I just remembered I’m not a poet.
Right.
But this quinoa bake, with its genius no-cook method. Well, I kinda felt like I wanted to write it an ode … or something like that. (Is an ode Shakespearean? I was for sure not good at Shakespeare.)
Huh.
Maybe a limerick? We learned those in … what … first grade? That seemed manageable. But first grade was a looooong time ago, and I couldn’t recall if limericks have five lines … or three … And do they always involve leprechauns and rainbows and kittens, or do I only think that because that’s what you write about when you’re in first grade?
*SIGH*
Ok …
We’re just gonna tackle the subject of the incredible fabulousness of this quinoa straight-up. Got it? Are you with me???? (Really … say yes … as you recall I’m admittedly terrible with poetry!)
So here’s why this really deserves an ode …
It’s kinda magical. As in, if you did write it an ode, there probably should be rainbows and leprechauns … it’s magical, I tell ya!
And all because you get to skip an ENTIRE cooking step! I know, right!?!? How cool is that!?!
You don’t have to pre-cook the quinoa!
Just dump it into the baking pan and the magical quinoa takes care of the rest. (While you go help with converting fractions or memorizing multiplication tables or reminding the kiddos about the household no bickering policy). Niiiiiiiice!
When it occurred to me to try this, I wondered if it would actually work, and why (if it did work) I hadn’t come across more recipes that used this method. It seems so logical, right? If you can bake pasta without pre-cooking it (hint hint … wait’ll you check out the upcoming post about that!) well, then why couldn’t quinoa work the same way? (These are the kinds of questions that keep food bloggers awake at night.)
If you follow THK, you know we did a big ‘ole post about all the ins and outs of cooking quinoa. In fact, it’s the most popular thing we’ve ever posted – no kidding! So, I’ve done a fair amount of research and testing when it comes to my friend quinoa.
Still, I was so excited about the no-pre-cooking idea. Why hadn’t I seen this before? (Why, oh why, hadn’t I tried it before???) After all – you, my THK friends, know that we loooooove to skip steps if it makes more time for fractions and multiplication tables, right!?!?
So I gave it a try. What better way to see what would happen?
I was actually shocked (and ridiculously excited) to find that … IT WORKED! Like a charm, actually! Or, well, (wait for it …) like MAGIC!
You can bet you’ll be seeing more no-pre-cooking quinoa bakes from Two Healthy Kitchens in the future. Why? Because they’re so gosh-darn easy! Not to mention totally jam-crammed with nutrition!
This fajita version was a total home run at my house. All the family-friendly flavors of chicken fajitas, in one super-easy casserole – no tortillas or messy jamming-the-fillings-into-a-wrap needed. It’s the kind of meal where you keep scooping a tiny bit more onto your plate … and then just a tiny smidgen more … and then maybe just a little …
Because it’s too good to stop eating.
Oh, and also magical. With rainbows.
And lucky you. In the eleventh hour before we posted this, my creative husband came to our rescue with a fitting limerick.
So, enjoy … or … errrrrrr … whatever ………
For the Mexican feast you’ve been lookin’
It’s a favorite that could be mistooken
For food full of fat
But we never do that
And the quinoa requires no cookin’
Chicken Fajita Quinoa Bake (No Pre-Cooking!)
The family-pleasing flavors of chicken fajitas, in a simple baked casserole! Bonus: the base is super-healthy quinoa, with no pre-cooking needed! So easy!
• Gluten Free •
Ingredients
- 1 (16-ounce) jar of your favorite thick and chunky salsa (see note)
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa (rinsed if needed – see note)
- 1 red pepper, cut into strips (to equal about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 green pepper, cut into strips (to equal about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 of a large sweet onion, cut into strips (to equal about 1 3/4 – 2 cups)
- 1 pound chicken breasts, cut into strips, or 1 pound chicken tenders (see note)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- optional toppings for serving: shredded reduced-fat cheese, shredded lettuce, reduced-fat sour cream, avocados or guacamole, chopped cilantro or green onions, hot sauce such as Tapatío
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Mix salsa, black beans, chicken broth, and quinoa in a 9x13 baking dish coated with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine peppers, onion, chicken, oil, and seasonings until thoroughly combined. Spoon pepper mixture over quinoa mixture in baking dish.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40-50 minutes (depending on thickness of your chicken and peppers and your brand of quinoa), or until chicken is cooked through, veggies are crisp-tender, and quinoa is done (quinoa will no longer look like tightly closed white dots but will instead be tender and you'll see lots of quinoa "tails").
- Serve with desired toppings.
Notes
Salsa: We generally use a thick and chunky salsa for this recipe, but have also tested it with looser, less thick varieties. Either will work fine, so feel free to use whatever you have on hand. However, less chunky salsa will result in a runnier, looser casserole (which is still perfectly delicious). Either way, the casserole will thicken slightly upon standing, if you prefer that.
Quinoa: If your quinoa is not pre-rinsed, then before you add it to the casserole, you will need to rinse it in a sieve, swishing it with your fingers until the water runs clear. We always look for pre-rinsed brands to save that step.
Chicken breasts or tenders: Even when using chicken tenders, we often still cut larger tenders in half lengthwise to create thinner, fajita-like strips with more surface area to be coated with the delicious fajita spices. If you're in a hurry, though, you can use the tenders whole, although the meat won't be as well coated in the spice mixture. Also, if using tenders, be sure that your butcher has done a good job removing the little white nub of tendon from the end of each tender. If not, just cut that off to avoid having a rubbery, unappetizing piece of gristle after cooking. We generally find that there's no need to worry about removing the white wisp of tendon that extends all the way down through the tender, as it generally becomes unnoticeable after cooking. However, some people don't like the idea of that tendon – if that's true for you, or if the tenders available at your market are not well-trimmed and have extremely tough tendons, we advise just skipping them and choosing chicken breasts instead.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 servings Serving Size: about 1 1/2 heaping cupsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 314Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 48mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 9gSugar: 6gProtein: 28g
Nutrition information should be considered an estimate only, and may vary depending on your choice of ingredients or preparation. No guarantees are made regarding allergies or dietary needs. Always consult a physician or dietician for specific advice and questions.
~ by Shelley
This is great! Even my 16 year old that swears quinoa is bird seed and has voiced her distaste on many occasions ate it!
If there was a calorie count included, it would be perfection!
Wow Sarah! That’s fantastic news that your family enjoyed this dinner! We are so happy! (But we really giggled about quinoa being bird seed!)
The calorie count is definitely something we’ve discussed, but we found that there could be quite a range of ingredients across different brands of the same food. Because we don’t specify brands in our recipes (although sometimes you can what we are cooking with in the photos!) we just didn’t feel right about giving you the info for the brands we’ve used, since you may select a different brand at your store. The calorie count (as well as all other nutrients) could change depending on what brands you typically purchase. With Gretchen’s degree in Nutrition, she could absolutely figure out what the calorie, fat, carbohydrate, and protein would look like for our recipes. We’ve held off because we didn’t want to give you information that may be different from what you actually prepare.
Thank you, Sarah, for your great feedback! We imagine we’ll revisit the calorie-count discussion again soon! 🙂 Have a great day! ~G&S
Made this recipe for the second time, and it is so good! I really like the flavor you give to the chicken.
Oh, Sue! Thank you so much for taking the time to pop back and let us know that you and your family are enjoying this! We really, really appreciate it, and are so thrilled that your crew loves this easy dinner as much as our families do! (And don’t you just feel so great serving them something they love, and that’s really healthy, too!?!?) 😀 ~G&S
I love the idea of cooking the quinoa in the salsa. Great! I love it when recipes do that for rice, so why not quinoa. And, maybe if it tastes like salsa my husband will eat it! Pinning to try it on him. And, I’m thinking potato chunks instead of chicken for me (’cause you know I don’t eat the chicken), but with all the protein of the quinoa and black beans I might not even need to worry about it! Thanks for sharing!
Hi, Debi! This method of cooking the quinoa is not only incredibly easy but also imbues it with sooooo much flavor – I’m really excited for your husband to try it! And I definitely think there are a lot of ways to take out the chicken – this could absolutely become a delicious, completely vegetarian dish with no problem at all! Besides the idea of potatoes, you could also just increase the onions and peppers to take the place of the chicken or even play around with other veggies, too. I adore vegetarian Mexican recipes (that’s normally what I order when my family’s out at a Mexican restaurant together) – the spices and flavors of Mexican food play so nicely with lots of diverse veggie textures and flavors! Yum! 😀 ~Shelley
I love how easy and yummy this looks! Such a great dinner idea!
Trish, this dinner is a lifesaver on busy nights! Once it’s in the oven, there’s nothing to worry about – a complete dinner is cooking itself! 😀 ~Gretchen
Wonderful recipe! Love the no precook!!!
Hi, Julie! Thanks so much for the kind words! We really do just love this recipe – total lifesaver on busy nights, but so delicious that the whole family feels like they’re getting a real treat at mealtime. And … who’s looking like the hero? Yep … mom is!!! Gosh, we just love when that happens! 😀 ~G&S