One-Skillet Creamy Chicken Quinoa with Peas Recipe
I love a one-pot or one-skillet meal, don’t you? The least amount of dishes possible is such a great thing. And if that meal is also (mostly) healthy, easy, and fast, well then I’ve hit dinner gold!
This deliciously creamy chicken quinoa with peas recipe is a great weeknight dinner when you need something fast and easy. I know when I come home from work, the last thing I want to be doing is cooking some kind of feast with a million dishes.
What is Quinoa?
Now, you may be wondering, what the heck is quinoa?And how in the world do you say that? Well first off, quinoa is pronounced “KEEN-wah”.
And secondly, according to the Whole Grains Council, quinoa is a gluten-free, whole-grain carbohydrate, as well as a whole protein (meaning it contains all nine essential amino acids). (3) Most of this information is well known. But when it comes to whether quinoa is a whole grain or not, many people get confused. So, let’s clear this up.
Technically, the quinoa we all know and love is actually a seed from the Chenopodium quinoa plant. So no, it is not a grain. Whole grains (or cereal grains), like oats and barley, are defined as seeds extracted from grasses — not plants.
But the way we eat quinoa does resemble a whole grain. Because of this, the nutrition world considers it a whole grain. Or if you want to get real technical with it, quinoa is actually quantified as a “pseudo-cereal” — a term used to describe foods that are prepared and eaten as a whole grain, but are botanical outliers from grasses.
But the preferred colloquial term (though it may be slightly untrue) is whole grain.
If you are looking for more information about quinoa, including its nutritional facts, please check out the rest of this article at Everyday Health
One-Skillet Creamy Chicken Quinoa with Peas
Equipment
- cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 4 thick-cut slices bacon diced, small
- 1 lb . boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup white quinoa, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups chicken broth preferably organic or homemade
- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
- 1/4 cup half & half
- 4 oz cream cheese cut into chunks
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Add bacon to a large, high-sided skillet set over medium-high heat.Cook, stirring occasionally, for approximately 2-3 minutes. Remove from heatand carefully drain excess bacon grease from skillet.
- Return skillet to medium heat and add sliced chicken, onion powder, andgarlic powder. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste, and stir tocombine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken starts to develop somecolor, approximately 2-3 minutes.
- Add the quinoa and chicken broth and stir to combine. Increase heat tohigh and bring to a boil, and then immediately reduce heat to medium-low. Coverand simmer until the chicken and quinoa are cooked through, approximately 10-12minutes.
- Uncoverand stir in frozen peas, half & half, cream cheese, and half of the freshlygrated Parmesan cheese. Stir to combine and remove from heat. Cover and let sitfor another minute or two or until the cheese is completely melted.
- Removecover and stir in fresh parsley. Season with additional salt and black pepper,if desired, and serve immediately with remaining Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
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