pesto chicken quinoa bowls with toasted pine nuts
The Pesto Chicken Quinoa Bowl was my go-to order at the Downtown Chicago chain Protein Bar for years, and involves just simple assembly—no hardcore cooking required, which is great when it’s 95°F and even thinking about turning on the oven is inviting hell’s inferno. This is also potentially the most versatile not-recipe I make, one I almost didn’t share because it’s so simple—but because the most common question I get is what to make that’s really, really easy, here it is.
An example of component cooking at its finest, this is not exactly “a recipe” as much as it is broad inspiration to help answer the question “WTF do I make for lunch that will keep really well in the fridge for 2-3 days?” You simmer quinoa in one pan while toasting pine nuts in another, cook some chicken (or use fresh rotisserie, I won’t tell), then toss it all together in a bowl with ripe cherry tomatoes, pre-made pesto (preferably from the refrigerator section rather than in a jar), raw spinach, and parm shavings. The warm ingredients will wilt the spinach gently—no balloon texture here!—giving us an exact midpoint between salad and grain bowl, one that capably adapts to both lunch alfresco and lunch al desko.
Once you’re used to the template, it’s easy to mix it up by substituting one ingredient at a time until you have a completely different dish a few weeks later. Chicken can easily become salmon, broken into chunks with a fork. Parm can switch with feta or halloumi, particularly if you crust the chicken in Zatar seasoning before grilling. Marinated kale or peppery arugula can take the place of spinach; toasted walnuts can stand in for pine nuts. The pesto suits the cherry tomato-pine nut-parm combo well, but any dressing (or even a simple pairing of olive oil and balsamic) will work. It’s equally effective hot for dinner or cold the next day, especially in warm weather—this is light, clean, summery food, and what I eat more often than not during daylight hours in the summer.
recipe
Taking inspiration from the menu at Chicago lunch staple, Protein Bar, this pesto chicken quinoa bowl with toasted pine nuts is halfway between a salad and a grain bowl, and easy to keep around for warm or cold lunches all week. For maximum results with minimum effort, use a quality pre-made pesto—you’ll find this in the refrigerator section, not in a jar.
Effortful time: 10 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Makes 4 grain bowls
you need
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
1 3/4 cups water
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 tbsp. avocado oil
Seasonings of your choice, for the chicken
1/4 cup pesto, I love American Basil “Pesto Perfectto”
3 oz. baby spinach
1/4 cup raw pine nuts
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, left whole
1/2 cup shaved parm
Cracked black pepper, for serving
make it
Cook and chop your chicken. You can do this however you want. I sprinkle salt, pepper, and paprika on mine, spray it down with a good hosing of avocado oil, and grill it at about 450°F. You can roast it or bake it. You can pan-sear it. You can put it in a George Foreman—are those still around?—or you can even substitute it for the breasts of rotisserie chicken. Either way, make sure it hits 165°F on a thermometer; once it’s cooked through, let it rest 5 min, then chop it into bite-sized pieces.
Cook your quinoa. Rinse your quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer until the water runs clear. Combine the water, quinoa, and a pinch of salt in a 2qt pot and bring to a boil for 60 seconds. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then switch off the heat and let sit for 10 more minutes. Fluff with a fork.
Toast your pine nuts. In a small skillet over medium heat, add the pine nuts (no oil) and toast in the pan, stirring often so they don’t burn, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Assemble in this order. Add the warm quinoa and chopped chicken first, then the spinach, and fold together a few times with a spoon so the hot ingredients wilt the spinach leaves lightly. Then add the cherry tomatoes, pesto, cheese, and mix thoroughly. Crack some black pepper in if you like. The easiest way to do so in my experience is using tongs. Keeps for 3 days in the fridge; you can eat the leftovers fridge-cold, room temp, or lightly warmed up.