Quinoa risotto – healthy vegan dinner, simple

You need to make this fast simple quinoa risotto for dinner! This healthy quinoa recipe is vegan, gluten-free and tasty. Totally worth the 20 minutes!

Okay, so this recipe = BOMB. We ate it for a few days and we couldn’t get enough of it.

How Did This Quinoa Risotto Happen?

Not gonna lie, our recipes are usually inspired by the things that expire in our fridge.

A moldy zucchini? A rotten eggplant? Half-eaten can of kidney beans and corn? Wilting vegetables?

Oh, yeah, talk moldy to us.

We’ve got a deal.

Okay, our veggies weren’t THAT bad, but you get the point. It’s time for another quinoa risotto.

And we’re not mad. This one will make you happy. Here’s what you’ll be doing for 20 minutes:

• Wash and chop vegetables available at your home
• Put things into one pan
• Add salt, olive oil and possibly some herbs and spices
• Stir from time to time
• Add Parmesan if you’re not vegan, if you are – find an alternative, or don’t this quisotto is good without it
• Eat

That is it. Simple, basic cooking, no peeling involved, no complicated sauces and then you get to eat while watching Netflix or something on your phone about mindful eating. #bestfridaynightever

No idea why people put the number symbol # in front of words these days, but #we #just #wanna #belong.

Options

• Use cooked or uncooked quinoa. We did use cooked quinoa, because we love when we can cook meals with the speed of light and because it was in our fridge already and wasn’t getting younger. Remember that you will probably need to cook this risotto a little longer if using uncooked quinoa.
• We used fresh tomatoes, but canned might work as well, tomato paste – anything tomato probably will work.
• Beans and corn – if you like them add them, if not it’s not the end of the world. You can use chickpeas, lentils, whatever you like and will fill you up.

Meal Prep

Damn it, we forgot to take a picture of this in our IKEA meal prep container. We're a failure, we know. But yes, this would also keep in the fridge for 3-4 days and thus can be a good meal prep recipe.

Let’s get to the recipe already.

Okay, one more thing before we go! Since it’s almost Christmas, we want to wish everyone happy holidays, have lots of fun, spend time with the people you love, forget all your troubles and take a moment to enjoy this time of the year. We will also take a little break from posting here, we kinda need it, but we will be back in 2019 with some new and exciting stuff.

source: giphy

• Yield: 3
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 cup eggplant, chopped
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes
• 1 cup quinoa, cooked
• 1/3 cup beans
• 1/3 cup corn
• 1 cup greens, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 -4 leaves basil
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• Optional: chili flakes

Method

1. Chop tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, greens, rinse and drain beans and corn.
2. In a large pan at medium-high saute tomatoes with olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Add eggplant, zucchini and quinoa. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Add beans, corn, chili flakes, stir everything well together and cook for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add your greens (we had arugula and spinach), basil and garlic. Stir again and turn the heat off. Enjoy like this or with some Parmesan or avocado.

Notes

If you're using uncooked quinoa, make sure to add some water (just to cover the quinoa) and wait until quinoa is cooked before adding the rest of the ingredients.