A gluten free one-pot meal, this middle eastern quinoa tray bake is loaded with juicy chicken, rich middle eastern spices, and nutrient-packed quinoa.
Hey! The month of July has me crisscrossing the country, from a road trip to Chicago to a plane ride “home” to Oregon. While I’m away, I’ve lined up some awesome guest posts for y’all. Today, Ruth is here to share a unique one-pot meal.
Hi I’m Ruth from Pea Fritters! I’m a mum who’s a foodie (or a foodie who’s a mum, not sure). I started Pea Fritters to share some inspiration around feeding your family, building healthy food relationships from the early days (I’m a huge fan of Baby Led Weaning) and trying to convert people to the awesomeness that is meal planning. I’m super excited to be guest posting on Winstead Wandering! You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Can I hear a heck yes for a one dish meal!? I love cooking, but I hate doing the dishes, so anything that I can cook all at once in one pan is an absolute winner in my book. This Middle Eastern Quinoa Tray Bake is one of those winners. It’s also gluten free and dairy free and super easy to bring together. Perfect for a mid-week family meal or if you’re entertaining- absolutely one to add to your weekly meal plan.
Middle Eastern food is such a deliciously varied cuisine. I have a number of cookbooks on Middle Eastern food and it’s so interesting reading how the spices vary from country to country and even the amount of spices used (Persians go easy on the spice, did you know?). This Middle Eastern Quinoa Tray Bake combines sweet cinnamon, healing turmeric, earthy cumin, fennel seeds and zesty sumac along with juicy chicken, lemon and garlic.
Quinoa is one of those “superfoods” that are super popular at the moment. I like to try new foods out, so when our supermarket had a special of buy 1kg get one free, I was sold! But those 2kg of quinoa have been sitting in the cupboard staring back at me as we gobbled up our pasta and rice. But not today! No no! Not only is quinoa higher in protein than brown rice, as an added bonus quinoa is high in B vitamins like folate, important for a pregnant mumma like me.
Sadly my little Possum put one spoon of this in her mouth, spat it out and said “Mummy I don’t like it”. 5 minutes later she was nearly asleep whilst still cramming ham into her mouth… Probably not the most reliable food critic. Legoman was a big fan though!
So here it is, my Middle Eastern Quinoa Tray Bake! Enjoy with your family!
Middle Eastern Quinoa Tray Bake (Serves 6)
4 cloves of garlic chopped
1 Tbsp lemon juice
500g ( about one pound) chicken thighs, cut into chunks
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/4 cup pine nuts (or sliced almonds) toasted
handful of parsley chopped
handful of mint chopped
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed
4 cups chicken stock
1 large carrot diced
1 zucchini diced
12 dates sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1. Combine the garlic, lemon juice, chicken, fennel seeds, cumin, sumac, turmeric, cinnamon, olive oil and salt and pepper. Allow to marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
3. Combine quinoa,olive oil, marinated chicken mix, dates, vegetables and stock in a large baking tray. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
4. Remove foil and continue to bake for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and scatter over the pine nuts, mint and parsley. Serve with a capsicum, cucumber and lemon salad and a dollop of yoghurt (if you can have dairy).
Looking for something for dessert? Try my Egg Free Spiced Pear Cake.
It’s been lovely meeting you! Thanks for reading- come say hi sometime!
What’s your one-pot dinner winner?
Thank you Abby for the guest post!! X
No, thank you! And congratulations on your new domain!
P. S. I have a guest post on money saving mom today, so I’m getting a TON of traffic. It’s a good day to be my most recent post!
Congratulations!! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! I’m making this for our women’s Bible study tomorrow and am going to “veganize” it by omitting the chicken and adding more veggies as we have a vegetarian and a few dairy-free folks. Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks, Megan! I’d love to know what your Bible study thought of the dish!