Chicken Broccoli Quinoa
Hearty healthy Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Skillet. A one-pot dinner your family will love, and a great way to use up leftovers!
It’s hard to eat healthy this time of year. With all the holiday feasts and parties, free flowing cocktails, and sweets laying around, I find it difficult to keep my hand out of the cookie jar, so to speak.
We do our best to eat clean healthy meals most days, then splurge a little on the weekends. However during the holiday season, the splurge days seems to leak into the rest of the week.
Lately I’ve been making a lot of one-pot skillet meals. Dinners that can be quickly thrown together after a long day of work and/or after school activities, and don’t make a lot of dishes for me to clean up.
It’s easy to create an endless array of quick skillet meals if you keep a few go-to items in your freezer and pantry… Chicken, ground beef, pasta, canned tomatoes, peppers, onions, and rice and quinoa are a good start.
Today’s one-pot dynamo, Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Skillet, is a healthy and satisfying meal that is hard to resist.
It’s gluten free, low fat, high protein, packed with vitamins… And it tastes amazing!
Ready to make healthy Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Skillet?
Start by sautéing bell pepper and broccoli over medium-heat heat to blister the edges a little.
Then remove the veggies and add whole chicken breasts, garlic, chicken broth, and quinoa to the skillet.
Simmer the mixture until the chicken breasts cook through, the quinoa has absorbed the broth, and the spirals release around the edges.
Chop the chicken and add in back to the skillet along with the previously cooked veggies, dried cranberries, pecan pieces, and chopped scallions.
The cranberries and pecans mixed with the quinoa give this Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Skillet a hearty holiday appeal.
PS – If you have leftover turkey (or chicken) from another meal, you could even omit the chicken breasts and add chopped turkey in at the end to use up your holiday leftovers!
Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Skillet is a hit on all accounts. Give it a try!
Looking For More Healthy One-Pot Dinners?
- Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Chicken Skillet
- Creamy Salsa Verde Chicken Skillet
- Thai Curry Shrimp Pasta
- Chicken Pasta with Light Basil Cream Sauce
- Sloppy Joe Noodle Skillet
- Chicken Noodle Casserole
Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 1/4 cups dried quinoa
- 3 1/2 – 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups small broccoli floret
- 1 bell pepper (yellow or orange), seeded and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup pecan pieces
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 3/4 cup chopped scallions
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Place a large skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the oil and chopped bell pepper. Saute for 2 minutes. Then add the broccoli florets. Stir and saute another 3-4 minutes, until the broccoli is partially softened. Remove all veggies from the skillet and set aside.
- Next add the whole chicken breasts, garlic, quinoa, 3 1/2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Stir and bring to a simmer. Once the quinoa is boiling, lower the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, the broth is evaporated, and the quinoa spirals have separated, about 18-20 minutes. Add another 1/2 cup broth if needed.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet. Chop the chicken and add back to the skillet. Then toss in the sautéed vegetables, pecan pieces, cranberries, and scallions. Taste, then salt and pepper as needed. Serve warm!
Notes
Nutrition
Just made this tonight, super tasty. I did decrease the amount of pecans to 1/2 C and the cranberries to 1/2 C to decrease the calories per serving. I also added 1/2 an onion when I cooked the peppers and broccoli. I will be making this one again, but have leftovers for a night or two!
Can you substitute water for the chicken broth?
Hi Lee Ann,
You can always add water to recipes, instead of chicken broth. They just won’t have quite as much flavor.
We love Quinoa! This will be a great dish to add to our menu!
Now this is an everyday dish I can totally stand by!
Looks delicious, Thank You
Looks so healthy and good!
So many beautiful flavors and colors!
Love the flavours and colours in this skillet dinner!
Going into the holiday I need a big serving of this skillet!
This looks delicious Sommer! Love it!
Wow! This is one delicious looking skillet dinner! :) The colors are amazing!