Make this Cashew Chicken Quinoa Bake for a high-protein, one-dish meal that the whole family will love! Meal prep at its finest!
Considering the fact that it’s “late August” I took it upon myself to jump on the casserole/one-pot band wagon a little bit early. I mean, school is starting and easy dinners are a necessity! I love quinoa bakes and I know you love quinoa bakes too because they are some of FFF’s most popular recipes. I mean, why wouldn’t they be? Yah get tons of protein, only dirty one dish, and they taste FABULOUS.
Asian is my culture food of choice (Mexican is up there) and Cashew Chicken is a dish one of my high school best friends (HEY CARLI!) and I used to order all the time. Such great flavor and the cashews give it an amazing crunch. MMMMmmmm yes. The dish we used to get didn’t have very many veggies in it and it was served with white rice, so I of course wanted to add a Fit Foodie twist to things.
More veggies and a better grain (errrr seed!)
How gorgeous are these red peppers? I bet you have a few sitting in your garden right now that need to be used. If you don’t like or have red peppers, feel free to use green peppers or even broccoli!
For this dish, you literally throw everything in a casserole dish UNCOOKED (even the chicken and quinoa) and pop it in the oven for 60 minutes. I know, I’m a genius. I tested this with Ancient Harvest’s traditional white quinoa
Make sure to use slightly salted roasted cashews for the best flavor! I threw mine on top at the 45 minute mark and let things cook for an additional 10 minutes, just enough time for the cashews to soak up that delicious sauce.
I finished off the bake with some sliced green onions, which add spectacular color and flavor.
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and uncooked
- 1 cup yellow onion, minced
- 2 medium red peppers, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 3 large chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized pieces
- ½ cup hoisen sauce (or gluten-free hoisen sauce)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari (low sodium)
- ½ tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup cashews, roasted and slightly salted
- green onion for garnish
- First, preheat oven to 375ºF and spray a casserole dish with coconut oil cooking spray.
- Next, place 1 cup uncooked quinoa on the bottom of the casserole dish and layer on diced onion and red pepper on top. Place sliced chicken on top of veggies.
- Prep sauce by mixing together hoisen sauce, minced garlic, soy sauce, fresh ginger, and 1 cup of water. I used a fork to whisk everything together.
- Evenly pour sauce over chicken chicken breast.
- Bake at 375º for 45 minutes, uncovered. Remove from oven and add 1 cup of cashews and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Garnish with green onion.
