Chicken Quinoa Power Bowl
Bowls have taken the world by storm! In my opinion they are a fantastic way to meal prep for anyone counting macros. This chicken quinoa power bowl not only hits the spot, but is a great recipe to make adjustments to to hit your macro goals.
Chicken Quinoa Power Bowl
Ingredients
- 38 g Quinoa (about ¼ cup)
- ½ cup Water
- 6 oz Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- ¼ tsp Paprika
- ¼ tsp Red Pepper Flake
- ½ tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 50 g Spinach (about ½ cup)
- 100 g Kumato Tomato quartered, (about 2 tomatoes)
- ¼ tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1 tbsp Chives
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 20 g Avocado sliced (3-4 thin slices)
- 10 g Red Onion shaved (a few thin shavings)
Instructions
- Rinse Quinoa: Fill a medium bowl with 2 cups cool water. Place the Quinoa in the bowl and allow to soak for 3-4 minutes. Then drain the water out of the bowl.
- Next you will want to rinse the quinoa for another 30 seconds under cold water. This allows the outer shell to open. Now you can cook the quinoa.
- Heat a small sauce pot over medium heat, add 1/2 cup water and the rinsed quinoa to the sauce pot. Cover with a lid and cook for 15 minutes, until the water has soaked completely into the quinoa.
- While the quinoa is cooking cook the chicken. Heat a stove top pan to medium heat. While the pan is heating season the chicken breast on both sides, using black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, red pepper flake.
- Once the pan is hot, add the extra virgin olive oil to the pan. Place the chicken immediately in the pan. Leave it there on medium heat for 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Both sides should start to become golden brown, but the center will still look uncooked…if not golden, give each side another minute…your pan wasn’t hot enough.
- Then turn the heat to low and cover the chicken with a lid. Let it cook for about 6 minutes, then flip and cover again, cook for additional 6 minutes. After 6 minutes on each side covered, the chicken should be done. But this does depend on the size of the chicken breast…these times are based on a 6 oz breast. It is always best to check the internal temperature of chicken before serving.
- Add your spinach and tomatoes to a serving bowl, or meal prep container.
- Once the quinoa is finished, remove from the heat. Add the butter, chives and season with salt, stir to combine. Then place in your serving bowl or meal prep containers.
- Now, your chicken should be done, remove it from the pan and cut into bite size pieces. Add the diced chicken to the bowl. The base of your bowl is complete.
- To finish it off, top with your sliced avocado and shaved red onion!
Macro Nutrition
Are you meal prepping? Do you count your macros or calories? Check out my notes below on how you can incorporate this Chicken Quinoa Power Bowl into your meal prep. Also how you can easily adjust protein, carbs, and fats to meet your macro goals
NOTES FOR MEAL PREP:
This chicken quinoa power bowl is a wonderful recipe for meal prepping. You can store each serving in the fridge for up to 1 week and eat it as it fits your meal plan.
When its time to reheat, simply place in the microwave with a lid loosely covering your container. Cook for 60 seconds, stopping to mix up the ingredients half way through. The tomatoes will add a little moisture back into the dish while cooking.
NOTES FOR COUNTING MACROS:
PROTEIN:
The main source of protein in this recipe is the chicken, making this recipe super easy to increase or decrease the amount of protein per serving.
- Every 1 ounce of chicken has 8.8 grams of protein.
CARBOHYDRATE:
The quinoa in this recipe is what provides most of the carbohydrates. Again, another easy ingredient to adjust in this recipe.
- For every 38 grams (1/4 cup) of quinoa there is 27 carbs.
If making adjustments to the quinoa, you will also want to make adjustments to the amount of water you cook the quinoa in. Using double the amount of water to quinoa.
FAT:
The fat in this recipe comes mainly from the avocado and the oil that the chicken is cooked in.
To reduce the fat the easiest way would be to not cook the chicken in oil but in a non stick cooking spray. This will remove 4.5 grams of fat from the recipe. However, your chicken may not be as juicy, it will still be delicious and the tomatoes will help to provide a little mousture when being reheated.
Additionally, if you are looking to increase the fat, changing the amount of avocado in this recipe is the way to go.
- For example: For every 15 grams (about 1/8 avocado) you increase the fats by 4 grams.
Tip:
- You can pre-cut your avocado: Toss your avocado chunks with a little lime juice, then portion into zip lock bags. Suck all the air out of the zip lock bag and store in the fridge. Typically my pre-cut avocados will last 2-3 days before starting to brown if I sucked all the air out.
When making adjustments to the macros in this chicken quinoa power bowl, you will want to keep in mind the number of servings you are making.
Do you love Quinoa? Check out my: