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One pan chicken veggies and quinoa is a healthy, easy meal that takes only 30 minutes to make and is kid approved!
This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.
One thing I’ve really been focusing on this year is making lighter, healthier meals for the family. Oh, we allow for treats now and then, but overall, I’m including more fruits and veggies with meals and as snacks.
And for breakfast, I’m sticking to healthy smoothies whenever I can. Go me!
I’m lucky that most of the kiddos love veggies, and usually, making healthy meals for the kids isn’t hard. But, I’ve also got a super picky eater who has been known to carefully remove the veggies she hates from her dinner. She’s even gone so far as to hide them in her napkin when she thinks I’m not looking. Honestly, there’s one in every crowd!
So, I like to make skillet meals and include the veggies and meat all in one pan. This not only saves a ton of time, but it also makes it a little harder to for the kiddos to avoid eating their vegetables. I was at Walmart the other day, and I came home with several packages of C&W Vegetables. These frozen veggies are ideal for making healthy one-pan meals, and they save time since you don’t have to prep them!
The kids love chicken, so I thought I would make chicken with veggies and quinoa all in one pan. I’ve been trying to use quinoa instead of pasta whenever I can. It’s gluten free, packed with protein and not heavy at all. Plus, I like the nutty taste, and even the picky kiddos do too.
To make this meal even easier, I used chicken tenders. I browned them with some garlic, spices and the frozen pepper strips, and then I removed them from the pan before I added the quinoa.
I wanted this meal to have a little bit of a kick, so I added a small amount of chipotle pepper. If you’re not a fan of spicy food, just leave it out.
The quinoa takes about 15 minutes to cook, and I added some frozen peas and corn right before it was done. Then, I cut the chicken into smaller pieces and added it to the quinoa and veggies.
How to Make One Pan Chicken, Veggies and Quinoa
One Pan Chicken, Veggies and Quinoa
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken tenders
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground chipotle pepper optional
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 cup frozen pepper strips
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- ½ frozen peas
- ½ cup frozen corn
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Additional salt and pepper if needed
Instructions
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, and add the chicken tenders and pepper strips
- Season with salt, pepper and ginger and chipotle pepper (if using)
- When chicken is brown and almost done, add garlic and saute until soft.
- Remove chicken and some peppers, and cover.
- Add the water and quinoa to the skillet, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to simmer, cover, and let quinoa cook until most of the water is absorbed.
- Stir in the peas and corn.
- Cut chicken up into smaller pieces, and add to skillet along with pepper strips.
- Mix well, and add more water and additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Sprinkle lemon juice over the chicken, serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Don’t the veggies look vibrant?! I just love the colors, and since the quinoa gets mixed in with everything, it’s kind of hard to pick the veggies out of this meal.
The family honestly loved this one pan chicken, veggies and quinoa, even the picky one. So, making healthy meals for kids who are picky isn’t impossible after all.
And since there’s only one pan, that means fewer dishes to do. Score another one for mom!
Happy Shopping!
Your One Pan Chicken Veggies and Quinoa looks fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing with us for our 5th Anniversary of Full Plate Thursday! Hope you have a fantastic week and hope to see you again real soon!
Miz Helen
It’s healthy and only takes 30 minutes? Love it!! Thanks for sharing on Full Plate Thursday 🙂
Hard to believe, isn’t it? Thanks so much for visiting! 🙂
This looks so delicious, and really accommodating to different food allergies! I can’t wait to try this. Scheduled to pin and stumbled, thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much, Morgan. I hope you like them as much as we do. We’re making another batch right now! 🙂
I love how healthy and easy this looks with one pan. I can’t wait to make this for my family!
It really is super easy, and the kids love them!
This so appeals to me, I love anythings quinoa and one pan. Cant wait to give it a try.
Thanks, Cristie. One-pan meals are the best!
I love different quinoa dishes, so this is right up my alley. Loving the mixture of veggies you chose!
Thanks, Amanda! I’m a big fan of quinoa, and the kids love these veggies, so this dish works for us. 🙂
My son is a super picky eater, but he loves chicken and will tolerate quinoa! This looks delicious. Can’t wait to try it.
I was so surprised when my picky eater liked quinoa, but I’m not complaining!