Vegan Broccoli Quinoa Bowl
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There was a period of my life where it seemed the only food blog I followed from was 101 Cookbooks by Heidi Swanson, who also authors two books: Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Every Day.
I own both and they are both signed copies. This is how much I adore Heidi. There was this one recipe that I kept coming back to again and again: Double Broccoli Quinoa. Heidi’s recipe called for cooking up a bunch of broccoli florets and using some in a pureed sauce, and mixing the rest into quinoa along with the sauce. It was amazing. And it was chock full of dairy. So once we switched to a plant-based diet, I knew I had to “veganize” it. This is my attempt.
First, the broccoli.
I bet if I took a poll, at least half of the people who buy fresh heads of broccoli will admit to discarding the stalks when preparing it for a recipe. This makes me sad. Not just because of the poor stalks who never got to fulfill their culinary destiny, but because of how many times I have fallen into the category of people who throw away broccoli stalks. Let’s all use this opportunity to confess our sins against stalks together, and vow never to do it again. Ok? Here’s your penance:
This sauce is made of broccoli stalks! I feel better already.
No wasted broccoli!
This recipe has three heads of broccoli in it. The florets all go into the final dish, and the stalks all go into the sauce. No waste, no regret! You gotta love that.
The stalks and florets are cooked separately, and then the stalks are blended together with:
- avocado
- lemon
- garlic
- almonds
- salt
- nutritional yeast
The result is a lovely sauce that’s creamy, smooth, savory, and completely oil-free.
BULK COOK GRAINS FOR QUICK MEALS
Adding to the simplicity of this dish is pre-cooked quinoa. My tip for easy weeknight meals is this: bulk cook grains ahead of time. It is so convenient to pull out a big bag of pre-cooked quinoa from the freezer and have it at the ready. That said, if you don’t have cooked quinoa for this recipe, use this opportunity to cook a whole bunch to make this and freeze the rest for another time.
PUT IT ALL TOGETHER
So now you have your broccoli, your quinoa, and your sauce. It’s time to put it all together!
toast some almonds
slice some avocado
get out some red pepper flakes
mix quinoa, broccoli and sauce together
top with the almonds, avocado and red pepper flakes
serve!
Enjoy this broccoli quinoa bowl!
Print
Bountiful Broccoli Quinoa Bowl
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Prep Time: 15 mins -
Cook Time: 10 mins
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Total Time: 25 minutes
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Yield: 4-6 1x
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Category: Entree, Side
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Method: Stovetop
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Cuisine: Vegan
Prep Time:
Yield:
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Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 6 cups cooked quinoa (from 3 cups dried, approx.)
- 3 heads of broccoli, separated into chopped florets and chopped stem pieces
- 3–4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 lemon
- 2 avocados, 1/2 reserved
- 1 cup blanched almonds, soaked for at least an hour
- 3 T. nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp. salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For Topping:
- Crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
- Avocado, sliced
Instructions
- Place a large pot of water on the stove to boil. While you wait, prep the broccoli by cutting the florets into bite sized pieces, and the stem into 1″ slices. Keep the florets and stems separate.
- Once the water comes to boil, add the broccoli stems and garlic cloves. Cook for 5-6 minutes, or until the stems are tender. Remove the stems and garlic cloves from the water with a strainer and place in a blender.
- Now, add the broccoli florets to the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes. Add the precooked quinoa and cook for 1 minute to warm the quinoa through. Drain the florets and quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and return to the pan.
- Add the lemon, 1/2 of an avocado, 1 cup of almonds (drain the soaking water), nutritional yeast, salt, and 2 cups of water to the blender. Puree until smooth and creamy, adding water 1/4 cup at a time to thin if necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour the sauce over the quinoa and broccoli florets, and stir to mix the sauce throughout.
- Serve the quinoa topped with toasted almonds, avocado, and crushed red pepper flakes, if you like.
Notes
If you don’t have quinoa pre-cooked, prepare 3 cups dried quinoa according to the package instructions, which will yield about 6 cups total.
Keywords: healthy, easy, quick, plant-based, cheesy
This looks lovely – I have recently bought some quinoa but have yet to try it, this might just be the dish to go with as broccoli is one of my favourite veggie but I don’t like avocado so will have to sub with some other yummy veg. Thank you for the great recipe.
The pictures are beautifully taken!! Using all the edible parts of broccoli is a must! My beautiful family recently had a conversation about our favorite part of broccoli, my youngest dear daughter said “The branches”. Ha! Thanks for sharing this recipe, looks and sounds delicious!
I am off to the grocery store this morning , looks delicious !! Love your tip for freezing quinioa…..!! Is it meant to be a hot salad?
Healthy food plus healthy exercises. Perfect Lifestyle!
hello, is the yeast a must? I’ve never eaten yeast unless it was used to make bread.. What does the yeast do? I’m confused! lol
The nutritional yeast gives it a wonderful cheesy, salty flavour. This is different than the yeast you would use to make bread. This yeast isn’t used for baking, just flavour and added nutrition. You can make it without the yeast, but I’d highly recommend using it for the best results! You can find it at any health food store.
This recipe needs to be clarified, or broken into two parts (sauce and everything else). It has very jumbled directions. .. ie the lemon. And the reserved avavado
Moving on, I would only put the JUICE of half the lemon. As the whole lemon makes the sauce extremely sour.
★
This was great! A friend having the meal with us like the half-blended sauce so much he had it chunky. The rest had it creamy as written. We used the whole lemon amount, and even added a bit more to our plates. We like lemon! Had no problems following the directions – broccoli stems and garlic boiled and then put in blender with all of the sauce ingredients. Broccoli florets boiled and put over quinoa with sauce. Yum! Loved that I used literally every bit of the broccoli and stem except for very outside of the thickest part of stem. We all liked the boiled broccoli stem so much that we made extra and didn’t put all in the sauce. Thanks again!
★★★★★
Forgot to say we didn’t use any nutritional yeast because of allergies and just added a bit of chili pepper to give it a bit of a kick instead:)
yay! So glad you enjoyed it! Good to hear the recipe worked well for you. I love al the broccoli in there too :_)
Deryn, you have taught me how to make use of EVERY bit of the broccoli without waste. I used to throw away the stems attached to the florets and only used the longer thicker broccoli stem with the thick outer layer cut away for recipes and salads. All the of the smaller stems of the floret in between the thick stem and the florets was thrown away! I just used that part in a recipe and used your method of cutting them into slices and boiling them. They are so tasty and bring a different texture to any broccoli dish. I am so grateful and can’t thank you enough!
Oh my. I just made this (and ate it) and this is delightful. Mild but flavorful, and the creamy sauce was a pleasant surprise. The added crunch of the almond slivers was perfect. Added to my “tried and approved” on pinterest. I’m definitely making this for a family gathering. Thank you for having Beth share this recipe!
★★★★★
This looks delicious! Do you have a ballpark idea of calorie count?
I’m sorry I don’t. You’d have to add it all in to an app like My Fitness Pal to get the by serving calories and nutrition. Thanks!