These Harvest Quinoa Bowls with Chicken and Sweet Potatoes make for a great healthy lunch or dinner that’s full of hearty fall flavor!
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These harvest quinoa bowls make for a fantastic hearty-but-healthy lunch or dinner. Each bowl has fluffy quinoa, chicken breast, roasted sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts, dried cranberries, pecans, and a delicious creamy dijon sauce that pulls everything together and provides so much flavor.
Even better, these bowls come together quicker than you’d think thanks to our cooking method. Instead of cooking all of the components separately on the stove, we make it sheet pan style and cook the quinoa on the stove at the same time. These quinoa bowls are great for a weeknight dinner, or you can meal prep them in advance and take them for lunch all week!
Looking for more healthy lunch inspiration? Try our delicious Italian Chopped Salad, Chicken Burritos with Rice and Beans, Cobb Salad with Chicken and Green Goddess Dressing, or Mediterranean Steak Bowls.
Why You’ll Love This Quinoa Bowl Recipe
- A delicious way to avoid sad desk lunches!
- These bowls are packed with hearty autumnal flavor, including fluffy quinoa, roasted sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, dried cranberries, and pecans in a delicious creamy dijon sauce.
- 15 minutes of prep = healthy to-go lunches for the entire work week!
Quinoa Bowl Recipe Ingredients
Here’s everything you’ll need to make healthy lunches for the entire work week. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
For the Bowls:
- Sweet potatoes – you’ll need 1 1/2 pound sweet potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes
- Olive oil – we call for 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt – 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt seasons the grains and veggies
- Black pepper – 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper gives everything a little kick
- Brussels Sprouts – you’ll need 1 1/2 pound
- Chicken – 1 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast add lean protein
- Pecans – 1/2 cup of toasted pecans add delicious crunch
- Cranberries – 1/4 cup of the dried fruit lend sweetness
- Quinoa – you can use white, red, or tri-color quinoa here
- Chicken broth – 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth add the most flavor, but you can use water instead
For the Sauce:
- Mustard – we call for 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
- Lemon juice – use 1 tablespoon of lemon juice – or orange, if you prefer
- Maple Syrup – 1 teaspoon of maple syrup is optional, but adds great sweetness
- Thyme – you’ll use 1 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme
- Olive oil – in addition to the bowls, you’ll also need 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil for the sauce
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
Here are a few simple ways to make this recipe your own:.
- Go veggie – to make vegetarian/vegan bowls instead, skip the chicken, swap vegetable broth or water in for the chicken broth, and make sure to use either pure maple syrup or another liquid vegan sweetener like agave syrup.
- Nuts and seeds – we love crunchy toasted pecans and sweet-tart dried cranberries in this recipe, but feel free to swap in whatever nuts and dried fruits you have on hand.
- Choose your greens – Brussels sprouts give this bowl its distinctive fall flavor. But if you’re not a fan, feel free to swap in other greens like arugula or romaine lettuce.
How to Make Quinoa Bowls
As mentioned earlier, instead of cooking all of our components separately for these bowls, we are going to follow the sheet pan dinner method instead! This will save you time and allow you to make these meals in bulk if you need to. Here’s how you’ll make these bowls.
Step 1: The sweet potatoes will take the longest to cook, so we are going to get them started first. Chop the sweet potatoes into 1-inch cubes, then toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper and spread them out onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Make sure you don’t overcrowd the pan so that they can get crispy! Then, you’ll bake them at 400 F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, transfer them to the lower oven rack.
Step 2: Next, you’ll place the chicken breast on one half of a rimmed baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. On the other half of the baking sheet, you’ll toss the brussels sprouts with olive oil, salt, and pepper then spread them out. Place the pan on the upper rack of your oven and bake for 25 minutes, until the chicken has reached a temperature of 165 F.
Step 3: While everything is in the oven, make the quinoa.
Step 4: This sauce is optional, but really adds a ton of flavor to the dish! The easiest way to make the sauce is to add all of the ingredients to a mason jar and shake it to combine.
Step 5: Remove the sheet pans from the oven, let cool slightly, and chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
Then, assemble the bowls by spooning the quinoa into a bowl and topping with the chicken, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, dried cranberries, and pecans. Drizzle the sauce over the bowl and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- No more mushy quinoa! – See our FAQs below to learn the different types of quinoa, how to make the best quinoa, and how to avoid a mushy batch.
- Shop your pantry – While we love the toasted pecans and dried cranberries in this autumnal dish, the recipe is really flexible. If you’ve got other dried fruits and nuts like apricots, cherries, pepitas, or walnuts in your pantry that need to be used up, feel free to use them instead!
- Double the protein – If you’re looking to up your protein intake, double the amount of chicken needed for this recipe. That’ll increase the protein per serving by about 28 grams, for a total of 70 grams per serving.
How to Serve
To assemble your bowls, spoon the quinoa into a bowl and top with the chopped chicken, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, dried cranberries, and pecans. Drizzle the sauce over the bowls and enjoy!
How to Store and Reheat
While these bowls make for a great weeknight dinner, they also lend themselves really well to meal prepping for lunch or dinner throughout the week. If you want to go this route, we recommend assembling the bowls but keeping the pecans, cranberries, and sauce on the side, as these components don’t heat well. To reheat, just microwave the bowls for 1 minute 30 seconds, or place in a 350 F oven for about 15 minutes, until everything is warmed through. Then add the cranberries, sauce, and pecans.
Frequently Asked Questions
The first few times I made quinoa, I found it bitter and mushy and wondered what all the fuss was about. After a few experiments though, I finally figured out how to get fluffy, flavorful quinoa without the bitter taste. Here are our tips for great quinoa:
Soak and rinse it. Quinoa is often used as a substitute for rice and other grains, but did you know it is actually a seed? Because it’s a seed, it contains saponins that deter birds from eating it. These saponins cause the bitter flavor in quinoa, and will also cause the water to look soapy or bubbly when you rinse it. Luckily, they’re easy to get rid of! Soaking your quinoa for about 2 minutes, then thoroughly rinsing it before cooking will go a long way to reducing that bitter flavor.
Use less liquid. The instructions on the bag and many recipes call for a ratio of 2 cups of water to 1 cup of quinoa – but this resulted in mushy quinoa for me every time. Instead, we recommend using 1 1/2 cups of water for every cup of quinoa. This results in light, fluffy quinoa.
Use broth instead of water. If you want to add a bit more flavor to your quinoa, we highly recommend cooking it in chicken or vegetable broth instead of just water.
Add a bit of fat. About 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil, or your other favorite fat of choice, helps add flavor to the quinoa and keeps it from sticking together so much.
You’ll typically find quinoa in 4 varieties: white, black, red, and tricolor (which is a mix of all three). Here, we used tricolor quinoa, but you can use whichever you prefer in this recipe.
White quinoa is the most common type of quinoa and has a milder flavor, and cooks up slightly more fluffy than the other two varieties. Red quinoa has a slightly thicker shell, so tastes a bit nuttier and provides a slight crunch. Finally, black quinoa has the thickest shell of the varieties and can be more crunchy. Because of this, black quinoa often takes about 5 minutes longer to cook as well.
While you shouldn’t have this problem if you follow the steps above, if you do wind up with mushy quinoa, simply remove the lid from the pot that you’re cooking it in, and allow it to cook for an additional 5 minutes. This will allow the excess water to evaporate and give the quinoa a chance to firm back up.
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Harvest Quinoa Bowls
Ingredients
For the bowls:
- 1 1/2 pound sweet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
- 1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts, stems removed and halved
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup pecans, toasted
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup white, red, or tri-color quinoa
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth or water
For the sauce:
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup, optional
- 1 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Toss the sweet potatoes with one tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, then spread onto the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then transfer to the lower oven rack.
- Toss the brussels sprouts with 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, then spread onto half of a rimmed baking sheet.
- Lay the chicken breast on the same pan with the brussels sprouts, then brush on both sides with olive oil and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining pepper. Bake for 25 minutes, until the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 F and the sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts are browned, then remove from oven.
- While the chicken and veggies cook, make the quinoa. Soak the quinoa for 2 minutes, then rinse it thoroughly and add to a pot with the broth, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon oil. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and cook for 15 minutes.
- To make the sauce: whisk together the dijon, lemon juice, thyme, and maple syrup, then slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking constantly.
- Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces, then assemble the bowls with quinoa, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, chicken, pecans, cranberries and sauce. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
So flavorful and delicious!
Wahooo! So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Julie!
I am not following the nutritional info per serving .
At first glance , 6 grams of protein doesn’t seem correct nor do the calories. However it is a delicious recipe!
this is completely delicious, but the calories are WAY off. The oil alone is 144cal/serve.
this is closer to 650/serve.
Thanks for the feedback! I’ll take a look at the nutrition facts!
Any thoughts on an additional sauce? My husband won’t eat dijon but it’s too dry for us without a sauce.
A citrus vinaigrette would be yummy, Jessica!
I was already roasting sweet potatoes, Brussels, and sliced onions for a bowl I wanted to make. I also wanted to to use up some fresh spinach. I needed a sauce to make it come together so I searched what would go well and found your recipe. I decided to make the complete recipe with my additions and it was amazing and so filling. I’m writing this a day later and my mouth is watering. I can’t wait to have the leftovers! I really think adding the roasted onions added one more flavor that went really well with an already awesome recipe.
We’ve made this several times and love it every time.
We’re so glad to hear that, Tammy!
The recipe says that the total calories are 700+ and it serves five. So does that mean it’s 700 cal per serving or 700 cal for all five servings? Any insight would be helpful as I’m trying to track the macros.
Each serving, Britnee. I hope that helps!
Made this and prepped it for lunches this week. It’s so delicious! Do workers were very envious and asking if it was my lunch that smelled so good. Yup it was!
YAY! That’s amazing, Kari! Thank you for sharing this with us!
How do you think this would do with cauliflower rice? Thanks!
I think it would be yummy with cauliflower rice!
This is one of our favs! So good!
Just made this tonight and I love it!!!!
So glad you enjoyed it Patty!