This is one of those healthy recipes that is so ridiculously easy to prepare and delicious rolled into one. This dish is gluten-free, vegetarian, healthy, quick and easy. It’s kind of perfection in a slow cooker. At least for me it is.
Many of my recipes are vegetarian or some even vegan. That’s mainly because many of you ask for lower calorie dishes (especially in January!) and I figured one easy way to cut calories to cut back on the meat.
Side note: I am not a huge meat eater. I eat chicken on occasion.
You can easily add some cooked shredded chicken (make it organic please) or even some cooked chicken or turkey sausage to this dish. One thing to know, there is enough protein without the meat. But before you ask me, I choose not to eat meat not for health reasons. I cook meat for my family all the time. I am just a super picky eater. I think that’s why I work with a lot of children. They relate to me because I totally get it.
Vegetable Parmesan Quinoa in the Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 cups quinoa rinsed and drained
- 4 cups BPA-FREE organic vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 can BPA-FREE small white beans rinsed and drained
- 1-2 cups broccoli florets chopped
- 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes chopped (not in oil)
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large zucchini sliced
- 1 cup mushrooms wiped clean and sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt optional
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- salt and fresh black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
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In a 4 o 5 quart slow cooker, place quinoa and broth and top with remaining ingredients.
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Place on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 5-6 hours.
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Fluff with a fork, top with Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately.
This recipe is a perfectly well-balanced, healthy, vegetarian dish. The quinoa and beans add enough protein to help keep you full and each serving has a generous helping of vegetables. Oh and it’s pretty amazing. Man I love sun dried tomatoes…
Make your life easier and chop the vegetables the night before. This way, it will take you minutes to put everything in the slow cooker and dinner will be ready a few hours later. This is my kind of dinner!
| Nutrition Facts |
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Serving Size 642 g
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Amount Per Serving
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Calories 272
Calories from Fat 50
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% Daily Value*
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Total Fat 5.6g
9%
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Saturated Fat 1.4g
7%
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Trans Fat 0.0g
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Cholesterol 5mg
2%
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Sodium 1305mg
54%
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Total Carbohydrates 45.4g
15%
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Dietary Fiber 8.5g
34%
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Sugars 4.8g
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Protein 14.2g
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*Nutrition information is provided by caloriecount.com and isn’t 100% guaranteed accurate
Hope you like it too~
Your cooking times don’t make sense. Both high and low calls for the same hours?
OOOPS! Thank you so much for catching that Lin, I revised it 🙂
Could you add kale or spinach to this? Thanks
Absolutely Wendy! I would stir in the raw spinach or kale at the end. Just keep stirring it in until it wilts. Thanks!
Have you tried it without cheese? Would you make any substitutions or just leave the cheese out?
This looks delicious! I’m just wondering how large a serving is, and what the nutrition facts are for each serving. Have you calculated that? Thank you! 🙂
Hi Maggie! I just added the nutrition information on the bottom of the page. I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate it! 🙂
This can be a wonderful dish, Quinoa is so healthy! And I love making things in the crock pot because it is easier.
It cannot be called a vegetarian dish if you put in chicken stock, however, it woud be vegetarian if you used the vegetarian stock.
I would also leave out the cheese and it would be a vegan dish!
Adding kale would be an excellent idea, everything is better with kale. 🙂
I did read your quote, “Side note: I am not a meat eater. I eat chicken on occasion.”
If you eat chicken, you eat meat. Chicken is meat. Vegetarians eat no animals and fish and chickens are animals. Vegans do not eat or use any animals products, such as meat, dairy, eggs, leather, wool, etc.
Hi Tammy! I love quinoa so much too, it’s so versatile. You are correct, this would not be considered vegetarian with chicken stock. I just gave chicken stock as an option for those who may not have vegetable stock (and who aren’t vegetarians). And yes, I updated my quote to read “I am not a huge meat eater”. I am not vegetarian, I do eat chicken on occasion. I also don’t really label myself anything, I don’t eat much cheese, no red meat or pork, no seafood…I am just a picky eater 🙂 Thank you for stopping by, I hope you like it!!
This looks great, but FYI, Parmesan cheese is not vegetarian. This type of cheese is not suitable for vegetarians as it contains rennet, which is an enzyme found inside cow stomach. Vegetarians should choose a different type of cheese to substitute.
Yes Amanda, this is very true! Thanks for stopping by!
Wow some people are just nasty like Tammy.. I mean this woman Lauren posted a pretty damn tasty recipe on here for others to enjoy and you want to correct her on what a vegetarian is… that’s ridiculous… Plus if she eats chicken and not red meat than technically she is a ‘POLLO VEGETARIAN’ maybe you should look up your facts before you start cutting on people Tammy… didn’t your mother teach you if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all???
Most importantly.. thank you for sharing this Lauren! Many websites charge for nutritious recipes like this one and then don’t share the nutrition info. I can’t wait to make this dish with all the parmesan cheese and pollo included! Have an awesome weekend!
Thanks so much Renee. I am my own type of picky eater, I never classify myself as anything BUT I just may start calling myself a POLLO VEGETARIAN! 😉 I really appreciate your support and I hope you like the recipe!
I love quinoa dishes! This one looks tasty!
This looks amazing!
Thank you Christy!
Never knew you could make quinoa with other veggies in the slow cooker! Amazed that the consistency looks perfect after hours of cooking! Also not a huge meat eater so all for vegan and vegetarian meals : )
I’m not either and this is one of my favorites Vicky!
Love slow cooker meals. I was looking for a good quinoa recipe. Thanks for sharing this recipe, looks delicious.
Thanks so much Wanda!
Are leftovers tasty on reheat?
Absolutely Regina!
This looks yummy, thanks for the recipe. And I’m pretty impressed with how nice your responses are to some of these know-it-all’s.
🙂 Thank you! I hope you like it!!
Lauren,
Love the recipes. With that being said, do you know about how many cups 672 grams is? Our food scale broke and are in the process of getting a new one. Thanks for any help you can give.
Hi Bill! I am confused, what do you have that is 672 grams?
Lauren,
Sorry about that. The serving size says 672 grams.
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 642 g
Amount Per Serving
I was just wondering if you knew approximately how many cups that would be?
Thanks again, love the meal.
Bill
Whoops….642grams. :-#
I know this post is from a while ago, but I was wondering about using a 3-quart slow cooker for this recipe. If I cut the ingredients in half, does it change the cooking time?? This is my first time using a crockpot. It looks really delicious and my boyfriend is a vegetarian so I plan on making this soon!
Hi Marie! It should be the same amount of time. I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!