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Quinoa Pilaf swaps in quinoa instead of rice in this light, flavorful, and protein-packed pilaf side dish. It’s so good!
Our rice pilaf recipe (you can see that here) is one of our long-time favorite side dishes at home – and it is very popular with our readers here on A Family Feast as well! (Seriously – once you try it, you’ll never want to buy the boxed mixes again!)
So with that delicious recipe in mind, we decided to change things up and create this Quinoa Pilaf recipe – and the results are equally as delicious!
A ‘pilaf’ by definition is a grain that has been cooked in a flavored broth – and quinoa cooked this way is extra flavorful! We used vegetable stock in our recipe today – but you can also use chicken stock if you prefer.
We’ve also included some toasted orzo pasta as part of this quinoa pilaf – and there are some delicious gluten-free orzo options that will work in this recipe if that is part of your dietary requirements! And – if you want to make this a vegan dish, simply swap out the butter for vegan butter (look for Earth Balance brand at your supermarket) or with additional extra virgin olive oil.
This is an extremely simple, delicious and healthy side dish that can be prepared in just 45 minutes! Enjoy!
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Quinoa Pilaf
Quinoa Pilaf swaps in quinoa instead of rice in this light, flavorful, and protein-packed pilaf side dish. It’s so good!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dry orzo (feel free to use gluten-free orzo – DeLallo brand is very good)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup scallions diced, tops and bottoms
- 1/2 cup carrots, diced small
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 1 cup quinoa (we recommend Bob’s Red Mill brand)
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- In a medium-sized pan with a tight-fitting lid, brown orzo in dry pan over medium heat. After about five minutes, or until pasta is browned, remove pasta to a dish and hold.
- Over medium high heat, melt butter in oil and add scallions, carrots and browned orzo. Cook for two minutes and add garlic, quinoa, stock, salt, pepper and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a low simmer and cook 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes remove from heat but leave covered for an additional 10 minutes.
- Stir in chopped parsley and serve.
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It was my first time making this. Tested it on my sister and her husband. They adked for the recipe. Would have liked the nutrition info.
Thanks Jacqueline – We’re working our way through all of our recipes to manually add the nutritional information. I’ve just added it to the bottom of the recipe card for you now. Hope that’s helpful.
I made this Pilaf exactly like the recipe. It is very good. Everyone loved it
Thanks Greg – glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Had this tonight as a side with steaks my husband grilled and it turned out great! I didn’t have any scallions but had a green pepper so I added that instead and it was fine. The biggest plus though was that even our 2 year old grandson liked it! We hadn’t tried quinoa with him yet but he ate it with no problem. I think it would be good to add a few toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds for just a bit of crunch. Will try that next time as there will be a next time!
Great suggestions Nancy! So glad you all enjoyed the recipe!