Pesto Quinoa Bowl With Broccoli & Sweet Potato
This Pesto Quinoa Bowl is packed with nutritious and tasty ingredients like roasted sweet potato chunks, roasted broccoli, spinach, pecans, and a hard-boiled egg. Everything is topped with my favourite vegan hemp seed pesto to add a punch of flavour. It’s perfect for meal prep or as a packed lunch!
One of my favourite easy meals is a nutrient-dense grain bowl. I love how creative you can get with the ingredients, and how balanced of a meal you can make!
This Pesto Quinoa Bowl With Broccoli & Sweet Potato was something I threw together about a year ago on Instagram. I ended up loving it so much, I thought I would share the recipe on here.
Another thing I love about this dish is how well it lends itself to meal prepping.
On Sundays, I love preparing a few longer-to-cook “meal components” (like whole grains, roasted veggies, some proteins, and a sauce) and then throwing them together during the week for quick meals. Each ingredient in the dish can be made in advance during your weekly meal prep!
This Pesto Quinoa Bowl can be enjoyed warm or cold, making it a great packed lunch option, too.
How To Make Pesto Quinoa Bowl
As I mentioned, each component of this bowl can be made in advance. But, if you’re making it to be eaten immediately, I’d recommend following the order below to optimize your time!
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a large baking sheet for the veggies.
- Cook the quinoa. For in-depth instructions, check out my post on How To Cook Quinoa.
- While the quinoa cooks, prepare the broccoli and sweet potatoes. Chop the broccoli into florets and chop the sweet potatoes into small 1-inch cubes. Toss the veggies in olive oil, salt, and pepper before spreading them on the lined baking sheet. Pop them in the oven for 30 minutes, until tender and slightly browned.
- Meanwhile, hard boil the eggs on the stove. My favourite way to do this is by placing them in a saucepan and covering with water. Bring the water to a boil, then cover and remove from heat. Set your timer for 12 minutes, then drain and place in cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Finally, prepare the vegan hemp seed pesto in a small food processor.
- Once everything is ready, add ingredients to a bowl along with baby spinach, a sprinkle of pecans, salt, and pepper!
Recipe Nutrition Notes
Each of the ingredients in this bowl is packed with health benefits! Check out these impressive nutrition stats below:
Quinoa Nutrition:
- a complete protein, this pseudo-cereal (it’s technically a seed!) provides 8 grams of protein in 1 cup of cooked quinoa
- rich in micronutrients, including:
- magnesium
- phosphorus
- manganese
- folate
- copper
- iron
- zinc
- B-vitamins
- high in dietary fibre (5 grams in 1 cup cooked)
Sweet Potato Nutrition:
- an incredible source of beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A in the body (one medium sweet potato provides 386% of your daily needs)
- a source of essential micronutrients like:
- potassium
- magnesium
- calcium
- iron
- phosphorus
- vitamin B6
- vitamin E
- vitamin C
- rich in dietary fibre – one sweet potato provides 15% of your daily needs (4 grams)
Broccoli Nutrition:
- a great source of micronutrients like:
- vitamin C
- vitamin K
- vitamin A
- folate
- potassium
- calcium
- iron
- phosphorus
- magnesium
- high in fibre, with 1 cup providing 2.3 grams (9% of your daily needs)
Spinach Nutrition:
- packed with vitamins A, C, K, folate, and calcium
- rich in phytonutrients, which act as antioxidants and have many benefits to our health
Pecan Nutrition:
- a great source of different vitamins and minerals, including:
- vitamin A
- vitamin E
- folic acid
- calcium
- magnesium
- phosphorus
- potassium
- a great source of dietary fibre, heart-healthy fats, and protein.
Hemp Seed Pesto Nutrition:
- rich in heart-healthy fats, including omega-3s (from the hemp seeds) and monounsaturated fatty acids (from olive oil)
- hemp seeds provide protein
- nutritional yeast is rich in B-vitamins
- fresh basil is a packed with antioxidants and micronutrients like vitamin C, A, K, B6, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and iron
A Note On Grain Bowls
Whether you follow this recipe to a tee, or you feel like switching up some of the ingredients, try to follow a similar formula when making grain bowls to ensure you’re getting a balanced meal:
Include a protein. In this case, my main protein is the hard-boiled egg, but I’m also getting protein from the quinoa, hemp seeds, and nuts.
You can switch this up by using other protein sources like tofu, tempeh, fish, or meat. Protein provides the building blocks for just about everything in our body, plus it also helps to slow digestion ( = fuller for longer).
Include a healthy source of fat. In this case, the hemp seed pesto and olive oil used for cooking are my primary fat sources!
Fat helps to absorb many of the nutrients found in vegetables, and it also helps to keep you feeling full and satisfied.
Include lots of veggies! Roasted, raw, leafy greens…whatever you choose, most of us are trying to get more veggies in and this is an excellent way to do so.
Veggies are packed with vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre, and other beneficial plant compounds.
Recipe Variations & Modifications
There are SO many ways you can modify this recipe to suit your needs. For instance:
It can be made vegan by swapping the egg with a vegan protein (perhaps some cubes of baked tofu?).
For a nut-free version, simply omit the nuts (pecans).
You can use any grain you’d like in place of quinoa, such as farro or brown rice.
Feel free to swap different veggies! For instance, try roasted butternut squash and cauliflower instead of sweet potatoes and broccoli.
You can use different greens in place of spinach, like arugula!
More Healthy Bowl Recipes
- Cheesy Butternut Squash Rice Bowl With Shrimp
- Green Goddess Rice Bowl With Shrimp
- Cold Chopped Quinoa Salad Bowl
- Chimichurri Grain Bowl
- Kimchi Quinoa Bowl
- Shrimp Taco Salad Bowl
Did you give this Roasted Butternut Squash & Pear Soup Recipe a try? Let me know by leaving a comment and recipe rating below!
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Get the Recipe: Pesto Quinoa Bowl With Broccoli & Sweet Potato
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup dry quinoa (or 1 cup cooked)
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 med-large sweet potato
- 1 crown broccoli
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (to toss veggies)
- 2 large eggs
- Approx. 2 cups baby spinach
- 1/4 cup raw pecans
- Salt + pepper, to taste
Hemp Seed Pesto:
- 2 cups fresh basil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup hemp seeds
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Salt + pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a large baking sheet for the veggies.
- Cook Quinoa. Rinse dry quinoa in a sieve, then add rinsed quinoa and water to a saucepan with lid. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until all water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and set aside. Keep lid on to allow quinoa to steam and fluff up.
- While the quinoa cooks, prepare the broccoli and sweet potatoes. Chop the broccoli into florets and chop the sweet potatoes into small 1-inch cubes. Toss the veggies in olive oil, salt, and pepper before spreading them on the lined baking sheet. Pop them in the oven for 30 minutes, until tender and slightly browned.
- Meanwhile, hard boil the eggs. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil, then cover and remove from heat. Set your timer for 12 minutes, then drain and place in cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Prepare the vegan hemp seed pesto. Add all pesto ingredients to a food processor, and process until well-combined.
- Once everything is ready, assemble grain bowls by dividing ingredients evenly. Start with a base of baby spinach, add quinoa, roasted veggies, the hard-boiled egg, pecans, and top with pesto and additional salt + pepper if desired. Mix everything together in order to distribute pesto!
Notes
Nutrition
As a dietitian, I create recipes with whole food ingredients that provide the nutrients needed for optimal health. My nutrition philosophy does not focus on numbers; however, I understand that this information can be helpful.
Do note that the nutrition info provided is an estimate and I cannot guarantee correctness of the displayed values. These numbers will differ depending on brands used, recipe modifications, and amount eaten. If you require specific nutrition information due to medical reasons, please consult with your dietitian or physician.
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4 Comments on “Pesto Quinoa Bowl With Broccoli & Sweet Potato”
Another delicious combination! We made a bigger batch and had it for 3 nights in a row, and to be honest I probably could’ve eaten it for dinner the rest of the week, too. My sweet potato chunks didn’t quite get as soft and browned on the outside as I would have liked even with extra time in the oven but I think that says more about my cooking skills than anything else. It is still a great combo and we loved the pesto!
Aw thank you so much, Kelly! So happy to hear this. The pesto tastes great on just about any veg + grain bowl if you want to experiment and change things up ever!!
For the sweet potatoes – hmm, perhaps making sure that the potatoes are spaced out on the baking sheet and not touching one another? Could help with browning! Also giving them a stir halfway through can help make the cooking more even, or cutting smaller chunks could help with softness! Sometimes oven temperatures can be a little all over the place so it’s hard to say. But happy you enjoyed regardless 🙂
This recipe was delicious!! Only change we made was we roasted in our convection at 400. Potatoes and Broccoli turned out perfect. Can’t wait to make this again!!
Hi Bethany! Thank you so much for sharing your experience! It’s so appreciated. I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this one 🙂