Have you ever eaten quinoa? For those who haven’t, quinoa is a fine grain which comes from the amaranth family. For anyone who is trying to eat a little bit healthier, quinoa is often a good choice as a replacement for pasta or other processed grain foods. Still, quinoa has a reputation as a relatively boring food that doesn’t taste much like anything. Fortunately, we’re going to change that perception today.
Today, we’re making a slow cooker chicken and quinoa soup that’s both healthy and delicious. As with all slow cooker recipes, all you have to do is prepare your ingredients, throw everything together and enjoy it all when it’s done. While the basic mixture is not altogether different from a basic chicken soup, the addition of quinoa and a range of other spices and flavors takes everything up another notch. So let’s get started.
Here’s what you need:
- 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts
- 2 cups of diced celery
- 2 cups of diced carrots
- 4 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 cup of peeled and diced turnips
- 1 cup of quinoa
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 8 cups of chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons of sea salt
- 3/4 cup of shredded Parmesan
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
Here’s what you do:
1. To get started, make sure all your ingredients are chopped and prepared. When everything is ready, throw your chicken breasts, celery, carrots, garlic, turnips, quinoa, tomatoes, broth, oregano, sea salt, Parmesan and rosemary into the mix. Make sure to mix everything together well and close the slow cooker.
2. With everything combined, set the entire thing to cook on low for eight hours or on high for four hours. When the time is up, open the pot up and take the rosemary sprigs out of the mix. After that, take your cooked chicken out and shred it up with two forks.
3. When the chicken is shredded, add it all back into the slow cooker and stir everything up again to combine it all. With your soup ready, spoon it all into bowls and top it off with some extra Parmesan!
As you can see, the ingredients and the process of making this recipe is just as simple as any other slow cooker dish. Still, the end result is a fun twist on a more familiar chicken and veggie soup that adds in some additional seasonings and ingredients. When it’s all done, the result is a salty and savory dish that includes plenty of protein, nutrients and even some light carbohydrates.
Once you’ve made this dish once, feel free to experiment with the seasonings and the ingredients in your soup as you see fit! To fully complete this dish, you can also prepare it with a side of cheesy garlic bread as well to make it completely perfect. No matter what you do, this recipe is sure to be a hit. As always, have fun with the process and let us know how it all turns out!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
