As many of you know, I am a big fan of quinoa and I have been ever since I first tried it. You can use quinoa in surprisingly many ways and I have been enjoying experimenting with different ways of using it over the last few years. My next experiment was to use it as a replacement for breadcrumbs to get a crispy coating on chicken (or other things) that was inspired by the fact that when you bake or toast cooked quinoa it gets nice and crispy. One of the first things that came to mind to try the quinoa coating on was chicken parmesan which typically consists of breaded chicken that is fried or baked and then covered in a marinara sauce and melted cheese. The recipe for the quinoa crusted version of chicken parmesan could not be simpler, you pretty much just take your basic baked chicken parmesan recipe and replace the breadcrumbs with cooked quinoa.
The cooked quinoa coating on the chicken toasted up nice and crispy and golden brown on the chicken just like bread crumbs and I quite enjoyed the texture of it! Now that I know that the quinoa coating works I can’t wait to try it on other things! Crispy quinoa crusted zucchini fries anyone?
Serve with a salad for an easy light meal.
Crispy Baked Quinoa Crusted Chicken Parmesan
Healthy baked, crispy quinoa crusted chicken parmesan topped with melted cheese and marinara sauce.
ingredients
- 4 (4-6 ounce) boneless, and skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa (~1/2 cup dry cooked with 1 cup liquid)
- 1 teaspoon italian seasoning blend
- 1 cup mozzarella, shredded
- 1/4 cup parmigiano regginao (parmesan), grated
- 2 cups marinara sauce, hot
- 2 tablespoons basil, torn
directions
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper, dredge in flour, dip in egg and coat in the mixture of the quinoa and italian seasoning.
- Place the chicken on a rack on a baking pan and bake in a preheated 400F/200C oven until cooked and lightly golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken to a baking dish, top with the cheese and broil until it has melted, about 2-4 minutes.
- Plate the chicken and top with hot marinara sauce and fresh torn basil and enjoy!
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Tieghan says
May 13, 2013 at 12:57 pmI love the crispy quinoa!! It looks so perfect!!
Maria says
May 13, 2013 at 1:26 pmGreat way to use quinoa!
Charlie says
May 13, 2013 at 1:35 pmKevin,
You are crazy good, genius and inspiring. Love your stuff. Made the Tarragon Chicken this past weekend. The best!!
Sommer @ ASpicyPerspective says
May 13, 2013 at 1:52 pmAwesome way to use quinoa!
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says
May 13, 2013 at 2:38 pmI have been meaning to try a quinoa crusted chicken, it looks so good!
marla says
May 13, 2013 at 2:44 pmThis is such a creative way to use quinoa Kevin!
Megan {Country cleaver} says
May 13, 2013 at 2:53 pmThis sounds fantastic! I adore chicken parm, and totally digging the crunchy quinoa addition, Kevin.
Heather Christo says
May 13, 2013 at 2:56 pmomg- my kids would scarf this down while never realizing they had consumed quinoa!
Marie Matter says
May 13, 2013 at 2:57 pmmmmm quinoa crust?! totally on board with that!!
Cookin' Canuck says
May 13, 2013 at 3:18 pmBeautiful colors! I've been wanting to try quinoa as a crust, and am glad to hear it works out so beautifully.
Pamela @ Brooklyn Farm Girl says
May 13, 2013 at 3:24 pmSuch a unique twist on quinoa, great recipe. Thanks for sharing this!
Jerry | Simply Good Eating says
May 13, 2013 at 3:53 pmGreat idea Kevin. I like the use of quinoa for breading the chicken 🙂 Thanks for sharing this!
Angie Barrett says
May 13, 2013 at 4:23 pmoh neat! Never thought to "bread" something in Quinoa!
Amanda @ The Anti-Mom says
May 13, 2013 at 5:14 pmnever ever thought to use quinoa as a breading – love it! got to try!
Georgia | The Comfort of Cooking says
May 13, 2013 at 8:41 pmLove this scrumptious spin on one of my favorite comfort foods, Kevin! Lovely recipe!
Marian (Sweetopia) says
May 13, 2013 at 11:37 pmYum!! What a brilliant & tasty idea!
DessertForTwo says
May 14, 2013 at 12:47 amWhat a great new way to eat quinoa! This will be going in the rotation for sure! thanks 🙂
We Are Not Martha says
May 14, 2013 at 12:56 amThis is such a good use of quinoa! Love it!!
Sues
Gaby says
May 14, 2013 at 12:57 amTotally smitten with this chicken!
Kate Scott says
May 14, 2013 at 2:32 amWhat a brilliant idea!! Can't wait to try it!!
Aimee @ Simple Bites says
May 14, 2013 at 12:36 pmFantastic family friendly meal!
Unknown says
May 28, 2013 at 8:30 pmThank you for the recipe! I just made this tonight, I really loved it…my kids rebelled at first at the different texture but not for too long!My husband and I both liked it a lot…what a great idea, thank you for sharing. I will definitely be making this again, so healthy!!
Anne Meltzer says
July 22, 2013 at 3:03 amI made this for a dinner party potluck type of event. I cut up the chicken into slightly-bigger-than-nugget proportions before I did the flour, egg, and quinoa breading. It was a huge hit!! My only suggestion would be to put in slightly more quinoa than the recipe calls for, like 3/4 cup rather than 1/2, I really had to stretch the quinoa breading towards the end. The crunchiness was unexpected and everyone really enjoyed it! I used multi-colored quinoa, so it was especially pretty. A fairly easy recipe that is mighty impressive!
Anonymous says
July 31, 2013 at 3:56 pmSounds delicious! Can I use gluten-free bisquick or a little cornstarch in place of the flour for coating? I have celiac and cannot do the flour.
kevin says
July 31, 2013 at 4:52 pmAnonymous: Yes that would work or you could use another gluten-free flour like rice flour.
Anonymous says
September 25, 2013 at 6:59 pmI tried this recipe for lunch today and would recommend it. Simple & quick & a great way to use quinoa!
md says
March 31, 2014 at 10:28 pmAnd with a minor modification, gluten free! Put cooking some quinoa on my todo list…
Rachel Page says
July 21, 2015 at 3:02 pmIf we hadn’t had spaghetti last night I’d be making this tonight
cleanqueen says
March 31, 2018 at 2:08 pmI have the quinoa and brown rice blend packet. Do you think that would work?
kevin says
March 31, 2018 at 2:43 pmCleanQueen: I have not tried that, I would say that it should work and now I'm really curious!
cleanqueen says
April 2, 2018 at 1:10 amTried it with the quinoa wild rice mixture. We didn't like the flavor.