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Quinoa bowls are fantastically versatile. Have one random, leftover chicken breast? Toss it in. Half a bunch of asparagus? Sauté it up. Leftover mushrooms? No problem. This ramp and asparagus quinoa bowl is a flavorful way to repurpose pre-cooked spring veggies, or lots of little leftovers.
Use up your leftovers with Quinoa Bowls
This recipe was really inspired by wanting to use up leftovers that my husband and I had hanging around in our refrigerator. One of his favorite breakfasts is a savory oatmeal with mushrooms and peas, so he’ll sauté up a large batch of mushrooms to use all week. But if we don’t use all of them up for breakfast, it’s handy to have recipes that take advantage of the remaining mushrooms (or other vegetables) before they go bad. Eliminating unnecessary food waste is a very simple way to save money on your weekly food budget.
Quinoa was one of those ingredients that had a major fad phase a couple of years ago. It might be less popular now than it was back in 2015, but that doesn’t mean it is any less delicious. The key is to cook quinoa in a flavorful liquid, like chicken stock, and not plain water. This helps to bring all the flavors in the dish together so that each component goes well together.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Ramps
Ramps, also known as wild leeks, are a foraged crop that starts to appear at farmers markets in April. Even though these are a type of onion, ramps smell and taste like garlic. The stems are more pungent than the greens, but the entire plant is edible (and delicious).
In some areas, only the greens are harvested in an attempt to be more sustainable. In this case, simply replace a clove of garlic for the ramp stems.
If ramps aren’t available in your area (sorry, Californians, this is probably you), substitute sautéed spinach for the ramp greens and a clove of garlic for the ramp stems.
Asparagus
Like ramps, asparagus is one of the first spring crops to appear at farmers markets. Asparagus can be eaten raw (like my shaved asparagus salad), or sautéed, like they are in this quinoa bowl. Often, I see recipes call for quickly blanching the asparagus in boiling water and then quickly ceasing the cooking in ice water. While this does lock in a bright green color, I find it to be tedious and not at all necessary to maintain a pleasant texture when sautéing asparagus. If you’ve got the time and are feeling like doing extra steps, go for it. If not, skipping ahead and sautéing immediately doesn’t really have any detrimental effects.
When picking out asparagus, the thickness of the stalk isn’t hugely important; this is an indicator of how old the asparagus plant is, but not necessarily the age of the harvest. The key to finding the best asparagus at the farmers market is looking for spears that are firm, and not wilted or spongy.
Mixed Mushrooms
While “mushrooms” is a really broad category, and many mushrooms have different flavors and textures, just about any mushroom will work here. As I mentioned in the intro, this recipe is really more of a template to use leftovers and minimize food waste.
Tips and Tricks
It is really easy to covert this to a vegetarian or vegan friendly meal. Swap out the chicken stock for vegetable stock when cooking the quinoa, and replace the chicken with any other vegetable. Like I mentioned earlier, the quinoa bowl idea is extremely versatile and perfect for using up little bits of leftovers.
Serving Suggestions
Since this recipe is more about using up leftovers, the only real suggestion I have here is that I would store each component separately for leftovers.
This also makes for a fantastic work lunch, since it doesn’t feel like eating leftovers.
Ramp and Asparagus Quinoa Bowl
This ramp and asparagus quinoa bowl is a flavorful way to repurpose pre-cooked spring veggies, or lots of little leftovers.
Ingredients
For the Quinoa Base
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup quinoa
For the vegetables
- 2 tbsp avocado oil, divided
- 5-6 ramps
- 10 oz sliced mushrooms
- ½-¾ lb asparagus spears, chopped into 1 inch pieces
- Salt and pepper, to taste
For the Chicken
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 large chicken breast, approximately 8oz, cut into 1 in cubes
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Plating/Garnish
- 1 lemon, sliced
Instructions
Quinoa Base
- Pour chicken stock into a small pot and bring to a boil on the stove. Reduce heat to medium low to keep stock at a simmer
- Add quinoa to pot and stir. Cover pot and simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all all of the stock and is tender.
Vegetables
- Separate ramp leaves from the ramp stems. Slice stems finely.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a small skillet on medium heat. Add ramp stems and sauté until translucent.
- Add mushrooms to skillet and sauté until mushrooms are soft and most water has been cooked out. Approximately 8 minutes.
- Remove mushroom mixture from skillet and set aside. Add remaining oil to skillet and heat on medium until shimmering.
- Add ramp leaves to skillet to sauté. Once ramp leaves are wilted, remove from skillet and set aside, leaving the oil behind.
- Add asparagus to skillet and sauté until heated through, approximately 4-5 minutes, tossing constantly. Once cooked, remove from heat and set aside.
Chicken
- Heat avocado oil in a skillet until shimmering.
- Toss chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Add to skillet
- Sauté chicken over medium-high heat until cooked through.
Plating
- Add a scoop of quinoa to the center of each bowl as a base.
- Divide ramps, asparagus, mushrooms, and chicken evenly to each bowl
- Top with a slice of lemon on each bowl.
