Pizza Quinoa Casserole

This is a must-try recipe. If you are a quinoa fan, you might want to run (not walk) to get these ingredients for your next meal!

To conclude pizza week here at Natural Noshing, I have a Pizza Quinoa Casserole to share that was slightly adapted from the lovely Heidi over at Food Doodles. The moment this recipe was posted, I printed it out to cook at my earliest opportunity. This recipe is a sure-fire winner, even with the few tweaks I made from the items I had on hand. This casserole may or may not be on my weekly menu for a while…I highly recommend you make this dish! 🙂

I ate my pizza quinoa for lunch as a main dish two days in a row and served it as a side to grilled chicken for dinner….DELISH! You can easily make this vegan and dairy free by eliminating the cheese on top or using dairy-free cheese shreds. A variety of cheeses would work well here in place of the Italian blend I used– goat cheese, mozzarella, feta etc based on your personal preference.

Pizza Quinoa Casserole (adapted from Food Doodles)

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked quinoa cooked in 2 C water or about 3 1/2 cups cooked quinoa* – rice or millet would make nice substitutes too
4 oz can tomato paste (I had a barely used open can, feel free to use the whole 6 oz)
3-4 large cloves garlic, finely minced, grated or pressed
1 small onion, diced (if you aren’t a big onion fan, use 1/2 onion and finely dice)
2 tbsp water
1 1/2 2 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, Earth Balance or butter/ghee
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp basil or 2 Tbsp fresh basil
1 tbsp dried parsley
pinch of stevia (or 1/4 tsp granulated sweetener)
3/4 – 1 tsp sea salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
3 tbsp nutritional yeast(optional but I used for a cheesy flavor)
1/2 cup shredded Italian blend cheese, optional (or goat cheese, mozzarella or feta)

Directions

1. Rinse quinoa well and combine with water in a small pot over high heat.  Bring to a boil, cover and turn down to low and simmer for 15 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed, the quinoa is tender and completely cooked.  Remove from the heat and leave covered in the pot for 5 minutes while assembling other ingredients.*

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 4 – 1 cup ramekins, 2 – 2 cup dishes or a larger casserole dish, depending on how you want to bake and serve this.

3. In a small bowl, combine the tomato paste with the garlic and onion, water and olive oil.  Mix well.  Add tomatoes and all the seasonings including the nutritional yeast if using.  Mix well again before adding the quinoa.  Once the mixture is completely mixed, taste for seasonings and add more salt as needed.  Then divide evenly among the dishes for baking, sprinkle with cheese if desired and place in the oven.  I baked mine in two gratin dishes and one loaf pan, but this could easily be done in smaller ramekins for individual servings, or in one larger dish.

4. Bake 30-35 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbly or until the quinoa on top is golden and crispy.  If desired, sprinkle with more nutritional yeast and fresh basil or parsley and serve.

*For a quicker prep, cook the quinoa the night before and refrigerate to easily assemble the next evening.