Lemon herb chicken with quinoa
Golden lemon-garlic chicken sliced over warm, fluffy quinoa tossed with spinach, parsley and bright lemon, light and packed with protein.
- 35 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.49 a serving
- 430 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
- 1¼ lb chicken breasts, sliced into thin cutlets
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups baby spinach
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
From your pantry
- 2 cups water
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
Each serving has about 430 calories, 39 g protein, 30 g carbs and 17 g fat, and costs about $2.49 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the quinoa, water and ½ teaspoon of salt in a medium and bring it over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and cook 15 minutes, until the water is gone. Leave it covered off the heat.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: Done quinoa has little white tails curling off each grain.Rub the chicken with the lemon , garlic, oregano, pepper, 1 tablespoon of oil and ½ teaspoon of salt, and wash your hands and board.
Zest. Zest is the thin, colored outer layer of citrus peel, rubbed off on the smallest holes of a grater. It holds the fruit’s fragrant oils, so it adds bright flavor without the sourness of juice.
How you’ll know: You see bright flecks and smell citrus right away; stop when you reach the white layer, which is bitter.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large over medium-high and cook the chicken 3 to 4 minutes per side, until and the thickest cutlet reads 165°F.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Let the chicken on a board for 5 minutes, then it.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Timer: 5 min
Fluff the quinoa with a fork and in the spinach, parsley, lemon juice, the last tablespoon of oil and the rest of the salt. The warm quinoa the spinach.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Spoon the quinoa onto plates and lay the chicken on top.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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