Annnnnd, the countdown is on.
Ten days until Barclay and I leave for New Zealand!!! And I can’t WAIT!
I can’t wait to meet all of B’s Kiwi relatives who are coming together for a big reunion at a beautiful National Park campground (complete with a family jam sesh, since apparently everyone’s musical). I can’t wait to take our time (nearly 4 weeks) adventuring all over both islands, visiting the long list of towns and hikes and restaurants and coffee shops that some dear friends have recommended. I can’t wait to soak up lots of quality downtime with this cute guy, especially after some extra busy schedules we’ve had these past few months. And — I must admit — after a brutal winter week here in Kansas City, I can’t WAIT to cross the equator and have it be summer down there!!!
My swimsuit and flip flops are already packed. :)
Still, I’ve been working hard to get ahead and create a bunch of winter-friendly recipes to share here on the blog while I’m gone. And oh my goodness — I had initially scheduled this one to be posted in mid-February, but I couldn’t wait another second to share it with you. Because I’m convinced I have stumbled upon a winner here.
They’re everything we all love about a good slice of pizza. They’re made healthier (and also gluten-free) with lots of protein-packed quinoa. They’re 100% easy to customize with all of your favorite pizza ingredients. They’re quick and easy and actually really fun to make. And oh my goodness — THEY ARE GOOD.
Meet my new favorite Easy Quinoa Pizza Bowls!
How To Make Easy Quinoa Pizza Bowls | 1-Minute Video
Everyone seems to be obsessed with anything that’s served in a bowl lately, and I’ll admit I’m no exception. There’s something about digging a spoon into a big bowl of deliciousness that is oh-so-comforting. (And as a food stylist, I’ll also add in that bowls are oh-so-pretty!)
So when I was craving pizza the other day, I randomly decided to try tossing all of my favorite pizza ingredients into a new set of ramekins I just bought. (<–That’s an affiliate link, for anyone in the ramekin market. I totally recommend them!) I’m a big fan of pepperoni (always), green pepers, red onions, mushrooms, mozz, and Parm. In lieu of crust, though, I just cooked up a quick batch of quinoa, stirred it together with my favorite pizza sauce, and then added that to the mix.
So I layered everything up, then baked them nice and hot until the cheese was bubbly. Then I finished them under the broiler for another minute or two, until the cheese got nice and golden brown…
…and then finished them off with a little extra Parmesan and crushed red peppers. And the result?
Pure love. :)
Oh my goodness, these little bowls were incredible!!! I mean, first off, I think they’re incredibly cute and make for a really fun presentation. I loved how much quinoa I was able to stuff in them. And they totally satisfied my pizza craving!!!
And as opposed to having to commit to one or two toppings when you order a whole pizza, you can totally customize each individual bowl with the toppings you’d like. So if everyone in the family has a different topping preference? Bring it on! Or if you’re looking for a fun party idea? Set up a DIY pizza bowl kit and let them all make their own!
Seriously, these are too fun, and too good to pass up. So grab your favorite pizza toppings and some oven-proof ramekins (or hey, you could even make this one big casserole in a baking pan!), and give this recipe a try soon!
Easy Quinoa Pizza Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup (dry) quinoa
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 (14-ounce) jars pizza sauce
- 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 2-3 cups of your favorite pizza toppings (I used pepperonis, diced green peppers, diced button mushrooms, and thinly-sliced red onions, but see other ideas below*)
- optional toppings: grated Parmesan cheese, crushed red peppers
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Cook quinoa in the chicken or vegetable stock according to package instructions. (Or you can use this tutorial for how to cook quinoa.)
- When the quinoa has finished cooking, fluff the quinoa with a fork. Then stir about 1/2 cup pizza sauce into the quinoa until evenly combined. Set aside.
- Lightly spray 6 large (10-ounce) oven-safe ramekins with cooking spray. Place the ramekins on a large baking tray.
- Spread about 2 Tablespoons of pizza sauce evenly over the bottom of each ramekin.
- Layer each with about 1/4 cup of quinoa, and spread with a spoon to flatten.
- Layer each evenly with pinch of shredded Mozzarella.
- Layer each with a single layer of pizza toppings.
- Repeat by layering each with another layer of sauce, quinoa, Mozzarella, pizza toppings, followed by a final layer of Mozzarella. The ramekins should be full but not overflowing.
- Transfer the baking sheet full of ramekins to the oven, and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the ingredients are heated through. At this point, you can either remove the pizza bowls from the oven. Or if you’d like to get the cheese extra golden on top, you can turn the oven to “broil”. Then — keeping a close eye on the cheese so that it does not burn — broil the pizza bowls until the cheese is golden on top.
- Remove and sprinkle each pizza bowl with a pinch of Parmesan cheese and crushed red peppers, if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I was skeptical about these at first, but I have a ton of quinoa and not enough recipes for it, so I gave these a try. I was very impressed and I’ll be making them again. Not sure if pineapple would be good with these, but I’ll make one little bowl with pineapple next time to find out.
We’re glad you enjoyed these Andi! We think pineapple would be a yummy addition!
SO IN LOVE WITH THIS IDEA!!
Thanks Kylie! We hope you enjoy! :)
Wow! These were SO GOOD! Thank you so much for the absolutely amazing recipe!
Thanks Alex! We’re so happy you enjoyed them! :D
Love your animated GIF!
Anything that tastes like pizza but doesn’t require me to mix and pummel a load of dough for half an hour is great news to me because my kids are always asking (okay, more like demanding) for pizza. I suppose I can make these delicious-looking quinoa pizza bowls and then toast up some slices of bread and have them dip the bread into the bowls for a healthy meal, without mummy having to suffer aching arms.
Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome Pamela, we hope you and your kiddos enjoy these! :)
While you are in NZ be sure to try at least one meal at the roast shops. It is just like a pizza shop, or sandwich shop, but they have roasts! Most offer beef and lamb roasts, I don’t remember any others, but some had three kinds. You order by size, and with the roast, you get potatoes, carrots, taro or kumala, and gravy. If we had them here in the US, I probably would quit cooking and just get these!
We also found a Denny’s in Auckland and decided to see if it was the same as here. Mostly yes, but the best meal we had there was a braised lamb shank, and I would say, not to be missed! We also found a Tongan restaurant down by a beach. My husband is Tongan and all the relatives in NZ are too. My two companions while there were two of my nieces, they were happy to go with their Palangi (white) Auntie because she was buying! This was the best Tongan food I have ever eaten. We were just driving by and I saw the Tongan flag, so knew we had to give it a try.
My favorite thing about NZ was the shopping, not so much about buying a lot, but seeing the different types of shops. We stayed at Mangere where most of the family was centered, but went to several villages to shop and sightsee. We only stayed at North Island, but next time I wasn’t to go to the South Island. Not to worry, hubs has a ton of relatives there too!
What I was struck with, was that we are more alike than different, weather, food, sights, etc. I have been to Fiji and Tonga, and there is a major difference in cultures there. I thought NZ would be more like them. I hope you have as much fun as I did there! I (we) were too scared to drive there so had to depend on others for transportation. Everything is backwards, and they drive fast there! Their biggest problem is visitors causing accidents and I didn’t want it to be one of those.
These quinoa bowls look amazing! I love how you added other pizza toppings besides pepperoni in them!
There look amazing! Do you know if they freeze well?
Thanks Pam, we hope you enjoy the recipe! However, because of the melted cheese on top, we don’t think this one would freeze too well.
These are genius, Ali!!
Thanks Rebekah, we hope you love them! :)
Do you have the 5 or 10 oz ramekins?
Hi Dayla! We used 10-oz ramekins for these. We hope you enjoy!