Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Bake – Healthy Alternative To Mac & Cheese
I have been wanting to blog a quinoa bake recipe for a while now. I have made a few different in the past, a couple being an alternative to a macaroni and cheese recipe.
I have read about people adding pureed vegetables to their mac and cheese sauce, and I’ve been wanting to try it for the last year. It turned out really well and it tasted delicious. I’m so excited to share it with you.
First things first, I chopped up the bell pepper and cauliflower. Added some baby carrots and roasted them until they were charred and delicious.
Once the vegetables have cooled down a bit, puree them with the water. Set aside. The blender you see there is my Vitamix S30. <– That’s a link to my ful review.
Quinoa Bake Cheese Sauce:
Melt your butter over medium heat. I used roughly 3 tablespoons, I didn’t measure but I’d say it’s pretty close.
That counts as 1 cup, right?
I have to say, sauteing onions in butter is such a comforting smell. It makes me think of my mom cooking up perogies (it’s just missing bacon), it makes me very hungry.
I’m so bad at measuring out garlic, but I firmly believe that the more garlic the better. I buy pre-minced garlic from Costco – it saves me time and money.
Once the cheese sauce gets going and the cheddar is melted, add the pureed vegetables and seasonings. Then just mix in your cooked quinoa.
Add cheese and pop it in the oven at 350 for 25 minutes. Let cool and eat!
Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Bake
Ingredients
- Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa uncooked
- For The Roasted Vegetable Puree
- 2 cups baby carrots
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup water
- For The Cheese Sauce:
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 onion
- 2 tsps minced garlic
- 1 1/2 tbsp flour
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 cup cheddar cheese cubed (generous)
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- Topping:
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- Red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- For The Roasted Vegetables:
- Chop up cauliflower and red pepper and lay on a roasting pan, add baby carrots. Roast for 35 minutes (or until slightly charred - check the bottoms to make sure it's not actually burning).
- Meanwhile cook quinoa (Bring to a boil, and cook for 15 minutes on low), set aside.
- Once the vegetables are done, let them cool for a few minutes. Then you're going to puree them:
- Using a high powered blender, add all of your vegetables and half a cup of water. Puree.
- For The Cheese Sauce:
- In a medium stock pot over medium heat melt your butter, add onions and cook until translucent. Now is when you will add your garlic, stir until fragrant.
- Add flour, stir and add the almond milk. Let bubble for a minute or two and add the cup of cubed cheese. Stir until melted and add the pureed vegetables. Add salt, Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder, pepper, and thyme.
- Add the sauce to the cooked quinoa, stir to combine.
- Putting it together:
- Butter a 9x13 baking pan add quinoa and top with 1 cup of shredded cheese. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes (optional).
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and brown and beautiful.
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Ohmy goodness! That looks delish! I love roasted veggies and I love Quinoa! I also love that you give me so many new recipes to try in my Vitamix! Have I mentioned that I love my Vitamix too?
Isn’t it a great tool to have in the kitchen?
This looks so tasty! …and very satisfying!
Wow. I mean WOW. SO delish! You have officially taken up the room in my entire favorites bar with all of your recipes! This looks so yummy and healthy and I know my picky eater kiddo will eat it right up! Love it!
You have no idea how badly I’m craving this again. It’s so yummy!
Oh dear this looks amazing and I can guarantee it would be something Miss Fussy Pants would eat! Thank you so much for sharing.
Mr. Fussy Pants doesn’t like melted cheese this week…so this was a no go now. Maybe next week haha.
oh Wow, sounds like you are raising the counter part of Miss Fussy Pants. 3 years ago, at dinner she announced she no longer liked corn or potatoes.
Since then, she’ll eat french fries… no corn in any way shape or form.
The strangest thing was the night before we had meatloaf/corn/potatoes… she ate her entire plate without a complaint or saying a word..
children are complex beasts lol
Oh wow that is so neat that you used your Vitamix for this (I really need to get one of those!). The dish looks so delicious!
This looks incredible! My family would love this. We’re big fans of roasted veggies and quinoa. Win win.
I love mac & cheese, and I love quinoa. I love making stuff with my Vitamix. This is definitely a recipe for us!
This looks amazing, wonder if my kids would notice if I switched up our reg mac n cheese night with this …. mmmmm!
Yum! My mouth is watering, I love using Quinoa! My sister made a taco version using Quinoa and beans with veggies, and no meat, and it was so good. This looks way better then the original mac and cheese and better option.
I think of it as a “grown up” mac and cheese. It is VERY good.
I would love to give this a try. It looks so tasty and healthy too. I hope my family will like it.
This looks so delicious! I cook with quinoa all the time and will definitely try this.
sounds and looks delish thanks for sharing the recipe , trying to eat healthier 🙂
I really need to try quinoa out and this might be a good recipe to try, thanks for sharing! Love that it might be a good way to get some veggies into picky family members!
This looks so yummt and good for you, thanks!
You make it sound so easy and tasty, but I know I would mess it up some how, I only tried Quinoa once and I don’t think I did it right because I really didn’t care for it, yet everyone says how good it is, hmmmm
I’m not a huge fan of it on it’s own to be 100% honest. I like it cooked with spices and flavor.
That looks delicious, I have never tried Quinoa. I can ‘t eat too much cheese, I have a hard time digesting cheddar cheese.
I really have to give this a try. It just sounds so good. 🙂
This sounds so good! Thanks for sharing at What’d You Do This Weekend? I hope you will join us again this Monday!
This sounds nice and healthy, great take on mac and cheese. Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up again. Have a great day!!