This lightened up version of “chicken fried rice” was ready in less than 30 minutes and full of flavor and healthy ingredients. The great thing about substituting your rice with quinoa is that you pack in protein and lose unwanted carbs. It was also fun to test out our wok that was given to us as a wedding gift – thanks Lehner! You can purchase your own wok by clicking HERE. A large skillet or frying pan would also work as well.  Creating a stir fry is an easy way to repurpose leftover produce and protein, and it makes for a filling one dish dinner. You can easily swap out any of the vegetables I used, or use beef or tofu instead of chicken.

Quinoa Chicken Stir Fry – Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

• 1 rotisserie chicken – deboned and shredded
• 1 jar baby corn
• 1 package dry instant quinoa
• 1 bell pepper chopped
• 1 egg beaten
• 2 green onions chopped
• 2 leafs of bok choy (chinese cabbage) – chopped (I like to buy prepackaged asian veggies) Fresh Market, Whole Foods & Central market carry them
• seeded and chopped jalapeno (optional)
• light sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• red pepper flakes
• tablespoon butter (optional)
• other veggies I didn’t use that would work well: snow peas, edamame, leeks, spinach, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, asparagus, really anything!

Directions:

• rinse 3/4 cup quinoa and add to a small saucepan with 3/4 cup water and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring this to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and cook, DON’T open the cover, wait about 15 minutes until quinoa absorbs the water. Remove from your stove, fluff with a fork and leave uncovered.
• in a wok or large skillet add the vegetable oil and all of the chopped veggies… stir until they soften
• fold in the shredded chicken and add two tablespoons of light sodium soy sauce, combine until heated
• remove the chicken and the veggies and place this in a bowl and set aside
• return to the pan and add the cooked quinoa along with the beaten egg, stir this constantly until the egg is scrambled and mixed into the quinoa… now add the butter if you wish
• add the veggies and chicken back in and stir
• dash a little more soy sauce if needed and sprinkle red pepper flakes
• serve hot! pair with steamed edamame with sea salt as a side