After adding zucchini to oatmeal, it made me want to figure out a quinoa breakfast bowl recipe with a veggie in it. Eating a big bowl of hot oatmeal in the morning makes me feel more relaxed and a bit slower, but when I have quinoa cereal I still feel energized (I generally eat it cold). Oats are also a grain and quinoa is a seed, so if you don’t do well or as well with grains, maybe see how you do with quinoa. If you have a gluten intolerance, quinoa is also a better option since it’s naturally gluten free. Even when buying certified gluten free oats, some of us may still react to the protein avenin in oats. It’s similar to gluten and can trigger similar responses. Quinoa is also high in fiber and a complete protein containing all nine essential amino acids that our body doesn’t make. We need to get these amino acids from food. Both the high fiber and protein content in quinoa help make us feel more full and satisfied. And when we add in some veggies with it, as in this slow cooker quinoa breakfast bowl, we feel even more so.

I can’t take full credit for this recipe. I knew I wanted to add carrot to quinoa as it made the most sense to me taste-wise, so I googled carrot quinoa breakfast bowl and a slow cooker recipe came up with both carrot AND zucchini. Even better. More veggies to bulk it up. The only thing negative was the time in the slow cooker (around 3 hours). However, I didn’t know how to attempt it on the stovetop and figured it would stick if I tried.

The recipe I found was made with almond milk, nuts, coconut, maple syrup, raisins, and I think that may have been it? Anyways, I wanted to keep the recipe super simple, so I didn’t add in all of those fun things to the slow cooker. Instead I left it more plain. This way each of us could doctor it up when serving according to our preferences and needs on a given day.

With this all said, I will say it’s easier and faster to make quinoa cereal and it’s still probably what I’ll do most often. I think anyway? This slow cooker quinoa breakfast bowl just has veggies in it and is extra filling. It also makes a big batch, 6-8 hearty servings, especially when you add your toppings of choice. Since it is really neutral in flavor despite the amount of Ceylon cinnamon going in and smell, you can really do as you wish with it for toppings. The carrots and zucchini really hide themselves in this one too. Mark and I ate it cold from the fridge, with toppings of course, but you could also heat it up if desired. If you wanted milk, you could add some with milk to a saucepan to heat it up as an option. I could also see trying this with some sautéed mushrooms, onions, and peppers on it if you wanted to go savory with it one time. There are so many directions you could take this bowl.

This is the quinoa cereal I was talking about.

The easy berry chia seed jam really takes it up a notch.

Easy Berry Chia Seed Jam healthy recipes

Slow Cooker Quinoa Breakfast Bowl

This slow cooker quinoa breakfast bowl sneaks in carrots and zucchini and is extra filling. It makes a big batch, 6-8 hearty servings, especially when you add your toppings of choice. Since it is really neutral in flavor despite the amount of Ceylon cinnamon going in and smell, you can really do as you wish with it for toppings. The carrots and zucchini really hide themselves in this one. You can eat it cold from the fridge each day, with toppings of course, but you could also heat it up if desired. If you wanted milk, you could add some along with milk to a saucepan to heat it up. There are so many directions you could take this bowl.

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Cook Time 3 15

Servings: 6 – 8

Course: Breakfast, Main Course

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked quinoa rinsed for 1 minute prior
4 large carrots grated with a cheese grater
2 small zucchini with the skin left on grated with a cheese grater
2 TBSP ground flaxseed
2 TBSP whole chia seeds
4 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or 1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
2 tsp vanilla extract – I use the alcohol free Trader Joe’s vanilla for this
5.5 cups water if you prefer, you could use almond milk too
topping options berries (I use frozen unthawed raspberries), more Ceylon cinnamon, walnuts, shredded coconut, raisins, coconut yogurt, date syrup, maple syrup, almond milk

Method

Add everything above to a regular sized slow cooker except the toppings. Turn on LOW and cook for around 3 hours and 15 minutes, stirring well every hour. After you stir each time, flatted the mixture with a spoon so that the quinoa is in the liquid to cook. If you turn on high, the quinoa will stick to the bottom too much.
Enjoy immediately with toppings of choice or refrigerate and enjoy when needed – either cold or heated up.

Notes

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