These Chicken Ranch Kale & Quinoa Bowls are super delicious and gluten-free with an easy-peasy and low-calorie homemade ranch dressing.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – use any neutral oil such as avocado oil, sunflower oil or vegetable oil.
- Chicken breasts – boneless skinless chicken thighs would also work but will increase the calorie count.
- Paprika – cayenne pepper or chili pepper would be good substitutes here.
- Garlic powder – granulated garlic or garlic salt are good options. If you choose to use garlic salt you may want to skip the salt.
- Salt – to taste.
- Avocado – use sliced avocado, fresh guacamole or leave this out altogether.
- Corn – use fresh grilled corn, canned corn or store-bought corn salsa for this recipe.
- Snap peas – sugar snap peas, snow peas or green beans are all great options. Feel free to leave it out altogether or replace with a veggie of your choice.
- Cherry tomatoes – use multicolour cherry tomatoes or diced plum tomatoes. If you’re not a fan of tomatoes, leave them out altogether.
- Quinoa – couscous, barley or riced cauliflower are great substitution options.
- Kale – any other leafy salad green would be good.
Homemade ranch dressing
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- Sour cream – plain Greek yogurt is a lower fat alternative to sour cream.
- Milk – use any milk or non-dairy milk of your choice.
- Lemon juice – fresh or bottled lemon juice will both work.
- Parsley – chives, cilantro or chervil are great substitutes for parsley.
- Garlic – fresh or jarred minced garlic will both work. If you’re in a pinch, use garlic powder.
- Onion – use finely chopped onion of your choice or onion powder.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
How to make this recipe
- Grill or bake the chicken.
- Cook the quinoa.
- Prep all your toppings.
- Make the homemade ranch dressing.
- Assemble your bowls and serve!
Homemade ranch dressing
The dressing provides the finishing touch to this recipe and is a lot healthier than your normal store-bought dressings. It’s really easy to make, too – just add all the ingredients to a blender, Magic Bullet or food processor and blend until smooth. If you want to make the dressing even healthier, you can substitute the sour cream for Greek yogurt.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! These quinoa bowls are jam-packed with fresh veggies, boneless skinless chicken breast and yummy quinoa as a healthier grain option. It’s a great way to get in your servings of veggies while still enjoying a tasty and delicious meal.
One cup of cooked quinoa has about 220 calories. This recipe uses two cups of quinoa for four servings, so when you factor in all the ingredients, each bowl only has 416 calories.
Yes! Quinoa is gluten-free and high in nutrients. That being said, quinoa can sometimes be produced alongside glutenous grains, so make sure to check that the quinoa is gluten-free on the package.
Storing and reheating
These delicious quinoa bowls will last in the fridge in air-tight containers for up to 5 days. Just make sure to store the ranch dressing separately to avoid the dish becoming soggy in the fridge. I recommend serving the dressing on the side of the bowl or adding the dressing directly to the serving you're eating.
Eating the leftovers cold is normal for this dish since it's not recommended to reheat the majority of the ingredients and you don't want the chicken to become overcooked. That said, if you want to avoid eating cold chicken, store your chicken separately from the bowls so you can warm them up and then add it to the bowl prior to eating. Just make sure to sprinkle some water over top of the chicken before reheating so it doesn’t dry out.
Freezing components of this recipe
Though this dish isn't necessarily freezer-friendly, you can still freeze certain parts of this bowl. For this dish, you will be able to freeze the kale and the chicken. The chicken will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months while the kale will last in the freezer for six weeks.
Let the ingredients defrost in the fridge the night before, then assemble with the remaining ingredients fresh.
More healthy quinoa bowl recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Here's some of the quinoa I like to use.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on packing these bowls up for lunch!
Chicken Ranch Kale & Quinoa Bowls {Gluten-Free}
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1 cup corn
- 1 cup snap peas
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 2 cups finely chopped kale
Ranch dressing
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (or 2 tsp dried)
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1 tbsp dried minced onion
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Preheat BBQ to med-high heat. Alternatively, preheat oven to 400 F. Slice chicken in half lengthwise and drizzle with olive oil, then rub with paprika, garlic powder and salt. Grill/bake for 10 minutes, flipping once halfway though.
- Meanwhile, cook quinoa according to package directions or in a rice cooker. Prepare veggies and blend ingredients for ranch dressing together in a blender, food processor or Magic Bullet.
- Assemble bowls by mixing kale and quinoa together. Top with sliced, cooked chicken, cherry tomatoes, snap peas, corn and avocado, dividing all veggies evenly among four bowls. Drizzle with ranch dressing and serve!
Crystal says
Taylor I would like to thank you as well for your time in sharing these delicious and healthy meals. I taste with my eyes first so love that you include pics it really helps to put me in the mood for a dish. I’m a now stay at home again mother of five my older 3 are grown and almost grown at 21, 18, 16 & then we have 2 year old twins. So my hands are again full and it’s hard to find time to even think about exercise and planning healthy meals. But I often look for help and inspiration and so glad I came across your site as I’ve already prepared 2 of the meals since finding them over the weekend. They did not disappoint. Again thank you thank you.
Taylor Stinson says
Crystal your comment has seriously made my day!!!!!! I am sooooo happy to hear you like my recipes and that they have helped!!!! That is honestly one of the most rewarding things anyone could say to me and makes it all feel worth it at the end of the day. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help – it does sound like you have your hands full LOL! I try to keep making easier meals because I know how hard cooking and meal prepping can be even just as a single person never mind also caring for a family. Thank you so much for sharing with me and please let me know if you have any future requests! 😉
Michelle @ Vitamin Sunshine says
This is also my 2nd year ever of not going back to school– I was in grad school until I was 24, then teaching until 2 years ago! It’s been very strange the past 2 falls not having that renewal, and I miss it, even though I love what I do now!
Your blog is looking fantastic. I just love your recipes, and staring at all the vibrance in your photos. I’ve been stalking you on FB Taylor! A rising star, for sure.
Taylor Stinson says
Thank you so much Michelle <3 I absolutely love your recipes as well, so many things on my to-make list, seriously!!! Isn't it funny how life changes? It sounds we both got so much education and ended up working on our own businesses instead. I always joke with people that I shouldn't have bothered getting my Master's but sometimes you just have to experiment in order to land yourself in the right path haha
Foodie Sisters says
Beautiful bowls! I like how colorful they are and the chicken there! yum yum! I need to try this one! 😀
Taylor Stinson says
Thank you so much 🙂