Recipe for slow cooker quinoa with zucchini, mushrooms and chicken sausage
All summer I practiced with my slow cookers, adapting recipes from cookbooks and blogs, modifying some of my own stove top and oven favorites to the low-and-slow cooking style of these wonderful little machines. I knew the day would come when I would give zucchini a try, yet I feared turning it to complete and utter mush with hours of cooking. The solution? Add it at the end, so it stays firm and flavorful. This quinoa with zucchini, mushrooms and chicken sausage, a satisfying one-pot meal, requires just five minutes of prep, and delivers big flavor, with no mush. Practice makes perfect.
Slow cooker quinoa with zucchini, mushrooms and chicken sausage
From the pantry, you'll need: quinoa, chicken sausage, chicken stock, sun-dried or slow-roasted tomatoes, thyme, oregano, garlic, onion.
Serves 6.
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups quinoa (I use red quinoa), rinsed
3 cups chicken stock
12 oz flavorful chicken sausage, sliced (I use sun-dried tomato with basil sausage)
1 small onion, diced
6 sun-dried tomato halves, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 cups diced zucchini (1 giant zucchini)
3 cups roughly chopped mushrooms
Fresh black pepper, to taste
Directions
In a 4- or 5-quart slow cooker, add the quinoa, chicken stock, sausage, onion, tomato, thyme, oregano and garlic. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2-1/2 hours, or on LOW for 5 hours.
If you have cooked on LOW, turn the cooker to HIGH and add the mushrooms and zucchini right on top of the quinoa. Do not stir it in; cover and cook on HIGH for 30 minutes.
Stir the vegetables into the quinoa, cover, and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
Then, cook partially covered for 15 minutes more, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Gently fluff the quinoa. Taste, and season with black pepper.
Serve hot, or transfer to containers and allow to cool completely before refrigerating or freezing.
More recipes in The Perfect Pantry:
Quinoa turkey meatloaf
Chicken and vegetable quinoa stir-fry
Red quinoa, beet and pecan salad with pomegranate-orange vinaigrette
Chickpea, quinoa and spinach salad with preserved lemon vinaigrette
Fregula sarda with leeks and sausage
Other recipes that use these pantry ingredients:
Quinoa chicken salad, from My Colombian Recipes
Spicy sausage and quinoa stuffed bell peppers, from Quick and Dirty in the Kitchen
Quinoa sausage bake, from Mele Cotte
Chicken, broccoli and quinoa casserole with creamy curry sauce, from Kalyn's Kitchen
Hearty chicken stew with butternut squash and quinoa, from Cookin' Canuck








Posted by: Mimi | September 16, 2012 at 11:23 AM
I love when I have all the ingredients on hand! I never thought to pair zucchini and quinoa, but it makes sense.
Posted by: Kalyn | September 16, 2012 at 12:40 PM
Oh yes, I think this is a brilliant recipe!
Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | September 16, 2012 at 01:26 PM
Mimi, that's how this recipe came about. I love making it all in the slow cooker.
Kalyn, perhaps I'm breaking all the rules of slow cooker cooking, but I do love it when dishes like this one come together!
Posted by: Chris | September 16, 2012 at 06:39 PM
This looks wonderful! I need to get a slow cooker...really. I love love love quinoa and make it all the time. Thanks for linking to one of my recipes! :)
Posted by: Erica | September 17, 2012 at 09:25 AM
I love quinoa or quinua! What a delicious recipe and thank you for the link,Lydia!
Posted by: Amy | September 17, 2012 at 11:17 AM
I am enjoying your recent explorations of the slow cooker - such a great way to have dinner waiting when I get home from work - please keep them coming!! (I did a half batch of vegan bread pudding in mine over the weekend - YUM!)
Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | September 17, 2012 at 11:21 AM
Chris, I'm completely addicted to my slow cooker now. I know you'd love this style of cooking.
Erica, love your recipe! I'm crazy about quinoa, too.
Amy, thanks so much. And don't worry, I have lots of slow cooker recipes coming over the next few months. More and more, I'm learning to use the slow cooker and I'm having fun testing some of my old stove-top and oven recipes in the slow cooker, too.
Posted by: Shirley @ gfe | September 17, 2012 at 03:24 PM
Oooh, I bet this one is delish, Lydia! Thanks for creating it! :-)
Shirley
Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | September 17, 2012 at 03:33 PM
Shirley, I usually make quinoa in my rice cooker, but this slow-cooker method worked really well and I had fun working on the recipe.
Posted by: Jeanette | September 17, 2012 at 04:41 PM
I've never tried making quinoa in a slow cooker - so glad you perfected it, and figured out how to include zucchini without overcooking it!
Posted by: Paz | September 18, 2012 at 09:25 PM
Sounds delicious! I love quinoa!
Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | September 18, 2012 at 09:54 PM
Jeanette, I hope to become the queen of true one-pot cooking!
Paz, really good, this dish. Try it.
Posted by: Laura | October 14, 2012 at 04:16 PM
I have this going in my slow cooker right now. Haven't tasted it yet but it smells DELISH!