Recipe: $9.05 | Per Serving: $2.26 | Yield: 4
You're not living until you've had quinoa lightly fried in bacon grease! This breakfast is so delicious and perfectly complemented by the sweet roasted bell peppers.
Bacon quinoa breakfast bowls are my favorite way to convert sweet breakfast lovers into savory breakfast lovers, and it's also the BEST way to start getting in veggies first thing in the morning!
This recipe is not actually my invention - it comes to you straight from Zac! As those of you who follow me on Instagram know, Zac makes breakfast for us at least 5 days a week. Some weeks I help with prep, but usually he's on his own in there.
One week we had a bunch of leftover quinoa and he kept frying it up in some bacon grease and pairing it with whatever leftover roasted vegetables we had on hand. It was SO GOOD.
This Bacon Quinoa Breakfast Bowl is the result of that week of deliciousness. Thank you, Zac.
This dish is:
- filling
- meal prep-able
- packed with flavor
- nutrient-dense
- protein-rich! (24 grams per serving!)
How to Roast Vegetables for this Recipe:
I recommend choosing medium-cooking vegetables for this recipe. I like to cook them for 25 minutes on 450ºF.
For medium-cooking vegetables, go for things like bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and shopped cabbage.
If you have different vegetables on hand, just remember that water-heavy vegetables like zucchini, summer squash, asparagus, and tomatoes will probably cook in just 15-20 minutes, so check them earlier.
When using broccoli or cauliflower - I recommend cooking and eating the stem! You paid for it, so you should eat it! For broccoli, I always peel the stem (the outside is tough and fibrous) and then chop it up and roast it.
And for more veggie-packed breakfast recipes, try my Chickpea Shakshuka with Kale!
How to Cook Quinoa
We've talked about this before - and I've written about quinoa at length. It's my favorite grain and my gut loves it!
Most packages will advise you to cook your quinoa with a 2:1 ration of water to quinoa. (ie 2 cups water for 1 cup quinoa)
However I highly recommend using 1.75 cups or even 1.5 cups water for each cup of quinoa. If quinoa is new to you, I recommend reading this post on everything you need to know about quinoa.
Tips for Making this Meal Faster:
- Instead of roasting the bell peppers and broccoli - you can sauté them, which takes closer to 15 minutes instead of 25.
- You can also use quick-cooking vegetables like zucchini, summer squash, asparagus, or grape tomatoes.
- Replace the fried / poached egg option with hardboiled or jammy eggs - you can make these ahead of time all in one small pot in 2-10 minutes.
Tips for Making this Meal Cheaper:
- Sub out the quinoa for white or brown rice. Lower protein content, but definitely cheaper.
- Swap your bell peppers ($1.66) or your broccoli ($1.87) for a cheaper vegetable - shredded cabbage and sliced onions are good here, but go for whatever is on sale!
- Use frozen vegetables and sauté them in some of the extra bacon grease.
Tips for Meal Prep:
- The quinoa and vegetables can be cooked ahead and either microwaved or re-heated on the stove.
- Instead of fried eggs, make some hard-boiled or jammy eggs.
- Portion everything into meal prep containers so you have breakfast ready to go!
- Top those jammy eggs with everything but the bagel seasoning. You know you want to!
Vegetarian: No, but you can skip the bacon if you really want!
Paleo: No, quinoa is not Paleo. But this is gluten-free!
PIN THIS RECIPE FOR LATER!
Bacon Quinoa Breakfast Bowls
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups cooked quinoa from 1 cup uncooked
- 6 slices raw bacon you'll need to save about 2 Tablespoons of the bacon grease
- 1 large head broccoli about 1 pound
- 2 sweet bell peppers
- oil of choice avocado oil is my preference here
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 4 eggs
- optional add-ons: avocado feta cheese, fresh herbs, everything but the bagel seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
- Prep the veggies: remove the seeds and stem from the bell peppers and slice into strips. Break the broccoli florets into small, 1-bite pieces. For the stem, I recommend peeling it, chopping off the bottom ½ inch or so, and then chopping it into small bites. Broccoli stems are so underrated - they're delicious roasted!
- Toss the veggies with oil, salt, pepper, and the smoked paprika. Spread out on a baking tray (parchment-lined is my preference). Roast on 450ºF for about 25 minutes, or until just started to get a bit crispy.
- Bacon: Cook the bacon in a shallow skillet or dutch oven; I cook it over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes per side, but just cook it to your desired doneness (feel free to use the oven if you prefer, just be sure to reserve some of the bacon grease). Remove bacon from pan. Set 4 pieces aside for serving (I like to cut them in half so it feels like you get more bacon!). Dice 2 of the bacon slices into small pieces.
- Drain the bacon grease, but reserve 2 Tablespoons for cooking the quinoa. (Feel free to reserve even more if you like to cook your eggs in bacon grease!)
- Quinoa: While the pan is still hot, add in the reserved 2 Tablespoons of bacon grease and the chopped bacon. Add the COOKED quinoa and 'fry' as if you were frying rice. This should only take 1-2 minutes. (Optional: feel free to crisp up these chunks of bacon for added texture before adding the quinoa!)
- Eggs: using fat of choice (bacon grease, butter, ghee, etc.), heat a skillet over medium heat. When quite hot, drop in an egg and cook until the whites are set. I'd cook the eggs as the last step so they're warm when you serve. Feel free to use a different method to cook your eggs - poached and jammy eggs are both great here.
- Add the quinoa to the bowls and top with the roasted vegetables. Serve each with a slice of bacon and a fried egg.
Do you have tips for making perfect jammy and hard boiled eggs? It drives me nuts when the shells stick!
Yes! Good question. I always drop the eggs into already boiling water and put them in an ice bath immediately after cooking, then I crack them all over (gently on a flat surface), and peel them, occasionally using some running water to help. This works well for me pretty consistently! It can help to peel them under the water as well - I use the melting ice bath.
Other tips include adding a teaspoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of baking powder to the boiling water, but I haven't tried that myself. I've also heard of adding a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of vinegar to the boiling water to help, but again I haven't tried it!