Can you feel that? The light breeze. The sunlight on your face. I don’t know what the weather is like where you are at, but here in southwest Ohio, spring is in the air.
It might not last. We may have one last angry snow storm to punish us for the mild winter. Either way, spring is coming and that means that roasted vegetable season is ending.
I tend to cook with the seasons. All winter long my oven is in roasting mode and vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, and broccoli get roasted to a caramelized perfection on a near-daily basis.
When winter gives way to spring, I switch modes. Instead of roasting, I favor sauteing or grilling. I like my veggies crisp-tender in the spring and summer months. That means I needed to hurry up and make this pie again before roasting season officially ends.
In this pie, roasted vegetables come together with the amazing little grain quinoa to make a light, yet satisfying dish. Roasting the vegetables gives a great depth of flavor to the pie. I love that it has a creamy quality to it, but is made without any cheese or milk. The combination of eggs and quinoa create a high protein meal without any meat.
Want to know what else is so great about this pie? If you happen to want to have it for lunch and for whatever reason you don’t have time to sit down and eat a proper meal (not that I would know anything about that) you can totally eat this without a fork. Just pick it up and eat it like a granola bar. Take it in the car if you need to. This just might be the perfect vegetarian meal. But don’t take my word for it. Give it a try yourself.
Roasted vegetable quinoa pie
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: Makes 1 9-inch pie (about 8 pieces of pie) 1x
Description
A unique pie made of roasted vegetables and quinoa that is gluten-free and dairy-free. A fun new way to incorporate the healthy grain quinoa into your meals!
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed well and drained
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup broccoli florets, cut into very small pieces
- 1 cup bell peppers, diced
- 1 cup sweet potato, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
- 5–7 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
Instructions
- Put the quinoa and water in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 12-15 minutes, or until all of the liquid is absorbed.
- While the quinoa is cooking, chop your veggies. Once they are chopped, put them on a baking sheet, drizzle with the olive oil, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and a few turns of freshly grated black pepper, and toss to coat. Roast them at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes, until the sweet potato is soft and the rest of the vegetables are starting to brown. They should be in small enough pieces that they will roast quickly.
- Meanwhile, when all the liquid is absorbed in the quinoa, remove the pot from the heat and uncover. Stir to help release the steam and help it to cool quicker. Set it aside while the quinoa cools.
- While the quinoa is cooling and the vegetables are finishing roasting, mix together the eggs, basil, oregano, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, a bit more freshly ground black pepper, and the tomato paste. Add the quinoa and roasted vegetables and mix well.
- Scoop the mixture into a 9-inch pie pan that you’ve sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Use a spatula or the back of a wooden spoon to flatten the mixture evenly.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and cook the pie for 20 minutes. Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: main meal
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 122
- Sugar: 2.8g
- Sodium: 89mg
- Fat: 4.8g
- Carbohydrates: 13.6g
- Protein: 5g
You can adapt this recipe in a number of different ways. Use whatever vegetables you have on hand. Maybe change up the seasonings to create a different flavor profile. If you want to add cheese to the top, go for it. Have fun with it!
Discovered this blog recipe a year ago after transitioning to vegetarian diet and have this page saved. I keep returning to make it again and again as it has become a staple meal for us. Thank you for sharing this!
I am so happy to hear that, Leigh Anne! Thank you! 🙂
This recipe is delicious. Thank you! We had a quinoa pie at a restaurant recently so I googled it an found this one. It sounded the best to me and I was right. I added about a 1/4 C feta cheese.
Thanks for coming back to comment and let me know what you thought of the recipe! This is one of my favorites, too. It sounds great with feta cheese! 🙂
I discovered your blog last week and am in love with pretty much every recipe I read. Today I made this, your roasted Parmesan chickpeas, and your zucchini bars- all were absolutely fantastic! Thank you!
You’re welcome! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know.
What a delightful and unusual recipe! This will make a perfect dinner for my family tonight. It has also been so much fun following your pregnancy and now your time with little Luke. I’m happily pregnant with my nr. two at the moment. The first 12 weeks were quite rough since I was feeling ill 24/7 but now I’m finally feeling better. 🙂
Congratulations! I hope you enjoy the quinoa pie. 🙂
What a great recipe! I just made this lovely pie tonight and it was a HUGE hit with my family!!! I just used up a bunch of leftover veggies that I had on hand and it came out perfect. I also used all egg whites to make it even lighter. Thanks for this amazing recipe!!! 🙂
I’m glad you and your family liked it! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know. 🙂
Oh my gooosh I am LOVING the sound of this – thanks for sharing! Happy to have just found your blog Maryea, I will be pinning this (and probably many more of your recipes..) for sure 🙂
Thanks so much, Clare!
Cooking with the seasons is the best way to go! That’s the way we’re meant to eat, and it’s so much better for the environment than buying something that’s not in season.
I love quinoa and this recipe looks awesome. Question – to make this vegan do you think flax eggs would work?
I can’t say for sure because I haven’t tried it, but my guess is that it would work, but not stick together quite as well. I think it would still taste great even if it was a little more “crumbly”.
That looks so good! I just added it to my meal plan for next week. I tend to cook with the seasons as well and the unseasonably warm weather we are experiencing in Upstate NY is making me want to grill my vegetables and just eat big salads. But, I’m going to make sure I make this at least once before I make the shift from roasting my veggies to grilling them or eating them raw.
I hope you enjoy it! 🙂 We’re having great weather here, too. I hope it’s not a big tease because I will be so sad if it gets really cold again.
Love this idea! It can be adapted so many different ways, and I’m betting it’s an awesome clean-out-the-fridge meal which I can always use 😀 I’ll be trying this for sure!
This is a delicious idea! I just made a roasted vegetable fritatta thing’ish and it was wonderful! 🙂 …This is such a wonderful twist- YUMMMMM!