A recipe from one of my mother’s old cookbooks served as the basis for this spice cake. I frequently made this cake for my great-grandpa because it was his favorite. The cake is straightforward, not overly sweet, and has a noticeable spice flavor. Instead of overbaking the cake, err on the side of underbaking it to prevent dryness.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup quinoa
- ½ cup chopped scallions
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 4 (4 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
- non-stick cooking spray
- ½ avocado
- ¼ cup plain non-fat Greek-style yogurt
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Make the quinoa: Bring chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan. Stir quinoa into the broth and bring to a boil again; reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender and broth has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir scallions and lemon juice into the quinoa.
- Prepare the chicken: Mix paprika, cumin, onion powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and salt together in a small bowl; rub onto chicken breasts to season completely.
- Prepare a large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat.
- Lay chicken breasts into the hot skillet, cover skillet with a lid, and cook until chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 7 minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
- Make the avocado cream sauce: Blend avocado, yogurt, lemon juice, and garlic powder in a food processor until smooth.
- Spread quinoa onto a serving platter. Arrange chicken breasts onto the platter. Drizzle avocado cream sauce over the chicken breasts.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 367 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 71 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 35 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 356 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
The sauce was bland, but I added garlic salt and it helped immensely. I also added garlic salt to the blackened seasoning. (We love garlic). The quinoa also was bland, but once again I added garlic salt. As written I suppose this is healthy. That said, life is too short to eat bland food.
SO GOOD!!! I made this recipe to use up some ripe avocados. Made the recipe exactly as written. My family devoured it!!! Cannot wait to get more avocados so I can make this again!! I made extra sauce and my kids used it as a dip for chips.
This was really good. We especially liked the blackened spice mixture (which was perfect enough for 5 chicken breasts pounded to 1/2” thickness) and plan to make a small batch of that spice seasoning blend for other dishes! We too had to thin the sauce with 1/4c milk. Served with prosciutto wrapped asparagus from this site. Very good meal! Thank you!
I followed the recipe except I didn’t have dill, so I used a bit of harrisa. It turned out great.
This Blackened Chicken was amazing and the whole family loved it. It was all great.
I didn’t make the quinoa but the chicken and cream sauce was excellent!
We loved this, and it was so fast and easy! I did use more avocado than it called for…we love avocados!
This is a pretty good dish, and it definitely has a decent kick to it. Like others I added a little milk to make the avocado sauce less chunky.
A sure winner even for Quinoa skeptics!! I filet’d my chicken breasts…but next time won’t cook as long. Seven minutes per side was too long for my chicken filets. Going to add black beans next time. Served cilantro as a garnish/side. I would cut down the lemon juice in the sauce too; I added hot sauce to mine. But hubby really liked it – and he cringes at Quinoa on the menu!
This recipe was in the Feb/March 2019 Allrecipes magazine. I ripped it out to make in the future and that was last night. My family loved it and said that we have to make this again. I’m excited that I made enough for leftovers for lunch today. The magazine said to add 1/2 cup water to the avocado cream sauce, that was just the right amount. My daughter wanted me to add a little more avocado to the sauce, I used a small avocado. I was worried that it would be too spicy but it wasn’t.
Great flavors. Love the coolness of the sauce with the spicy chicken!
Quick and easy! It was my first time making quinoa and I thought it was great. I love the avocado cream sauce, but I will probably add cilantro next time for another element of flavor.
Somehow the seasoning mixture didn’t wow us. It made such a great presentation on the platter though, so I might make it again with some different seasonings next time. I posted a photo to show how gorgeous it looked. In fact, the photo in the AR magazine was what prompted me to make this recipe. Also, even though I cooked the chicken breasts to an internal temperature of 165, our chicken came out chewy, which is not the fault of the recipe. Because my husband is pre-diabetic, I served over roasted cauliflower rice instead of the quinoa. It worked just fine that way.
Too spicy for me. But quick and easy.
Too spicy for me. But quick and easy.
Really easy and the whole family loved it! If you have leftovers, make a new avocado sauce. The sauce just isn’t the same on day 2!
I loved it. The thickness of the sauce didn’t bother me, but it’s true that it won’t drizzle. The sauce
This dish is fantastic! I added 1/4 tsp thyme to both the rub & to the quinoa and 1/8 tsp oregano to the rub. The best part about this dish was using the leftovers in a spinach salad. I used about 1/4 cup red wine vinegar and 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper To make the avacado cream sauce into a really good vinaigrette.
I used a whole avacado, like some others did. It was very good!
This was so good. The sauce was good enough to eat as dip.
Only change I made was filleting the breasts, but other than that keep everything the same and it was delicious! Next time won’t put as much seasoning on the chicken, but I will definitely make this again. Thank you for sharing!