Quinoa Chard Pilaf

Hearty, filling and delicious

I give it a three for lack for flavor. It is a great base recipe, but needs some spices and something red to make it more appealing looking. I do not suggest tossing the stems as the submitter suggesting. I used rainbow chard, chopped up the stems and cooked them with the onions. They gave the recipe a nice crunch as you ate. Kind of like having celery in the dish. As many others did, I cooked my own dry lentils. I never have canned lentils on hand, but do keep dried lentils in my pantry. I will definitely add this recipe to my collection, but will likely add tomatoes or red peppers next time along with some spices. I am still trying to decide which spice would be good.

this is very good, we enjoyed to recipe just as it is. We had it with Salmon and Steak. Great way to use swiss chard.

This is really great comfort food, and it was very easy to prepare. As others recommended, I added a can of chopped tomatoes, and that enhanced the flavor. I’m keeping this in mind to serve when vegans visit.

Incredibly bland.

My family did not care for this at all. Very bland.

Whoa, bland. My husband picked out this recipe, and by the time I got to the end I double-checked it to see what I had forgotten…and I had forgotten nothing. The flavors in this recipe are exclusively earthy; it desperately needs an acidic flavor to balance it out. I added some red wine vinegar to the finished product, and it helped a lot. If I were to try it again, I would add a good amount of tomato along with the chard. Recipe as it is was a fail for me.

This was delicious! I added some cumin but otherwise made it just as written.

I was a little concerned that this might be a little bland…not at all! I added one extra garlic clove, just becuase I love garlic. I have 3 young children and they all loved it too. A winner for sure, and I will be making this again in the near future!

I opened a can of lentils by mistake the other day and needed a recipe to use them, plus some mushrooms and kale I had sitting in the fridge. This recipe fit the bill. I made half the recipe except I used a whole can of lentils. I steamed my kale for a few minutes before adding to the quinoa mix since it doesn’t wilt as fast as chard. This was simple to make and tasty though it needed salt not called for in the recipe. I topped this will toasted almonds for some texture and served with cornbread.

Halved the ingredients, used dried wild mushrooms, rainbow chard (saute the stems with onion and garlic); added a dressing of olive oil, lemon, garlic and soy sauce at the very end….definitely needed the added kick of raw garlic and lemon. Delicious.

Made this a couple of times and always got good reviews. May be worth adding some salt, especially if the vegetable broth is low sodium, but otherwise a great recipe as is

“Great, if you enjoy hamster food.” That is what my 6 year old daughter said as we prepared the meal. By the way, her bowl was empty after a hearty serving. Simple and healthy.

This is an awesome recipe base, so I’m giving it 5, even though I made major alterations. I did not use lentils (I used whatever canned beans I had on hand – kidney once, pinto the other time) and I didn’t use mushrooms, as my family is not keen on them. I used veggie broth the first time (yummy! but needed some sea salt and freshly ground pepper at serving) and robust chicken stock the second time (delish!). There’s a lot of wiggle room with this recipe. Take it and run with it!

This was delicious and extremely flavorful! Granted, I had to make several changes just because I was working with I had on hand. No mushrooms, so sauteed broccoli and added it last minute instead. I used about 5-6cloves of garlic cause you can’t have too much. Had dry lentils (1cup) so cooked those separate for 15mins in water and chicken bullion cause I didn’t think they’d fit in my pot. I am very new to cooking and had no idea how quinoa cooks (expand quite a bit FYI to fellow new cookers). Also steamed chard separate for same reason. When there was about 5 mins left on the quinoa, I drained lentils and added them to quinoa to absorb some of the broth (I forgot to decrease chicken stock when I didn’t add lentils at start). This was my first experience with quinoa and it will now be a staple in my cooking. So easy, healthy and very filling! Excellent high protein, high fiber, low fat meal! My boyfriend and I had just this as a meal and barely made a dent in the pot. Thank you for an excellent recipe idea!

Ok, I’m giving this 4 stars but in all fairness I didn’t really really follow the recipe. First I fried a small amount of bacon and then carmelized the onions over low heat in the bacon grease. I also added 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes to the onions for a kick. I followed the recipe after that except to leave out the mushrooms and add two bay leaves to the liquid. I added the bacon with the chard. My husband and I can’t get enough! Toasted walnuts would be a delicious addition as well!

I was a little worried this might be bland with so much quinoa and no spices or salt added, but it’s absolutely wonderful just as posted. I’ll be making this often!

Maybe 3.5 – it was definitely bland the night I made it, but got better then next day for leftovers – I added soy sauce, salt, pepper, oregano into the mix and then fresh tomatoes and basil on top, that all helped it taste pretty good. It makes a TON so, definitely make it in a large pan or you’ll run into trouble wilting the chard at the end. A decent basic recipe, but wouldn’t make it without a bunch of added extra flavors.

We didn’t have lentils so we made it without and just used 2 bunches of the chard to make up for them. I added some siracha for a little heat.

This was an awesome vegan main dish! It really reminds me of a modified kitchari. I, like others, used dried lentils. However, I soaked them first for about 2 hours and used about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup more than the recipe called for. I also seasoned it with a small amount of Bragg’s liquid aminos Delicious!!!

This was alright but needed a lot of modifications. I tripled the lentils to make this a heartier meal. I increased the garlic to 4 cloves and added 1 tsp thyme and 1 tsp red pepper flake to the hot oil to give it some flavour, as well as adding sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste at the end. My husband wants to know where to bacon is 😉 but I enjoyed this easy and healthy dinner.