I have been trying to find ways to incorporate more vegetables into my meals, and these Chicken, Roasted Veggie, and Pesto Salad Bowls are a delicious way of doing just that. This is a great weekday lunch recipe that is perfect for meal-prepping.

Pesto Salad Bowls are made with fresh baby spinach, quinoa, roasted tomatoes, roasted broccoli, diced chicken, parmesan, and pesto. I like to mix everything together and get a bit of everything all at once. You could also opt to put all of the ingredients into a wrap.

These Pesto Salad Bowls were inspired by Charles getting the wrong order at his go-to lunch place where he gets takeout. The accident led to Charles discovering a new lunch option, and he told me all about it and suggested that I recreate the salad at home. Charles was confident that my version would be even better.

I looked up the pesto salad bowl on the menu at the restaurant, and they didn’t involve many ingredients – just spinach, quinoa, chicken, pesto, and parmesan. I decided to add roasted tomatoes and roasted broccoli to the salad bowls to add extra flavor and more veggies. The roasted tomatoes a nice burst of flavor, and they pair so well with the other ingredients. I added roasted broccoli just because I love it and I wanted to add another vegetable, and it adds a fresh crunch.

This meal lends itself well to meal-prep. I prepared four pesto salad bowls and individually packaged them up so that my weekday lunches were ready to go. Preparing multiple lunches at once saves me time since the preparation time for four salads is almost the same as preparing one salad. It also saves makes my work days more productive since I can quickly grab lunch and get back to work.

To save time, I used a rotisserie chicken and diced up the meat. I used a homemade pesto, but you can use your favorite store-bought pesto if you want to save time.

How to make Pesto Salad Bowls:

Name: Pesto Salad Bowls
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 1 Head of Broccoli; 1 cup of Grape or Cherry Tomatoes (sliced in half); 1 tablespoon Olive Oil; Sea Salt; 1 cup of Quinoa; 1 cup of Water; 1 cup of Vegetable Broth; 2 cups diced Chicken; 1/2 cup Grated Parmesan; 2 cups of Baby Spinach; about 1/3 cup of Pesto

Pesto Salad Bowls

Course Salad

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

1 Head of Broccoli
1 cup of Grape or Cherry Tomatoes sliced in half
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
Sea Salt
1 cup of Quinoa
1 cup of Water
1 cup of Vegetable Broth
2 cups diced Chicken
1/2 cup Grated Parmesan
2 cups of Baby Spinach
about 1/3 cup of Pesto

Instructions

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Chop the broccoli into small florets. You can either season it with pesto, or melted butter, salt, and pepper. Place the florets in a bowl, add your seasoning of choice, and stir to evenly coat the broccoli. Arrange on the baking sheet, leaving half of the space for the tomatoes.
Place the tomatoes on the baking sheet beside the broccoli. Drizzle with olive oil and top with sea salt.
Let the broccoli and tomatoes roast for 35-40 minutes. You want the broccoli to be al dente.
Meanwhile, prepare the quinoa. Combine the water, vegetable broth, and quinoa in a saucepan. Bring to a bowl, then cover and reduce to a simmer. After about 20 minutes the liquid will have absorbed and the quinoa will be light and fluffy. Note: I like to use a 50/50 mix of water and vegetable broth to add more flavor to the quinoa.
Once the quinoa is done and the vegetables have been roasted, it is time to assemble the salads. If you are not going to eat the salad right away, you want to let everything cool before assembling so that the spinach won't wilt.
This recipe serves 4, so get four bowls or four containers. Layer the spinach, quoinoa, roasted tomatoes, roasted broccoli, diced chicken, and parmesan, dividing it between the containers. Top with pesto.