PESTO! and quinoa! for breakfast!
That’s right you guys. We’re shakin’ things up around here today and we’re enjoying a savory breakfast! So not typical for me, but for some reason, the salty cravings seem to have gotten the better of me.
A while back, I sent out a survey and asked you all what you enjoyed having for breakfast AND if you opted for sweet or savory. To my surprise, the majority of you said savory. I could have sworn most of you had a mega sweet tooth like me, but I’m kind of glad you don’t. It means I get to make new recipes that I wouldn’t normally cook for myself.
As evidence by my breakfast archives, sweet breakfasts are the norm, but I have to admit, I was totally of digging the salty spin on these quinoa breakfast bowls.
It started with homemade pesto.
I’ve made pesto for you before here, but this time I wanted to pack in a bit more nutrition and decided to add some kale. I’ve found that the trick to making pestos with greens is them is that you need to have the right ratio of greens to basil. Too many greens and your pesto ends up tasting more like a salty salad.
I used about 2 cups of basil to 1 cup of kale and it was just right.
I kept the pesto vegan by using nutritional yeast instead of cheese, but kept everything else very traditional: garlic, pine nuts, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Just a few quick pulses in the food processor and the highlight of this meal was done!
From there, it was time to think about toppings.
Eggs made sense because they’re protein packed, very accessible for everyone and easy to make. (for those of you who don’t eat eggs, I think tofu would also be lovely here) Plus, pesto and eggs together sounds pretty dang awesome.
Avocado because…well it’s avocado and it should be on EVERYTHING. ????????
And to finish everything off, a sprinkle of hemp hearts, chia seeds and toasted pine nuts. Giving us a little more fat, more healthy protein AND omega 3s.
This breakfast bowl is packed full of nutritional goodies my friends ????????????????
And the best part? It takes maybe 10 minutes to make the entire thing. Start to finish.
Talk about a breakfast win!
Oh and I totally recommend that you mix it all together before you eat it. It's so good guys! Hope you love it as much as I do❤????????
And if you want even more healthy (and fast) breakfast recipes, make sure to hop on my email list because I’m releasing a brand new eCookbook next Tuesday (9/15) I've just released a brand new eCookbook which features 90+ healthy quinoa breakfast recipes!
And yes, there’s totally a mix of sweet and savory!
Click the button below to choose the package that's right for you!
I can't wait for you to see it!
xo Alyssa
Savory Pesto Quinoa Breakfast Bowls
Ingredients
for the breakfast bowls:
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1/2 an avocado
- 1/4 cup homemade pesto
- 2 tablespoons hemp seeds
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
for the pesto:
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup fresh kale leaves
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1 large garlic clove
- 3 - 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Salt + pepper to taste
Instructions
- Start by adding the eggs to a small saucepan with 1 inch of water in the bottom. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot and reduce to simmer for 5 - 6 minutes.
- While the eggs are cooking, add all the pesto ingredients to a food processor. Process until almost smooth (no large chunks wanted here!).
- When eggs are done cooking, rinse them under cold water to stop the cooking process. Let stand in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes.
- Prepare your breakfast bowls: add 1 cup quinoa, half of the avocado thinly sliced and half the pesto.
- When eggs have cooled, peel them and slice in half. Add to the bowl and sprinkle with half the hemp and chia seeds.
- Enjoy as is, season with a touch more salt and pepper, or mix it all together (that's what I did and yum!).
Nutrition
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Oh wow. I love savory breakfasts, and I’m crazy for pesto. Combining these two loves in one bowl is heaven for me.
if you want even more healthy (and fast) breakfast recipes,
healthy recipes
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I didn’t find this to be as great as I had anticipated. I think I didn’t like the avocado that much with these ingredients. I usually am a big fan of avocado though. Maybe I just eat very little, but I found the recipe to be too big as well. Half a portion was like one normal portion for me. I think next time I do this, I’ll swap out the avocado for sundried tomatoes which I think will really pop in this dish, I’ll halve the amount of quinoa for one portion and add one more egg. We’re all different in how much we eat and what we like. Thanks for the inspiration!
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What’s the point of replacing the cheese in the pest to make it vegan if you’re adding an egg???
Hi Connie – it’s because I don’t eat dairy, so I need to have cheese-free pesto. You could always leave off the egg if you’re vegan 🙂
I just made this for dinner, giving it more of a dinner-like feel by adding a big handful of kale. Mixed it into the hot quinoa to let it wilt a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients. I’m looking forward to eating the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Thanks for this!
That sounds wonderful!! I’m definitely going to try it next time I make it 🙂
This recipe sounds delicious! How long would this keep in the fridge? I’d like to make a larger batch and have ready made breakfasts throughout the week.
Thanks again!
I would say maybe two days? I’m not really sure tho…could be longer since there isn’t anything that can “go bad” that quickly. Pesto and avocado might turn a bit brown, but it will still taste good 🙂
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I’m normally a sweet breakfast person, but this looks fantastic!
It’s one of my favorites! (and also makes a great dinner too!)
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Just tried this breakfast bowl for the first time and loving it!! I took Alyssa’s advise and made a batch of quinoa yesterday to use throughout the week. I was looking for something for breakfast today (ran out of fresh berries!) so I went to Simply Quinoa and viola….today’s breakfast! It is fantastic – thanks again Alyssa.
Forgot to mention that I had the pesto already made in the freezer. Made last week and froze in ice cube type trays.
This bowl looks awesome Alyssa!
Some of my favorite food ingredients being used here! Definitely going to try making it and see if it looks as good as it does here.
Thanks for sharing,
Dan
Hope you enjoy it! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
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Lee Hersh’s latest meal prep breakfast roundup brought me here where I was entranced by the gorgeous layout of the delicious eggs on top of the quinoa and pesto! YUM! I’ve been eating savory a lot too, and it’s delicious! I love this idea so much!
Thank you so much! Happy to have you over in my little corner of the internet 🙂
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Made the pesto for spinach and artichoke pizza last night. Used the leftovers for this dish this morning. Loved it!!!!! My toddler liked it……. But gave up half way in. He has your cashew strawberry milk quinoa bowl once a week. I ate the rest of his now off to the pool for training.
Such a great idea!! So glad you both enjoyed everything – pesto is the best!
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This recipe is wonderful! I made my quinoa with chicken broth; didn’t have a ripe avocado so skipped that ingredient, though not intentionally; and I overcooked the eggs. I can’t wait to make this again. My husband, a notoriously picky eater, also enjoyed it after putting Sriracha on top.
I can’t wait to try your other recipes!
Yay!! So glad you both enjoyed it!
this looks really good and savory! Appreciate the tip on pesto ratio too when adding quinoa to the traditional recipe, but have to comment on great idea of adding pesto to breakfast! Thank you
Hope you give it a try! xx
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Hi. I live in Italy. Traditional pesto doesn’t have lemon juice nor does it use pepper.
Thanks!
I do not know whether it’s just me or if perhaps everybody else encountering problems with your
blog. It appears as if some of the written text within your content are running
off the screen. Can someone else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them as well?
This may be a problem with my browser because I’ve had this happen before.
Many thanks
I’m not seeing those issues, but thanks for letting me know!
Made this into 2 bowls to take for lunch this week. Used the same amount of quinoa cooked in chicken broth, but added some canned white beans that I simmered in olive oil with a clove of garlic and a bay leaf. Used pesto from our farmer’s market and sprinkled TJ’s Superseed Blend with Ancient Grains and the toasted pine nuts over top. Will add the avocado and egg on top in the morning before I leave for work!
Oh man that sounds amazing!!!
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I’d like to make the batches of quinoa and pesto separately in order to meal prep more efficiently and was just wondering how long the pesto would last in it’s own container in the fridge? Thank you in advance for your insight.
I should last at least a week! You can cover the top with oil to keep it from browning 🙂
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This looks so good. I was wondering how long cooked quinoa will last in fridge. I’d like to cook enough on the weekend to be able to use several times during the week. Any issues doing that?
At least 5 – 6 days!!
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