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Spinach Artichoke Quinoa Casserole

This quinoa casserole is creamy, rich, comforting and also a cinch to make. It’s everything you want from a casserole, but it's vegan, gluten-free and healthy!

I have made a total of two casseroles in my life.

The first, I shared years ago on the blog – it was one of my very first recipes (thank goodness the photos got a refresh!). The second one, I'm sharing today!

And I gotta say, as much as I love that recipe, this quinoa casserole takes the cake. Meaning it's my new favorite. And like might be the only one I make from here on out. It’s seriously SO delicious. You know, one of those recipes that we could not stop eating!

It’s creamy, it’s rich, it’s comforting. It’s everything that you want from a casserole. Except this time we’re doing it a little bit differently. This one is vegan, gluten-free, healthy, high protein and a cinch to make!

How to make a Vegan Quinoa Casserole

Ingredients for This Vegan Quinoa Casserole

What I love about casseroles is that they really don't need many ingredients. I made my own cream sauce (which you could totally skip), but otherwise, this recipe is just 5 simple ingredients.

Here's what you'll need:

  • Quinoa: I like white quinoa in my casseroles, but if you're out of it or want to use a different grain, I think brown rice, millet, or another type of quinoa would also work.
  • Chickpeas: I wanted to add a bit more protein, so I opted for chickpeas. If you're not vegan, you could add in some shredded chicken!
  • Artichokes: make sure to get the ones that are in water and not oil – they're much better and less slimy in this recipe.
  • Steamed spinach: my choice of green because spinach + artichoke, but you could totally swap for kale, chard, collards, etc.
  • Vegan parmesan: and lastly, to give it a little tang and oomph, I went with some vegan parm. You can leave this out, swap it with vegan cheese, or just use regular parm if you can handle dairy.

And then you mix it up with the vegan cream sauce and some water and you're good to go!

Healthy Veggie Quinoa Casserole Recipe

How to make Spinach Artichoke Vegan Casserole

If you've seen any of my other quinoa casserole recipes, they're basically a dump and stir type of meal. This one is similar, but I did decide to make my own cream sauce. The benefit of doing this is that you get a bit more flavor and it's creamier. Feel free to swap it with almond milk if you want though!

STEP ONE

Make your sauce! I used raw cashews as the base and blended them up with some other flavorings to give it the perfect balance of rich and healthy.

STEP TWO

Add everything into your casserole dish. Make sure to really stir your base ingredients together before adding in the liquids. You don't want any huge pockets of just quinoa because it'll end up being pretty dry.

STEP THREE

Add in your liquids/sauces! And again, make sure to give everything a big stir. You want the liquids to get as incorporated throughout as possible.

STEP FOUR

Finally, bake it up! You'll know it's done when it's bubbling and the quinoa has cooked.

Vegan Quinoa Casserole with Spinach

The BEST Vegan Casserole…IMO!

How delicious you might ask? Well, if getting the thumbs up from Matt means anything to you (which now I’m realizing it likely doesn’t), then this dish was a home run. Not that he doesn’t normally like the food I make, because he does, but when I get a, “Wow, this is realllly good!”, I give myself a little pat on the back.

Job done. Mission complete. Nailed it!

And while the taste of this dish nearly knocked my socks off, I absolutely adore that it’s also the easiest thing to make on the planet. You basically just have your dish and your blender to clean!

Easy clean up makes for the perfect weeknight meal AND makes awesome leftovers (I had it for lunch the next three days and it was still fantastic). Plus, it could even be transformed into a dip if you so choose.

But for now, we’ll stick with this simple quinoa casserole that’s got a boatload of veggies inside, chickpeas and quinoa for added protein and a sensational cashew sauce to round it all out. Yep, I’m ready to go make this again!

Spinach Artichoke Quinoa Casserole

More Delicious Quinoa Casseroles & Bakes to try:

Spinach & Artichoke Quinoa Casserole

4.2 from 109 votes
This quinoa casserole is creamy, rich, comforting and also a cinch to make. It’s everything you want from a casserole, but it's vegan, gluten-free and healthy!
author: Alyssa
yield: 6 servings
Vegan Quinoa Bake with Spinach & Artichokes
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes
Total: 1 hour

Ingredients
  

for the sauce

  • 1/2 cup raw cashews
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon tamari (or miso paste)
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/2 a medium white onion
  • 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 3/4 cups water (or veggie broth for additional flavor)

for the casserole

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
  • Add the cashews to a bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drain the cashews and add them, along with the rest of the ingredients, into a blender. Blend on high until smooth.
  • In a large, oven-safe baking dish (13x9 works well), add the quinoa, chickpeas, artichokes, spinach and cheese. Stir togetehr so they're evenly distributed throughout the pan.
  • Pour sauce over veggie-quinoa mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until evenly incorporated in the pan and all ingredients have been submerged in sauce.
  • Bake on center rack for 35 - 40 minutes until casserole is bubbling and the quinoa is cooked. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes, then serve.
  • Garnish with a touch of cheese (or nutritional yeast) and enjoy!

Video

Notes

Feel free to top your quinoa casserole with gluten-free breadcrumbs or vegan cheese for a little something extra!

Nutrition

Calories: 350kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 755mg | Potassium: 453mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 3782IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 114mg | Iron: 4mg
cuisine: American
course: Main Course

Filed Under:

Spinach Artichoke Quinoa Casserole
Spinach Artichoke Quinoa Casserole
Spinach Artichoke Quinoa Casserole
Spinach Artichoke Quinoa Casserole
Spinach Artichoke Quinoa Casserole

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51 comments on “Spinach Artichoke Quinoa Casserole”

  1. I’ve made this recipe a few times now and it’s pretty good but the recipe is somewhat poorly written. The sauce calls for water twice. Ignore the 3/4 cup and just add the 1 1/2. Also I swapped out the water for veggie broth, and added some salt to the sauce. The first time I cooked this I noticed it does not clarify whether it should be cooked covered or not so I did it uncovered and my quinoa did not cook. The second time around I covered it with foil and it turned out much better, but still needed 10 minutes longer than the recipe specifies. Hope this helps anyone considering making this.

  2. I feel like this recipe was a little confusing. I wasn’t sure how much water to use for the sauce. I ended up using about a cup of vegetable broth and a half cup of coconut milk. After 50 minutes of cook time the quinoa was uncooked. I covered with tin foil and cooked for an additional 20 minutes. After that the quinoa was cooked. So I think that might help others. The casserole was delicious though and I think had I covered it from the start the suggested 40 minutes would have sufficed

  3. So that I understand correctly, the 1.5 c. I of water is used to soak AND blend for the cream sauce, and the 3/4 c. Is added to the spinach, artichokes, chick pea quinoa mix before adding the cream sauce?

    1. The 1.5 cups of water is to soak the cashews. Then you drain them and rinse them and use the 3/4 cup of liquid in the sauce 🙂 Sorry that’s not clear!

  4. This was amazing! My husband I were both pleasantly surprised. The water confused me when I got to that step so I added 1.5 cups to the sauce and ignored the 3/4 cup. Also had to use whole wheat couscous because I couldn’t find my quinoa. DELISH! Thank you!

  5. Avatar photo
    Michelle Kadera

    This casserole blew my mind! My husband and I thought it was excellent! I have never had anything like it! Thanks for sharing!!

  6. Please clarify the amount of water to add to the sauce. I used 3/4 cup which was not enough and I only added 3/4 cup quinoa. I had to add a significant amount during cooking so the quinoa would cook. Does the 1 1/2 cup go in the sauce too? I read a comment saying that was only to soak cashews. It was very tasty.

  7. If I don’t want to make my own cream sauce, what are my options for a pre-made substitution? What and how much of it? FYI I’m not vegan, just always looking for healthier, easier meal options.

  8. This is a great vegan recipe. I made it exactly as written but I tasted the sauce and added some Better Than Bouillon to give it some pizazz. I’m thinking of adding some additional veggies next time. Hubby loved it- no leftovers!

  9. I’m making this for a guy who is vegan (that I really want to impress) this week. Based on your tastes, do you think mushrooms may be a good switch instead of chick peas? How much would you add if so? I thought it might give more depth in flavor? For the cashew cream, I have a food processor, not a blender. Have you tried it with that? Just concerned about the consistency

    1. Avatar photo
      Teagan Mosenthal

      Hi Rebecca! I’m a big pan of chickpeas, but I’m sure it would be just as delicious with mushrooms! I would recommend about 2 cups (maybe a little less) because they will definitely shrink while you cook it. A food processor will work just as well!! Let me know how it turns out. I’m sure he is going to love it 🙂

    1. Avatar photo
      Teagan Mosenthal

      I haven’t tried any of these, but here is what I found for substitutes:

      Substitute for raw cashews: pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, soaked sunflower seeds, sunflower seeds and tahini (sesame seed butter), combination of zucchini and pine or macadamia nuts could work particularly well. Silken tofu can replace cashews effectively.

  10. I thought this dish was yummy! I made it with only 3/4 cup of quinoa, but the same amount of sauce and I added more spinach. I also added some “no salt” spices to it. Even my carnivore of a husband enjoyed it!For those who thought it didn’t have enough liquid, I just added about a 1/2 cup of vegetable broth 3/4 of the way through the cooking and it took care of cooking the quinoa through and it was moist! Thank you! It has a lot you can do with it, adding other veggies, etc. I’ll make it again!

  11. One Star! This recipe is a great idea, but the quinoa does not cook. It is still crunchy at the end! My suggestion would be to cook the quinoa before putting it in the casserole dish, and since it will be pre-cooked you can cut down on the water in the sauce. Very frustrating to have crunchy quinoa after prepping everything! Needs modified!

    1. Sorry you felt that way! I’ve never had that trouble, so I’d say that you just needed to cook it a bit longer. The quinoa has plenty of liquid to cook, so it sounds like maybe just the timing was a little off for you. Appreciate the feedback!

  12. Any suggestion to substitute the artichokes? Never have them on hand… do you think palm hearts would work? Or cooked Brussels sprouts or other roasted veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, etc)?

  13. I really wanted to like this. There is not enough sauce to cover the quinoa and veggies. I ended up adding about 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth to cover everything. And I don’t understand why you can’t ix the water into the sauce in the blender rather than trying to stir it in separately.. Also, it was unclear whether the artichokes should be drained. I noticed other commented on this and your clarifying. The recipe should reflect this. Overall the dish was bland but palatable. If I hadn’t
    added the addition broth, the quinoa would have never cooked correctly.

    1. Avatar photo
      Alyssa Rimmer

      So glad you enjoyed! I’d love for you to leave a star rating if you haven’t already 😉 xox

  14. Finally made this last night after having it sitting on a tab in my browser forever and it was so, SO tasty! Followed directions exactly, which is rare for me, though I only had tri-color quinoa. I used artichoke bottoms, which I think was a good choice because they have such great texture. Fresh spinach since it’s what I had and Violife vegan parm. We are lucky because we have fresh Meyer lemons from my parent’s tree and the lemon really set off all the flavors. Dinner for two nights! What a tasty recipe!

  15. HI…just wondering if you need 2 batches of sauce cause steps 4 and 5 both say add sauce. I am a bit confused….thanks you

  16. My husband cannot eat nuts but this sounds yummyh. Do you think we could subsitue raw sunflower seeds vs cashews??

    1. I think that might work! I haven’t made a sunflower seed cream before, but I think it would probably work! You could also use tofu 🙂

  17. Avatar photo
    Heather Rennie

    i’ve had this bookmarked forever – been meaning to make it! do you rinse and drain the artichokes, or just add it all in? thanks!!

  18. This looks really good and I’m going to make it ASAP! Except…..is there anything I can use in place of miso paste? I really don’t want to eat soy anything…its so genetically engineered…

    1. Hi Cindy, I can’t remember the name of the brand off the top of my head, but there is a company that makes soy-free miso pastes out of different beans like chickpeas and adzuki beans. I’ve seen their products at my local health food co-op.

    2. Cindy: I also avoid soy because of an allergy. I’ve seen this miso paste made with chickpeas at our local food co-op. but I’d say you could probably omit it from the recipe and still be fine.