This simple quinoa bowl is light, filling, and packed with vegetables, chickpeas, and crunchy roasted peanuts. It works beautifully as a healthy lunch, quick dinner, or meal-prep option.
Healthy Chickpea & Vegetable Quinoa (Weight-Loss Friendly Recipe)
This simple quinoa bowl is light, filling, and packedwith vegetables, chickpeas, and crunchy roasted peanuts. It works beautifullyas a healthy lunch, quick dinner, or meal-prep option.
Ingredients
Method
- Step-by-Step Method
- Prepare the quinoa
- Add the quinoa to a pot of water and boil until it becomes tender. Once cooked, drain the excess water and set the quinoa aside.
- Prepare the vegetables
- Finely chop the onion and tomato. Keep the carrot and corn and peas ready. If using frozen vegetables, you can add them directly to the pan.
- Heat the ghee
- Heat 1 teaspoon desi ghee in a pan over medium heat.
- Cook the onion
- Add the chopped onion and sauté for 1–2 minutes, until it begins to soften.
- Add the tomato
- Add the chopped tomato and cook for another 1–2 minutes until slightly soft.
- Add the vegetables
- Add the carrot, peas and corn. Cook for about 2–3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the spices
- Add salt, coriander powder and red chilli powder. Mix well so the vegetables are evenly coated with the spices.
- Add the chickpeas
- Stir in the boiled chickpeas and cook for another 1–2 minutes.
- Mix in the quinoa
- Add the cooked quinoa and gently mix everything together. Cook on low heat for about 2 minutes so the flavours combine.
- Finish with peanuts
- Add the roasted peanuts, give everything a final toss and switch off the heat.
Video
Notes
Serve warm on its own or with a spoonful of yogurt or raita on the side.
Is it weight-loss friendly?
Yes, portion-wise it can be. Your recipe combines quinoa and chickpeas for fibre and some protein, vegetables for volume, and only 1 teaspoon of ghee. The peanuts add healthy fats and crunch, but keeping them to 10–12 helps control the overall energy content.
I’d describe it on the blog as “weight-loss friendly” rather than “weight-loss recipe,” because weight loss depends on the person’s overall daily intake.
Is it gluten-free?
Yes, naturally gluten-free, assuming all packaged ingredients/spices are labelled gluten-free or free from cross-contamination. Quinoa, chickpeas, vegetables, peanuts and pure ghee are naturally gluten-free.
Is it vegan?
Not with desi ghee, because ghee is made from dairy.
But it becomes 100% vegan very easily: replace the 1 teaspoon ghee with 1 teaspoon olive oil or another plant-based cooking oil.
So for the version in your photo, I would label it:
✓ Vegetarian
✓ Gluten-Free
✓ Weight-Loss Friendly
✓ High-Fibre
✓ Gluten-Free
✓ Weight-Loss Friendly
✓ High-Fibre
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