This easy Crock Pot Pizza Quinoa tastes like the classic comfort food but is totally guilt, and gluten free! It’s a healthy, kid-friendly, weeknight meal that will please the whole family!
So first off. There’s pizza-goodness happening.
Second off. The aforementioned pizza goodness dealio? It’s HEALTHY.
Third off. It’s stupid-simple-easy-peasy because it’s made in your SLOW COOKER.
And, finally…I’M GOING TO MEXICO TONIGHT. For 10. Whole. Gloriously. Magical. Days.
Basically, think of the most excited person on this floating sphere that we call “earth” and then times it by abooooout eleventy billion.
That is me. Right now. GAH.
Hokay though. We can discuss hot, sun-shine-y, happy vacations in a few paragraphs because, well, PIZZA QUINOA.
Remember that time that I served you a steaming, hot plate of smoky-sweet crock pot BBQ chicken quinoa…and then your taste buds basically fell of your heads and you BLEW it up on Pinterest? Seriously, that was over a year ago and it’s STILL GOING.
Well, peeps, you may think that I do not pay attention to you. Which is sad. Since, I have told you COUNTLESS times that we are best friends of the internet sort. Obviously, I got your (taste buds’) back!
I took notice. This is what makes you happy::
- Slow cooker meals.
- Basically ANYTHING with quinoa. <— am I the only one who, after all it’s years of being super-popular and trendy, still sort of laugh whenever I pronounce the name? Also, fun fact: for some reason my autocorrect ALWAYS change “quinoa” to “wuinoa.” What. The. Heck?!
Anyway.
- You like slow cooker quinoa with some sort of should-be-guilty-but-PSYCH-it’s-not comfort food-y spin. You know, kinda like that time we ate Pizza low carb lasagna with zucchini noodles.
I mean, they both have that ooey-gooey, melty-cheesy, extra-sauce-PUHLEEZE circle of light and crunchy dough deliciousness that we have affectionately named “pizza” flavors.
Exactly like that. Except, like, you don’t have to go run some intervals just by THINKING about this version.
WARNING: bold, but true, statement alert: Basically, this quinoa is life. Life that you can scoop out of a slow cooker and drool over the stringy bits of melted cheese that dangle deliciously from your scooping-device as you lift it out of the slow cooker. You might even be tempted to get your grabby-little fingers right in there and rip that melty cheese string off, shoveling it into your pizza-craving-mouth in about -2 seconds FLAT.
Classy quinoa eating <<<< cave-woman, hand-using quinoa eating. TRUF.
Best part about this pizza creation that your ridiculously-easy-weeknight-meal-loving self is going to be super excited about? You just DUMP it ALL in the slow cooker. No prep work. DEFINITELY no crust rolling. Which you KNOW just ends with you crying into a glass of wine because WHY IS IT SO HARD TO ROLL A CIRCLE.
Maybe that’s just my experience though.
Either way. It’s easy. And, if you’re one of those peeps that isn’t really comfortable being up-close-and-personal with a little ground beef, here is your dinner salvation: You can make it with chicken!
I tried it. Hubs and I both were all like: <3 <3 <3. B-U-T Mr. FFF was also confused at the poultry business because, apparently, poultry does not go on pizza in his mind (what?) so beef it is.
Psst: Between you and me, the chicken is JUST as good. Just don’t tell him I said that.
Before I take off, let me give ya a heads up: I’m taking a vacation. In the COMPLETE sense of the word. Like, I do NOT have any posts scheduled to come live to your hungry mouths over the course of the next 10 days.
Actually, that’s a lie. I have ONE tomorrow. But, it’s not food. It’s a super-fun announcement that I can’t wait to share with you! THE SUSPENSE.
But, you will also not see me on social media.
This is me and the Huberoni’s 3rd anniversary (it’s tomorrow!) and we wanted some good, quality, us time! We may or may not even have a daiquiri smoothie bowl planned for breakfast. <— That really doesn’t relate at all to wedding anniversaries, but I’m just pretty excited about the idea okay?
So, if you leave comments, here, there or everywhere (aka: social media) I have not unfriended you. I’m just in the land of pineapple drinks and warm weather. I will see YOU back here on Feb 12!
Until we meet again peeps.
Now go do yourself a favor and, I mean this in the friendliest-looking-out-for-you-way-possible, fall face-first, into a steaming, hot slow cooker full of healthy-pizza-YUM.
Other Recipes You Might Like:
Homemade Greek yogurt gluten free mac and cheese
Cauliflower Pizza with Greek Yogurt Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 Cup Organic pizza sauce divided + additional for servings
- 1 Cup Quinoa * read notes
- 1 Cup Green Bell pepper chopped
- 1/3 Cup Turkey pepperonis halved
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- pinches Few of pepper
- 1 1/4 Cups Reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 8 oz Raw 93% lean ground beef
- 3/4 Cup Grated Mozzarella cheese packed + additional for garnish
- 1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan cheese packed
Instructions
- Spray a 5 quart slow cooker with cooking spray and add 1 cup of the pizza sauce (saving the rest for later,) and the quinoa, green pepper, turkey pepperoni, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper inside of it, and stir together.
- Add in the chicken broth and stir. Finally, crumble up the ground beef and stir it into the quinoa.
- Set to HIGH heat and cook until the liquid is absorbed, the quinoa is tender, and the beef is cooked, about 2-3 hours. (Mine only took 2)
- Add in the remaining 1/4 cup of pizza sauce and the cheese and stir. Cover and cook an additional 5 minutes, so the cheese can melt.
- Divide the quinoa between 4 plates and drizzle with a little bit of extra pizza sauce and grated Mozzarella cheese and DEVOUR.
Tips & Notes:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
Marla says
This was delicious! It’s a new family favorite, and I’ve pointed several friends to your site to try it, too. I’m making it again tonight for company. I thought about doing a double batch, but I wasn’t sure I’d have the time to add more cooking time tonight. Turns out I only had a cup of regular quinoa left anyway, so the other half pound of meat went into another crockpot with the red quinoa. Have you doubled this recipe before? Tips or tricks on that?
Taylor Kiser says
I haven’t doubled it before so I can’t speak to that. Sorry! But I am glad you liked it!