This southwest quinoa bowl is one of our go-to weeknight meals. It is super quick to whip up, delicious, and extremely nutritious. Plus, there is just something about this avocado and tomatillo sauce that my kids absolutely love. If I put it on anything, they will gobble it right up. Kids sitting down to a healthy dinner of quinoa, beans, and veggies and getting up for seconds. Well, that makes for one happy mama. I think I’ll have seconds too.

I love one-bowl meals at our house. It is just easy with kids. I prep all the toppings, literally leave them on the cutting board, and then everyone makes their own bowl. They get to choose what goes in their bowl and how much. Two simple rules: you must have beans and you must have a veggie, any veggie. That’s it! We’ve seen some pretty creative combinations that I would never dream my kids would eat, yet they devour them. I think it’s the control they get from making their own bowl. It makes dinner time 1000% easier.

Quinoa-tastic

Yesterday, we had southwest quinoa bowls for dinner. I watched my youngest son, Otis, scoop a bunch of quinoa into his bowl. Staring at him, I was thoroughly confused. I thought he hated quinoa? Was I confusing kids again? Maybe it was Lucian who disliked quinoa? Nope, my older son reminded me I was correct, as of last week, Otis did hate quinoa. Clearly not anymore. He ate everything, quinoa and all—licked the bowl clean.

That is why it is so important to continually offer healthy foods kids don’t like. You just never know when they will change their tune. Some research shows that with older children, you need to offer a food 15+ times before kids warm up to it. 15 times! Basically, the repetition normalizes it, and your child will slowly warm up to it. Moral of the story: don’t give up. Keep offering those yummy veggies. Someday, they just may surprise you and load up a plate full of their least favorite food and chow down.

All Year, All the Time Food

One of the reasons why I love this dish so much is that it’s good any time of the year. It feels hearty and satisfying in the winter, not too cooling. In the summer, it feels fresh and clean, not too heavy. As long as you can get good ripe avocados for the avocado and tomatillo sauce you can enjoy this tasty meal any time of the year.

This southwest quinoa bowl also makes a great lunch. I love to make a big ole batch of this and make a couple of lunches with the leftovers. Easy peasy.

How to Make Southwest Quinoa Bowls

This is a seriously easy dinner to make. If you can make quinoa on the stove and open a can of beans, you’ve got this! I do like to cook the sweet potato in the air fryer, mostly because it speeds up cooking time, but you could certainly cook them in a frying pan as well.

To start, cook the quinoa according to the manufacturer’s instructions in a saucepan on the stove. Once you’ve got the quinoa going, toss the sweet potato chunks into the air fryer for about 14 minutes at 375°. Pivot and make the avocado and tomatillo sauce. Then prep all the veggie toppings: thinly slice the purple cabbage, cut the tomatoes in half, and slice the radishes.

When the quinoa and sweet potatoes have finished cooking, you are ready to assemble the southwest quinoa bowls. Start with a couple of scoops of quinoa and then add little piles of the black beans, sweet potato, purple cabbage, and tomatoes. Finish off with a dollop of the avocado and tomatillo sauce. Lastly, garnish with the sliced radishes and cojita cheese. Feta cheese works great as a substitute if you don’t have cojita. That’s it, you’re ready to enjoy your tasty creation. Yum!

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