Twelve ingredients and forty-five minutes, across a grill and a saucepan.
There is no dressing to make. The lemon juice and olive oil go straight over the assembled bowl.
Why This Recipe Works
- Lemon zest carries far more aroma into a marinade than juice alone.
- A grill gives the char marks a pan cannot on a whole breast.
- Resting before slicing keeps the juices in the chicken.
- Mixed quinoa keeps both colours visible in the finished bowl.
- Blue cheese is salty enough that the bowl needs no other seasoning at the end.
Ingredient Notes
- Crumbled blue cheese
- Half a cup. Blue rather than feta, and generous — it is a defining component the title never names.
- Mixed red-and-white quinoa
- One cup. Both colours stay visible in the bed of the bowl.
- Lemon, zested and juiced
- One, used twice. Zest and half the juice in the marinade, the remaining juice over the finished bowl.
- Rosemary and thyme
- A tablespoon of each. Both go into the marinade and both are visible on the grilled chicken.
How to Make It
Mixed quinoa cooked and cooled slightly
Cook the mixed quinoa in water until tender; cool slightly.
The marinade, with zest and half the juice
Mix lemon zest, half the lemon juice, rosemary, thyme, olive oil, and salt and coat the chicken.
Grilled to charred and 165°F, then rested
Grill the chicken until charred in spots and 165°F; rest and slice.
The bowls built
Divide quinoa, cucumber, tomatoes, and greens among bowls.
Chicken and blue cheese on top
Top with grilled chicken and blue cheese.
The rest of the lemon, and a little oil
Drizzle with the remaining lemon juice and a little olive oil.
Six Things in a Bowl, and the Title Names Two
This is a lemon herb grilled chicken quinoa bowl. Four of the six things in the finished bowl are not in that name at all. Read it from the bottom.
The finish - the OTHER half of the lemon
The remaining lemon juice and a little olive oil, drizzled over. There is no made dressing in this recipe. The lemon was split at the start precisely so half could survive the grill in a marinade and half could arrive fresh and unheated at the end - which is where the title's lemon actually shows.
The cheese - BLUE
1/2 cup crumbled, and generously. The cheese is BLUE CHEESE, not feta. It also does a practical job - blue cheese is salty enough that the finished bowl needs no seasoning at the table.
The chicken - marinated, then GRILLED for char
1 lb of breast coated in lemon ZEST, HALF the lemon juice, 1 tbsp rosemary, 1 tbsp thyme, 2 tbsp olive oil and 3/4 tsp salt, then GRILLED UNTIL CHARRED IN SPOTS AND 165F, RESTED and sliced. A grill rather than a pan because you want CHAR MARKS, which need direct bar contact. The rest before slicing is the usual protection: grilled breast that goes straight under a knife leaves its juices on the board.
The raw layer - cucumber, whole tomatoes, greens
1 sliced cucumber, 1 1/2 cups WHOLE cherry tomatoes and 2 cups of mixed leafy greens. Three components the title names none of. The tomatoes stay whole rather than halved, which keeps them from bleeding into the quinoa.
The base - MIXED red and white quinoa
1 cup cooked in 2 cups of water until tender, then COOLED SLIGHTLY. Mixed matters: you want visibly red AND white grains, not one or the other. The brief cooling matters for the layer above it - quinoa going into a bowl still steaming wilts leafy greens on contact.
Success Tips
- Zest the lemon before juicing it, and keep half the juice back for the end.
- Let the quinoa cool slightly before building, or it wilts the greens.
- Rest the chicken before slicing; grilled breast loses a lot of juice otherwise.
Serving Ideas
Four bowls of mixed red-and-white quinoa with cucumber, whole cherry tomatoes and leafy greens, topped with sliced charred chicken and generous crumbled blue cheese, drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is that feta or blue cheese?
Blue cheese — half a cup, crumbled. The title names no cheese at all.
Where is the lemon?
In two places. Zest and half the juice go into the marinade; the remaining juice is drizzled over the assembled bowl.
Is there a dressing?
No. Lemon juice and a little olive oil go straight over the bowl, and the blue cheese supplies the salt.
