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So….these Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Quinoa Bowls with Fried Bananas…..YES!
I am on a huge “bowl” food kick right now. I think it’s all this healthy, fresh eating that I’m currently into at the moment. It seems that when it comes to healthy, fresh food it just works nicely in a bowl!
I don’t know, either that or I really just like making giant bowls of delicious food.
But umm, happy Wednesday!! I am so excited for today because I am back in the kitchen cooking. Yes! I spent Monday and Tuesday catching up on computer work (ugh) because I had people finishing up in my kitchen and photo room. They were finishing the final coat of paint and other miscellaneous things, which meant no cooking for me. I cannot even remember the last day I didn’t cook for practically the entire day. With Christmas and New Years, I’ve honestly been cooking for three weeks straight – and pretty much all of December too. My new kitchen surely got a good workout though, especially over Christmas.
Oh my gosh, I was tired, but believe it or not, I still hated sitting and staring at my computer screen all day long.
That is just so not my thing, but everyones gotta do it at some point…I guess. Bottom line is I am crazy exited to get back to cooking and photographing today. I guess I kind of love it…obviously.
Oh, and I also spent a decent portion of my Monday night pulling my brother’s friends giant trailer full of snowmobiles out of my driveway. Yup, I didn’t even know I had it in me, but apparently I am pretty good at getting people unstuck. Even if their trailer is the biggest I have ever seen and they don’t have snow tires (ahh..yes). Who doesn’t have snow tires up here (his friend IS from Michigan though)? And yes, I do have five brothers…wonder where the heck they were?
Ah ah hmmm…..the bar. Yes, I’m serious, or at least the older ones were. Brothers.
And back to these Cuban chicken and black bean quinoa bowls, because my rambling is making me tired.
Doesn’t this just look so pretty and delicious? I think so, especially the delicious part. So many good flavors, so many textures. Besides being a flavor freak, I am also a texture freak, so this is totally my kind of bowl.
Plus, hello! Cuban food. YUM!
Now I realize there are a fair amount of steps to this recipe. DO NOT let this scare you off. I will not lie, these bowls take a little time, but nothing is that hard and you make them to your liking. I of course would not recommend skimping on even one part of this meal, because I think everything in it is a must. The fried bananas? FOR SURE? The Mangos? WITHOUT A DOUBT. The quinoa? Well, rice would totally work awesome here too, but quinoa gives us protein and whole grains. The chicken? THE BEST.
And that pretty much sums up how I feel about this meal.
Meaning I clearly love it to death, which is why my caps lock has been on way too much throughout this post. Sorry, but how else am I supposed to show you my excitement. I mean you can’t actually see me, so caps lock it is. Don’t get annoyed, just know I really, really love this bowl.
And I am kind of mildly (or maybe wildly?) exited for you guys to make them too. I hope you love them as much as we all did!
Oh, but before I go – fried bananas done in a savory dish? Best. Thing. Ever.
Seriously, do not be freaked by them. They are delish!
Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Quinoa Bowls with Fried Chili Spiced Bananas + Spicy Mangos.
Servings: 4 Servings
Calories Per Serving: 862 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Chicken
Black Beans + Quinoa
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 red pepper chopped
- 1 1/2 cups dry quinoa
- 2 cups cooked black beans rinsed + drained if using canned
- 2 cloves garlic minced or grated
- salt and pepper to taste
Bananas + Mangos
- 2 bananas sliced + chili powder if desired
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 mango diced
- 1 red chile seeded + chopped
- 1/2 of 1 lime juiced
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
Instructions
- To a blender, add the cumin, 3 cloves garlic, red chile, pinch of pepper, 3/4 cup orange juice, lime juice + lime zest, honey, soy sauce and cilantro. Blend until everything is finely chopped and smooth. Next, add the chicken to a bowl or a ziplock bag and pour half the marinade over the chicken. Toss to coat and allow the chicken to sit for 20 minutes, or even overnight, in the marinade.
- Meanwhile, work on the quinoa. Heat a large high sided skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot add the oil and onion. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until the onion is soft. Add the red pepper and quinoa, cook another five minutes until the red pepper is soft and the quinoa is lightly toasted. Now pour in 3 cups of water or chicken broth, bring the mixture to a boil, cover and then simmer over low heat for 25-30 minutes or until the quinoa is cooked and fluffy. Once the quinoa is done cooking, scoot it over to the side and add another drizzle of oil to the skillet if needed, add the black beans, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook until warmed through. Alternately, you may just stir the black beans into the quinoa.
- While the quinoa cooks, fry the bananas. Remove the peels from the bananas and slice into 1/2 inch thick slices. Set a skillet over medium to medium-high heat and add the oil. Lay down your banana slices and sprinkle with chili powder if using, fry for 4-5 minutes on each side. Be sure to watch the heat and turn it down if the bananas are browning too quickly. You want enough heat to caramelize and brown the slices, but you don't want them to burn. Remove from the skillet and place on a plate. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Add the mango, red chile, lime juice and cilantro to a bowl. Toss well.
- To cook the chicken, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add a drizzle of olive oil. Add half the chicken and cook, 3-5 minutes or until browned all over and cooked throughout. Remove and repeat with the remaining chicken. Once all the chicken is cooked, cover with foil. Add the remaining marinade + 1/4 cup orange juice to the skillet and bring to a boil. Add the 2 tablespoons of butter and cook about 5 minutes or until reduced slightly. Stir in some chopped cilantro if desired.
- To serve, divide the quinoa among bowls. Top with chicken, black beans, mangos and bananas. Drizzle with the the mojo sauce and chopped cilantro if desired.
Thinking 2015 may be all about food in bowls? Bring it on!
This post was originally published on January 7, 2015
Definitely going to make this, but can I buy prewashed Quinoa?
HI! I am not sure, I have never seen that in the store. Hope you love this!
This recipe is INCREDIBLE! I’ve made it twice so far and will again! The 2nd time I actually cooked the chicken in my crockpot with the marinade and shredded it for the bowls, it was delicious!
Being Cuban myself, I know that so many of those ingredients for the chicken are never used in any Cuban dishes so not sure if this really needs to be called “Cuban chicken” since the only ingredients we would use out of that list is the garlic & cumin.
The colors in this dish look amazing! Everything looks delicious. Thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to try it.
we just made this for dinner and it was absolutely delicious! thank you for sharing such a great recipe, I will definetly be making this again 🙂
Hey!
So I was super excited about this recipe. This was the first of yours that I’ve tried. I guess it just went without saying – fried bananas and mangoes! ( I am Pakistani after all). I didn’t have the black beans because the store was out of them but I substituted with this black bean and red chili sauce (it came in a jar) and it tasted great! I mixed two tablespoons in with the quinoa (omg – first time with quinoa…too bomb)
I attempted to fry the bananas but they turned into mush which was disappointing as I really did take care. The consistency was like fire roasted marshmallows (and the taste was similar too). So, how did you fry them EXACTLY?
Boyfriend hates cheese. Sometimes I wonder why I am even with him…:( anyhow, he is literally the pickiest person on Earth when it comes to food but he did enjoy this.
GUYS – I don’t think anyone has mentioned it – but this dish is even better the next day!!! I inhaled it.
THANK YOU!
I made this recipe last night, with a few changes, and my husband and I loved it!! Thank you!
So happy you loved it, THANK YOU!!
I had a wild hair to make mojitos today with a pile of extra basil (I know, I’ve already lost you) and Google served up this recipe to my “Cuban chicken quick” search. Since I had most everything in the larder, save quinoa, red chile, mango, and a king’s ransom of limes, I made a quick trip to the store and got to cooking.
The results were wonderful: spectacular flavor, warm reception from the romantic partner, and really low unit cost. I made a few notes for next time (and you better believe there’ll be a next time!):
-Since the red chiles are used as a marinade spice and garnish spice, by turns, I think you could sub crushed red pepper with no substantial change in dish quality. If they were required to brown they’d need the moisture of a fresh chile, but in this recipe they exist alongside plenty of wet ingredients.
-This makes enough quinoa for 16 people, 14 of whom has better love quinoa. Like, Freudian love. Next time, I’m using a single can of beans, half an onion, and a small bell pepper with only 0.75 cups dry quinoa.
-Okay, who am I kidding, I’ll probably make it with one cup dry Farro. ‘To thine own relationship-with-quinoa be true.’
-The marinated chicken pushed the edge of my palate’s tolerance for lime, and was so wet as not to brown beautifully. Next time, I’m going to marinate the intact breast, THEN cut it into morsels for the pan. This will cut down on the adsorbtion of the marinade without reducing the amount of liquid left for the mojo sauce reduction, and will aid in browning.
-I think I would happily drink the contents of the blender, as a beverage. Yes, there’s garlic; get off my butt. I subbed tangerine juice for the orange because I had it leftover from Mexican night (tequila, Campari, tangerine, thank me later). Smelled good, looked good.
Thanks for the recipe! Can’t wait to try another.
I made this tonight for dinner. While the flavor was good, i do have some …. not problems but …. well. here they go.
The pictures are lovely but for instance, the picture with the beans shows cilantro in them but in the recipe you dont mention adding cilantro to the beans while they are cooking. So a little confusing.
The chicken had good flavor but not as strong as I was hoping it would be. I also had some trouble with frying the banans. Followed the recipe to a T and they were all kinds of mushy. Like baby food mushy. Did I miss something here? are they supposed to be like green bananas??
Hey Melissa, really sorry about the cilantro. I will add that to the recipe. As for the bananas, they should have been firm bananas, but not green. Did you use brown bananas?
Sorry for the trouble,
Tieghan
I made this recipe this afternoon–it’s incredible. Thank you!!!
I made this for dinner last night, and it was great! The flavors came together so well. I am definitely bookmarking the site.
So excited you loved it, thanks!! Have a great weekend!
I just made this tonight Tieghan – WOW! So so tasty. I can’t believe how jam-packed full of flavor this dish is. You have quite the talent and I thank you for sharing it with the rest of us 🙂
I cannot wait to make this! It looks seriously delicious. Thanks for a brilliant recipe!
My son decided to give up the “white stuff” for lent. Hopefully quinoa and black beans will pass the test.
I made this tonight, and it was great! I Added sweet potatoes to the mix and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe!