Chicken
Blackened Chicken over Spinach and Blue Cheese Quinoa
By Ryan · Published 2026-08-06
Servings
Serves 2-3
Prep
15 min
Cook
20 min
Difficulty
Medium
This was a phenomenal, mostly improvised dish that I'll probably never recreate exactly -- but here's my best shot at writing it down from what went into it. Lentils could stand in for the quinoa if that's what you have on hand.
Ingredients
- • 1 jalapeno, diced
- • 1/4 to 1/2 red onion, diced
- • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- • 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed
- • 2-3 oz cream cheese
- • 1-2 oz blue cheese
- • Cooked quinoa (lentils could work too)
- • Olive oil or butter
- • Water or chicken broth, as needed to loosen
- • Salt and pepper, to taste
- • 1 batch blackened chicken breast, sliced
Steps
- 1.Cook the quinoa (or lentils) according to package directions and set aside as the base.
- 2.In a skillet, heat a bit of olive oil or butter and saute the jalapeno, red onion, and garlic until softened.
- 3.Stir in the thawed spinach and cook until any excess liquid evaporates.
- 4.Add the cream cheese and blue cheese, stirring until melted and combined into a creamy sauce. Thin with a splash of water or chicken broth if it's too thick.
- 5.Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- 6.Build the bowl: quinoa on the bottom, the spinach and cheese sauce over the top, then sliced blackened chicken over that.
Notes
- • A from-memory re-creation -- treat it as a starting point, not gospel.
- • Lentils can stand in for quinoa.