This Chicken Apple Sausage Quinoa Casserole is packed with shredded brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes. It is the perfect healthy meal for an easy weeknight dinner or is perfect for meal prep for the week! It is high in protein and delicious!
When fall rolls around I begin to crave things like chili, potatoes, creamy soups, and pork roast. My body knows exactly when it is time to nest for the winter and immediately wants to make sure my body is nourished.
I do in fact love a good chili and we always have potatoes in our pantry, but I try to incorporate healthy green vegetables and whole ingredients like quinoa into my diet throughout the fall and winter months!
This Apple Chicken Sausage Quinoa Casserole is a great meal to add to your list for the week. It has delicious seasonal vegetables like sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts. All you have to do is throw everything into the casserole dish, brown your chicken sausage, and mix up your dressing. That’s right, THE DRESSING. The dressing for this quinoa casserole takes this dish to the next level.
One other thing I really love about this quinoa bake is that I usually have everything I need for this dish in my pantry or the refrigerator. Stock your pantry so that you are ready to make this quinoa casserole whenever you crave it!
Quinoa Casserole Pantry Staples
- Chicken Broth
- Quinoa
- Sweet Potatoes
- Brussel Sprouts
- Rice Vinegar
- Italian Seasoning
- Chicken Sausage
Q’s About Quinoa
What is quinoa good for?
Quinoa is packed with protein and fiber. In fact, quinoa makes up a complete protein on its own! Adding quinoa into vegetarian and vegan dishes is a great way to add protein to any meal. You can also incorporate quinoa flour and quinoa flakes into baked goods and oatmeal. There are so many options!
Is Quinoa better for you than rice?
It all depends on what your personal nutrition goals are! Quinoa is higher in protein, but rice is packed with fiber. Please talk to an RD for your specific nutritional needs.
Is quinoa a superfood?
Quinoa is a superfood. In fact, did you know that quinoa is not even a grain? Bobs Red Mill talks about how quinoa is a part of the quinoa, spinach, and beet family (crazy, right?!)
Is quinoa gluten free?
Yes, quinoa is naturally gluten free! However, if you are celiac please make sure you do research on where your quinoa is processed. Sometimes there is cross contamination in factories (yikes).
Is quinoa paleo?
You can not eat quinoa if you are following a strict paleo diet.
Healthy Quinoa Recipes
- 10 Healthy Quinoa Recipes
- Mexican Quinoa Salad
- How to Cook Quinoa in the Microwave
- Roasted Brussel Sprout Salad with Quinoa
- How to Make Quinoa in the Instant Pot
- Baked Chicken Parmesan Quinoa Bake
- Quinoa Broccoli and Cheese Casserole
Chicken Apple Sausage Quinoa Casserole with Shredded Brussel Sprouts
Ingredients
- 1 cup white quinoa uncooked
- 1/2 yellow onion finely chopped
- 2 cups shredded brussels sprouts
- 2 medium sweet potatoes peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 cups chicken/vegetable broth
- 4 Apple Chicken Sausages fully cooked
Dressing
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- First, preheat oven to 375ºF and spray a 9x13 casserole dish with olive oil cooking spray.
- Next, prep veggies by peeling and dicing sweet potatoes, chopping onion, and shredding brussels sprouts. Place veggies in the casserole dish and add in olive oil, spices, salt and pepper. Toss the veggies until everything is fully coated by olive oil.
- Add quinoa, broth, and vinegar to the casserole dish and mix well.
- Cover casserole dish with tin foil and bake for 40 minutes.
- While casserole is baking, add all ingredients for the dressing into a jar. Close tight and shake until all ingredients are mixed together.
- Remove from oven and place sliced chicken sausage on top of the casserole. Turn oven to broil and broil for 2-4 minutes (making sure to watch it closely).*
- Remove from oven and add dressing. Mix well and serve.
Tips & Notes
Nutrition facts
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I like these healthy ingredients and that it’s a one-pan recipe! So I wanted to love it! But I just didn’t dig these flavors all mixed together. Might try to mix up a different dressing next time…
A little disappointed because the potatoes did not cook after an hour . I see another review mentioned the potatoes as well. I think these potatoes should be 1/2 cooked before put putting in the casserole. It was very frustrating
I am wondering if this will freeze well for make ahead freezer meal. any suggestions on whether to cook it first, and then freeze? or freeze before baking?
This would freeze great! I would personally cook it first and then freeze it.
This recipe is a taste sensation. I was a little concerned, balsamic, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard…just couldn’t imagine. But, this flavors are out-standing and the quinoa a perfect texture. Makes a lot, but, plan on enjoying it often.
This was so great! I made this for meal prep and it turned out awesome! I love that it all cooks in the one pan. I hate doing dishes and honestly I hate cooking and this was so simple. I’d love to make a spicy version of this with jalapeno chicken sausage and regular potatoes. Do you have any recs for what to do with the dressing?
Any suggestions to replace sausage so it’s strictly vegetarian?
Hi Lee,
How much olive oil to you suggest when mixing the vegetables after slicing? It isn’t listed in the recipe.
Thank you!
Kristen Berry
I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious. I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect. The only issue I had was that in step 2 of the recipe it says to add in the olive oil, but the ingredients list doesn’t list olive oil (except of for the dressing). I drizzled a fair amount on it (maybe 2 or 3 tablespoons) that seemed to work. My husband doesn’t really care for brussel sprouts or sweet potatoes, and he had 2 helpings!
In the picture it looks like there is some kind of cheese on top, am I missing that the directions/ingredients?
The cheese is optional, but we used parmesan!
I didn’t have tin foil but I substituted for aluminum foil, still came out great!
Can you replace the sweet potatoes with butternut squash?
Can you use cooked quinoa?
We recommend not using cooked quinoa or you will likely over cook it!
I made this tonight and followed the recipe exactly but I had some issues with it. First, a cup of uncooked quinoa yields a TON of quinoa when cooked. I felt like I should have only used half a cup because there was way too much compared to the amount of veggies. Also, the sweet potatoes were not soft enough after 60 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I love sweet potatoes but would have preferred them to be much more tender. Maybe I did something wrong. I wanted to love this dish – the flavors are great – I just had some frustration because I thought I had followed the recipe correctly!
Hi Lee! featured this recipe in my fall recipe round up post today at http://physicalkitchness.com/healthy-paleo-fall-recipes/
Thank you for the inspiration!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I made this last week and finally took some to work with me for lunch. the rest I put in the freezer. OMG! it’s really delicious I followed the directions exactly and it’s perfect the potatoes are not hard, like I thought they would be with only 40 minutes, but it’s super good.
I made this last night with a few tweaks because of things I had in my kitchen and it turned out super yummy, so I thought I’d share. I used 2 parsnips in place of one of the yams and savoy cabbage in place of the Brussels sprouts (which I think was easier to shred and cheaper at our market this time of year). I served on top of a bed of baby spinach and it was a hit with my husband!
Thanks for the inspiration!
In the picture of the unbaked dish without the sausage, there appears to be two types of diced vegetables. Are those both yams/sweet potatoes?
Yes they are! I should have clarified. I accidentally bough a yam and a sweet potato that day, so just used both to give it great color (they taste the same)!
thanks, and I like the color difference!
oh gosh, this looks all kinds of delicious. i live in minneapolis, but i tend to stay away from casseroles/hot-dish — this will definitely be an exception 🙂
Classic Minnesota hot dishes are irresistible (aka butter and cream-based),but this is nothing like that 😀
This is just my kind of dish. Thanks for sharing it.
Yay! Happy New Year!
This looks soo good and healthy too! I use rice vinegar in my salmon and baby bok choy recipe, love it!
YUM! I need salmon back in my life. I feel like with winter I never eat fish any more!
I love that the quinoa cooks while the casserole is baking. I absolutely hate making quinoa in a pot. This will save so much time. Love this idea.
RIGHT?!?!?! It’s the best ever! 60 minutes is like the golden number for quinoa to cook fully in the oven.