Quinoa Cakes with Poached Eggs
Step out of your dinner rut with these easy, freezer friendly quinoa cakes. Top with a pile of fresh kale and a poached egg for a year-round updated take on breakfast for dinner.
Life is crazy, friends. Two kids. New job. Planning a move to a new house. Slow, leisurely evenings cooking complicated dinners are a thing of the past.
Fast, easy, and make ahead is the name of the game right now. The faster, the easier, and the more prep work we can do ahead of time, the better.
Right now, I’m trying to cook as much as I can on Sundays, with the goal of prepping enough food for lunches and dinners throughout the week.
I know weeknight dinners are a struggle for lots of you, as well, so this year I’m hoping to share a series on “make ahead meals” — food you can cook on a weekend and enjoy during the week, with less than 10 minutes of hands-on cooking time.
These quinoa cakes with poached eggs fit the bill (and are pretty darn tasty and healthy, too!).
I first started making these many years ago when I had an overload of leafy greens from our CSA. Spring? Kale. Summer? Kale. Fall? Kale. What can we do with all this kale?! (Other delicious ideas: vegan sweet potato peanut soup, sweet potato kale chickpea bowl).
Now we make them because they’re quick and fast and even the 3 year old likes them: in other words, the perfect make ahead dinner.
How to Make Quinoa Cakes
Super easy. Cook your quinoa however you like. (My favorite hack? Right in the microwave!) Stir in the eggs, onion, fresh (or dried) herbs, some grated cheese, and bread crumbs. (Gluten free? Use gluten free breadcrumbs or the same volume of ground oats.)
The quinoa cakes are pan fried for 8-10 minutes per side. Once you form the cakes into a patty and add them to the hot pan, just let them sit — no need to check on them. This gives you the perfect amount of time to sauté a giant pile of kale. Flip the quinoa cakes, poach the eggs, and everything is ready at once.
Make Ahead Quinoa Cakes and Poached Eggs
Guess what? You can make this an even easier weeknight dinner by making your quinoa cakes ahead of time! They freeze really well, so go ahead and make a triple batch and store them in the freezer. Reheat in the oven or toaster oven straight from frozen until warm for an even faster dinner. While the quinoa cakes warm, sauté the kale and poach the eggs, and you’ve saved yourself the time it takes to make the quinoa and shape the quinoa cakes.
What’s that? You’re saying it’s too much work to poach eggs the day of? Oh, okay. Use this amazing trick from Serious Eats on how to partially poach your eggs, store in the refrigerator (for up to 5 days!) and then finish cooking in 2 minutes just before dinner.
Boom. Weeknight dinner woes solved.
The nutty quinoa and rich, runny egg yolk are a great complement to the kale and served together, it makes for a quick, easy, filling meal. And really, what more could you want from a weeknight dinner?
Love poached eggs? Put one on top of these other delicious recipes!
- Sweet Potato Kale Chickpea Bowl
- Indian Spiced Lentils with Poached Eggs
- Coconut Braised Chickpeas and Spinach
- All Dinner Recipes »
Quinoa Cakes with Poached Eggs
Easy, freezer friendly quinoa cakes, topped with a pile of fresh kale and poached eggs.
Ingredients
FOR THE QUINOA CAKES
- 2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa, room temperature
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1/3 cup fresh chives, chopped
- 1 onion, diced
- 1/3 cup shredded cheese (suggested: mozzarella or gouda)
- 6 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (use gluten free or 1 cup ground oats for gluten free)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
FOR THE KALE
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 bunch kale or other leafy greens
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
FOR THE POACHED EGGS
- 6 eggs, whole
Instructions
- Combine the quinoa, eggs, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the chives, onion, cheese, and half of the diced garlic. Mix in the bread crumbs and allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes so the crumbs absorb some of the moisture.
- Form the quinoa mixture into 6 2-inch patties.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium low heat. Add the quinoa cakes, cover the skillet, and cook for 10 minutes, until the bottoms are deeply browned. Carefully flip with a spatula and cook on the second side for 5 to 7 minutes, until golden.
- While the quinoa cakes are cooking, heat remaining 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add in the remaining garlic and stir frequently to prevent garlic from burning. Add the kale leaves, torn into pieces, and cover. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until kale is wilted. Deglaze the pan with a few tablespoons of red wine vinegar and season to taste.
- When the quinoa cakes are done cooking and cooling, poach the 6 eggs. For a good egg-poaching tutorial, I recommend Alton Brown.
- Serve the quinoa cakes, topped with the wilted kale and a poached egg. Serve immediately.
Notes
A Bunsen Burner Bakery Original Protocol
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6Amount Per Serving: Calories: 318Total Fat: 16gCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 17g
This recipe was originally published in July 2016 and updated in November 2018.
I love this recipe! I’ve made these quinoa cakes so many times and they are indeed SO freezer friendly. I like treating them like latkes and crumbling them in a salad, too!
I LOVE the idea of crumbling them in a salad or top other things. Totally going to steal it! I crumble them up a little for Ryan to idea – never crossed my mind to do the same for me.
The cake look SO good! Love everything poached eggs – so perfect for summer!
Thanks, Jane! Totally agree on the poached eggs – my favorite quick and easy dinner.
I love that this meal can be eaten any time of day! And, it’s so healthy too!
Thanks, Erica – totally agree on the any time of day. I always prefer savory food for breakfast, so this is basically a perfect breakfast in my mind. 🙂
This looks delish! Quinoa cakes are so yummy.. And poached eggs make everything better. Noms. Also we apparently either don’t have CSAs (or.. Actually I don’t know what that is lol). But I’m glad it’s gotten you so much fresh produce!!
Oh no! CSAs are the best – so sad you don’t have one. It stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, you buy a “share” of a farm and get a percentage of all the crops they produce that season. So unlike a farm stand, you don’t get to pick what you get each week – you just get a big box of what the farmer harvested. It can be a little bit of a risk since you pay upfront for the year, so if there’s a bad growing season, you don’t get much, but it supports the farmers and lets them plant more since they are getting paid before they plant, rather than after taking things to market.
sounds delicious and that egg yolk oozing down is perfect. These quinoa cakes look like they are full of flavor. Do you have a favorite cheese that you use, I bet gouda would be super delicious in these
I usually use whatever I have on hand, but gouda is definitely one of my favorites! We had a cheese share last year as part of our CSA so it was really fun to try all the different cheeses and see how the taste changed every so slightly.
This looks amazing. I love poached eggs! I have a feeling this is going to be made at my house this weekend!!
You should definitely make it! Perfect for a lazy weekend brunch, too!
Oooh yummy, I absolutely adore quick and delicious meals like this. I’d even splurge for a big serving with a big cup of coffee on a Sunday morning. (Extra runny egg for me too haha) Heaven! 😀
Yes! Runny eggs for life!
This worked fabulous! An easy meal-looks amazing and tastes great. A Vegetarian(eggs of course) meal that is hearty. I added a touch of homemade tomato sauce…but I think pesto or Harisa paste would work well too on the top
Ooooh adding harissa sounds like such a good idea! We always like things a little spicy around here!