I like to make this dish on special occasions or when I’m feeling in the mood to cook, as it requires three preparations: the polenta, the cooked vegetables, and the barbecue sauce. But it’s really tasty and pretty.
Quinoa-Polenta
Even though I love to cook, I'm not a fan of spending an hour in the kitchen for one recipe, which may be the reason I've never cooked with polenta. Most recipes require a lengthy cooking time (45 minutes or so) and near constant stirring, along the lines of risotto.
Traditional polenta recipes usually call for chicken stock, butter, milk, cheese, and salt. I left all these out in favor of water and a few herbs and spices. While my version may not be traditional, it's faster, easier and tastes great. (The nutrition information here includes the BBQ sauce. You can find the sauce recipe below).
Print
Quinoa-Polenta
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
- For the quinoa polenta:
- 2½ cups water
- ½ cup organic medium- or coarse-grind cornmeal
- ½ cup dry/uncooked quinoa
- 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
- 1½ teaspoons granulated onion
- 1½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- For the vegetables:
- 8 medium white or cremini mushrooms, sliced (about 3 cups)
- 1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 1 medium zucchini, sliced (about 2 cups)
- 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (about 1 ½ cups)
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic (4 or 5 medium cloves)
Instructions
- To make the quinoa polenta, bring all of the ingredients (water, cornmeal, quinoa, garlic, onion, oregano, and chili powder) to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line an 8×8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper.
- Spread the thick, cooked mixture evenly into the bottom of the dish and bake uncovered for 15 minutes.
- To cook the vegetables, heat 1 tablespoon of water in a large frying pan or soup pot over medium-high heat. When the water starts to sputter, add the mushrooms, onions, zucchini, and bell pepper, and cook while stirring for 3 to 5 minutes, adding a little water, as needed. Add the zucchini and garlic, and cook while stirring for 1 to 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat.
- After removing the cooked quinoa polenta from the oven, cut it into four squares and place each one on a plate. Spoon the cooked vegetables over the top of each square, and top with a spoonful of the barbecue sauce (recipe below), or you can serve the sauce on the side.
Notes
Polenta is a great blank canvas, so experiment by adding:
Your favorite dried herbs and spices to the cooking polenta.
Your favorite vegetables to the frying pan.
A can of drained and rinsed black beans to the cooking vegetables.
Fresh vegetables on top, such as sliced cherry tomatoes or avocado.
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ recipe, 621g
- Calories: 321
- Sugar: 21.2g
- Sodium: 181mg
- Fat: 3.3g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5g
- Carbohydrates: 65.8g
- Fiber: 11.5g
- Protein: 13.1g
- Cholesterol: 0
Above: The unbaked batter spread into a parchment paper-lined square baking dish (left), and a piece after cooking (right).
BBQ Sauce
The trick with developing a BBQ Sauce recipe is to avoid ending up with glorified ketchup. BBQ sauce basically starts out as ketchup, but it should end up being so much more. I started with typical BBQ sauce ingredients: tomato paste, mustard, vinegar, and spices, but avoided other typical ingredients such as Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke, since both often contain high fructose corn syrup, hydrolyzed soy protein, caramel coloring, sugar, anchovies, oil, and/or salt.
To achieve the rich, dark color and earthy taste (not overly acidic), I used black beans and few raisins (which also added sweetness and tanginess). Additionally, most BBQ recipes have a lot of ingredients, around 10 in addition to ketchup, and that is just way too much! So I tried to keep the ingredient list on the shorter side. I also discovered that simmering the sauce really makes a difference by avoiding the ketchup-y taste and bringing the flavors into harmony.
Print BBQ Sauce
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: about 2 cups 1x
Ingredients
- 1-½ cups water
- 1 can (6-oz.) tomato paste
- ½ cup black beans (drained, rinsed)
- ¼ cup brown raisins
- 2 tablespoons stone-ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ¾ teaspoon granulated garlic
- ¾ teaspoon granulated onion
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients (water, tomato paste, black beans, raisins, mustard, chili powder, vinegar, and granulated garlic and onion) into a blender, and blend for 1-2 minutes, until smooth.
- At this point, you can serve the sauce as is, or simmer it to deepen the flavors and color. Pour the sauce into a medium saucepan and bring to almost boiling over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes.
Notes
For a smoky flavor, add ½ to 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ⅛ recipe, ¼ cup
- Calories: 51
- Sugar: 6g
- Sodium: 68mg
- Fat: 1g
- Saturated Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 11g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 0
Above: Polenta-Quinoa and BBQ Sauce with water-sautéed veggies: onions, zucchini, red bell pepper, and mushrooms, and some diced avocado.
Above: Quinoa-Polenta sliced into small squares or thin bars makes a great snack or appetizer, warm or cold.
Above: You can also bake the batter in a round dish or pan for a Quinoa-Polenta pie!
Above: Baked polenta cut into small squares with sautéed, curried vegetables. Polenta is coarsely or finely ground cornmeal boiled with water or stock into a porridge and eaten directly, or baked or grilled. The term "polenta" may refer either to the ingredient (the cornmeal) or a dish made with it (porridge, baked or grilled).
I've never been that great of a cook, so going plant-based has been a challenging but rewarding transition in my life. Finding recipes like yours, with minimal & common ingredients to make something delicious is great! Thank you!
You're so welcome Marilyn! Welcome! 😉
Hi,
This sounds amazing. I was curious if you can mention what vegan restaurant you went to? my hubby and I are in Santa Rosa and haven't really found to many places to go, especially ones that might have an oil free option. Thanks for what you do. 🙂
Hi Heidi, it was in Tucson at the Tasteful Kitchen. 🙂 Try Slice of Life in Sebastopol (10 minutes from Santa Rosa), you can ask for oil-free items there, even fries. 🙂
Hi Heidi,
My husband and I are also in S.R. and have found a few good restaurants that do oil free. East West Cafe has a few items on their menu and there are quite a few Mexican restaurants that have McDougall menus (no oil and no animal products) also Gary Chu's downtown on 5th street has a McDougall menu. I'm up for compiling a list so if you have any favorites let me know.
Great additions, thanks! 🙂
Hi, We love the East West Cafe in SR. They will also make some entrees oil-free if asked, such as a stir fry or they can leave out the sauce on a dish. They were more than accommodating and the server was able to suggest viable choices once I mentioned that I was looking for oil-free. This was easier than trying to figure out what might be oil-free just by looking at the menu. Bon appetit!
I always thought polenta was much harder than it really is, but it is so amazing! Love the BBQ sauce as well!
Hi Abby, polenta is very versatile. It can be harder and rubbery, or softer and smooth. My recipe is somewhere in between. 🙂
Cathy, last night I made just a polenta crust and left it in the oven for over half hour but it never got drier in the middle. Didn't really like it. Does yours cook more evenly in the middle? Your recipe is very different, as I just cooked polenta and water and it was very bland. I put mine in a glass pan lined with parchment.
Hi Mary, no, mine does not get dry in the middle. That was not my goal; I wanted it to be a little crusty on top but softer in the middle when taken out of the oven. If you want to dry it out more, you can try cooking it even longer or letting it set up before cooking. Most recipes I looked at were very simple and I'm imagining pretty bland in flavor, so I added some herbs/spices. But typically I'd be eating it with something on top, so it doesn't need a lot of big flavor on its own. Feel free to add in any herbs/spices/ingredients you like. 🙂
Looks and sounds fantastic, Cathy. Will try this for dinner tonight while my omnivore family is having burgers!
Great! Let me know what you think. 🙂
Cathy, I have a cupboard stocked with organic polenta from Argentina - the brand is "de la Estancia" - which is ground finer than most other corn meal/polenta and which I prefer. It creates a creamy, yet still textured polenta. Because it is grown more slowly, it is higher in protein and lower in starch, and therefore cooks very fast. I liked this version of polenta so much I bought six 1 lb packages on Amazon, so I am really pleased to find another wholesome recipe - thank you!
One recipe variation I've created is to saute mushrooms in veggie stock and a bit of wine, drain them, then combine them with the polenta just as it's setting up. Delish!
Hi Patrick, ooh, that sounds good! I will have to try that finer version. 😉
I'm interested in learning how to cook with polenta... so what are some other recipe ideas.
I normally buy the ready made polenta in a tube.
Hi Doreen, that's my first polenta dish, oh and a pizza crust. But I would search recipes online and see what you can come up with. It seems like a pretty forgiving food. 🙂
I made this tonight but used rosemary and red pepper flakes mixed into the polenta and quinoa because I was going Italian with it. I made a fat free, very garlicky marinara and water sauteed some mushrooms and spinach and piled it all on. It was filling and delicious. My best friend came over for dinner and loved it too and wants to make the polenta/quinoa base for her kids. They're picky but she thinks they'll like.
This was my second time making one of your recipes and both of them turned out great.
Thank you for your comment, glad to hear you guys liked it and made it your own! 😉
I made the polenta/quinoa mix in my rice cooker and it came out great. Much easier than watching a pot on the stove. Loved the recipe!
Love! Can't wait to get in the kitchen to try this!
This sounds absolutely fabulous! Can't wait to try it. I saw the picture on your FB page and had to come check out what it was. Thanks!
Thanks Cathy!
Made this last night and will be making it again this week - YUMMY!!
That looks amazing! Unfortunately I have an allergy to corn, but I will put my thinking cap on and see how I can make a non corn based polenta because this recipe looks so inviting. Any suggestions?
Hi Kim, try millet instead of corn; it's got a similar stickiness to it. 🙂
Hi Cathy, Thanks for the millet suggestion! I have been .experimenting with making a corn free version of the polenta and here is the version that finally worked well:
3.5 cups water
1/2 cup millet
1/2 quinoa, rinsed
your choice of spices
1/4 cup quinoa flakes
2 tsp ground flax.
Put the water, millet, quinoa and your choice of spices into the saucepan and stir. Cook 15 minutes, stirring 2-3 times. Then add the quinoa flakes and flax. Stir constantly for 2-3 minutes then remove from heat. Pour into a 8 by 8 inch square pyrex dish. Using a spoon, press the thick mixture into the pan. Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Let cool and then cut into pieces.
It worked great with your BBQ sauce and it almost looks like real polenta..something I can't eat due to a corn allergy. It stays together nicely, and is not crumbly. My kids ate it too!
Thanks so much Kim! Looks great! I'll have to give this a try. 🙂
Made this today for lunch. Served with a scoop of mashed potatoes on top of the cake and heated up frozen mixed veggies. With a big ladle full of the BBQ sauce it was delicious.
Yay! Glad to hear it! That sounds very yummy. 😉
thanks so much for being an oil free recipe developer! I just pinned alot of your recipes, thanks again!
Thanks Jess! 😉
I love BBQ Sauce and this recipe sure looks great, I’ll try it
I tried this recipe for dinner last nite and sadly the polenta did not do very well. Mine looked nothing like the picture. It did not bake up well. So I put it in a frying pan and cooked it some more. I really did not have much hope for this dish but surprisingly, when assembled it was very tasty!! The BBQ sauce was very good and I topped it all with steamed veggies. I am looking forward to the leftovers!!
This sounds absolutely amazing! Will be trying it this week, for sure. Sounds like it would be a great option for a pizza crust, too! Thanks for this recipe, Cathy!
How long do you think this BBQ sauce would keep? My husband loves BBQ sauce and if I could make one that we can have on hand, it would be so much better than the store bought ones he uses.
Hi Ada, I'd give it a week. You could make a double batch and freeze half (maybe re-blend before using after freezing). 🙂
I am so happy with this barbeque sauce! I am never going to have to buy expensive barbeque sauce again. I always fell for the marketing message that made you believe that there is a secret recipe for making great barbeque sauce.Thank you for creating this recipe!
(The polenta was fantastic also!)
Hi Lynn, thanks so much! It's no secret anymore. 😉
How would this be with golden raisins instead of brown raisins?
I think fine. 🙂
Hi Cathy. My husband and I recently transitioned to McDougall after years of what I thought was very healthy eating although including "healthy" oils and some poultry & fish. Even back then honestly we ate more veggies than most vegans I've seen. But this new way of eating has been a challenge w/cooking. I don't have a lot of time so find ourselves eating no cheese frozen pizza and frozen vegan burgers ways more often than I'd like. We ate much more spinach and brocolli (and other veggies besides potatoes) before for some strange reason. So I am *trying* to learn new recipes & glad to find your site.
Regular polenta cooked in veggie broth with stir-fried / fresh onions, mushrooms & spinach, topped w/chopped fresh tomatoes, and mixed all together, is also delicious. This is our Sunday morning breakfast (with OJ mixed w/half fresh lemonade made using stevia as a sweetener). Delicious breakfast!
Hi Tina, thanks for your comments. 🙂 That's great! Have you seen the My Meals page? It may give you some fast, easy meal ideas. You may also find these meal ideas helpful.
Sounds very tasty. Would love it if you can make videos of your recipes for us who don't know how to cook at all 🙂
I've thought this would be a way to go too. Hope to make it happen. 😉
I made this recipe this week and it immediately became one of our favorites! Thanks, Cathy! I'm not always a big fan of polenta but with the quinoa it is super. I braised my veggies and loaded them up on top and the BBQ sauce is scrumptious! My husband wants to put this BBQ sauce on everything...haha! We love this recipe and I will be making it over and over, I know! SO GOOD!! Love your cooking! Thank you for all you do to help us!!
Thank you so much! 😉
Hey, I just wondered if you rinsed the quinoa,, I have always followed this rule since I was told it a bitterness exists if you do not. I love the mix of corn and quinoa,, and or millet. The last version I made was with mushroom and thyme served with my tomato and chili sauce. I also love to make sweet polenta using sweet spices and dried fruit,,,, etc dried pumpkin flakes, cranberries, pecan and orange zest,, served warm with icecream of your choice [dairy or dairy free as u wish :] As a Brit it kinda reminds me of the "stick to your ribs" type of desert we had at home in the winter- even more so if dribbled with Tate and Lyle Golden Syrup,,, if u have not tried this,, u need too. Thanx for your recipe.
Hi Garry, I've never rinsed my quinoa. I tried it once and didn't notice a difference. I also heard it is washed more thoroughly nowadays before it's packaged. MMM, nice variations...thanks for the ideas and feedback!
I understood that the reason for washing quinoa is that there is a substance on it that causes a Quinoa allergy. Hopefully, it is as you say Cathy - washed thoroughly before it's packaged.
Thanks for the recipe, Cathy. Last night someone bought me a vegan takeaway (take-out), with Quinoa and Polenta cake, on roasted carrot hummus with organic beet ketchup (delicious!) with avocado and rocket leaves. I was going to heat it and thought I'd taste it first - it was amazing and I just had to finish it - sadly there was nothing left to heat. This is what drew me to your recipe.
Dried pumpkin flakes??!! Please elaborate! I googled, and found everything from powders to chippy-looking things.
Hi Cathy,
Thank you for your fine work. I really enjoy your recipes.
I made the crust tonight and enjoyed it so much that I wondered what it would be like as crackers. Spread thinner and spiced to go with the dip you have might be a good replacement for something to hold bean dips for a potluck or party. Fried or even baked chips don't really do it for me and cut up raw vegetables don't always seem to get an enthusiastic response. Hearty crackers with ingredients that contribute nutritionally with no oil - I'm on a hunt. You don't have one do you?
Best wishes,
Ellen
Maybe that would work in a dehydrator or even the oven; not sure. If you try it, let me know. 🙂 I don't have any cracker recipes; sorry.
Made a double batch of your BBQ sauce last night. Just wanted to let you know how good it was on Cauliflower wings!!! Excellent recipe (as usual)!
Thanks Susan! 😉
After reading everyone's rave reviews of your BBQ sauce, I am going to try it.
Your bbq sauce and polenta recipes were amazing, just like all of your other recipes. You website is awesome Cathy! Keep up the great work!
Thank you! 😉
I wanted a sos free bbq sauce so I gave this one a try. It was delicious! I'm planning to make the quinoa-polenta soon. I love your recipes. Thanks very much for sharing your creative and healthy ideas.
How long will the BBQ sauce keep?
I'd eat it in 3 days since it has beans in it (things with beans don't keep as long). 🙂