Quick and Healthy Crispy Carnitas Quinoa Bowl

Ever since I fell for this garlicky salsa verde carnitas it’s on constant repeat over here.  So good and so LEAN! I feel like it’s a perfect protein and for sure a current favorite. This time we piled it atop brown rice (quinoa for me… lower in carbs but I do love some chewy rice), and added all the fixings I had on hand. It’s the perfect meal for when you’ve got a fridge full of yummy leftovers from tacos or these carnitas tostadas.

Here they are before the drizzle so you can get up close and personal.

But what isn’t improved with a drizzle of something? I’m all about ridiculous amounts of layers on my food so this one is obvious.  We just used our easy back up dressing, this Bolthouse Cilantro Avocado. Great macros and yummy on all things Mexican.

This left over cilantro lime slaw  was such a yummy addition but if you didn’t just have pulled pork sandwiches last night, you could just throw on some fresh cabbage or toss some in a little vinegar first…  add some mango+avocado+pico or diced tomatoes+fresh jalapeños+green onions+cilantro+cotija (last time we did reduced fat blue cheese instead and I LOVED that -just trust me)+bolthouse cilantro ranch… it’s un-bowl-lievable. Oh my gosh sorry but does anyone else remember Bowl Weevel?  But really, there’s something about a big gorgeous bowl you can really shovel in when you’re super hungry that is just perfection.

The macros for my bowl here were 63C 13F 35P.  But what I love about a meal like this is that it’s SO easy to customize for your macros.  Reduce the quinoa, or just put everything on cauliflower rice or a bed of greens.  Sometimes I’ll mix half cauliflower rice and half brown rice to get some of that good chewy texture but of course more VOLUME. Because I’m still not over wanting my food to last forever. And I don’t think I ever will be.

Crispy Carnitas Quinoa Bowl

Here’s a loose recipe for a perfect bowl of leftovers that doesn’t taste like a bowl of leftovers.

Print Pin Rate

5 from 2 votes

Author Lillie

Course Bowl

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Calories 564 kcal

Ingredients

• 150 g quinoa*
• 75 g pico or just chop some tomato and red onion
• 20 g avocado
• 1/2 cup shredded cabbage or leftover cilantro lime slaw
• 120 g shredded salsa verde crock pot or instant pot carnitas
• 1 tbs Cilantro Avocado Bolthouse dressing
• 5 g cotija cheese
• 25 g mango
• Pinch of chopped green onion
• Large pinch of fresh cilantro

Instructions

• Weigh your leftover carnitas first and then crisp it up with some cooking spray in a hot pan, stove-top. This makes it SOO good I promise.  Don’t skip.
• Build your bowl by piling in your quinoa (brown rice, cauliflower rice, greens) and topping with crispy carnitas, pico, avocado, mango, slaw or cabbage, green onions, cilantro, cotija, and a drizzle of dressing. Enjoy!

Notes

*I buy the already cooked packages of quinoa from Costco for ease! Brown rice is great too and only slightly higher in carbs. But sometimes every bit counts! Cauliflower rice is a great choice if you’re low on carbs.. or a bed of greens of course.

Nutrition

Calories: 564kcalCarbohydrates: 63gProtein: 35gFat: 13g

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