Buffalo Shrimp Quinoa Bake

While whipping this up, I had 4 thoughts:

1. Dang, we eat a lot of shrimp!
2. What’s with me and all these casserole-looking dishes?! Oh wait, they’re quick and easy.  Duh.
3. Hey, wait.  This is “healthy” for a casserole!  Go me!
4. Oh. My. Word. I freaking love buffalo shrimp and can’t wait to eat this!

If you had thought #4 in your head too, let’s go ahead and get “Best Friends” necklaces already. Anytime I see buffalo shrimp on the menu at a restaurant, I know what I’m getting and it’s obvious that you would too.

I’m not sure if anything is better than those spicy, tender morsels of buffalo goodness.  Actually, if there is, I have two words for you, “prove it.”  That’s what I thought….

I was scratching my head the other afternoon thinking, “Crap.  We have no food in this house…” When in reality, I can barely open the freezerand pantry because they’re so jammed and our fridge is pretty well-stocked.  Sound familiar?  At this point, I knew it was time to get creative….  Alas (ok really like 15 seconds later), I came up with this recipe!  

Buffalo Shrimp Quinoa Bake

• 1 cup dried Quinoa
• 2 lb.  Shrimp – cooked and shelled (use less if you want!)
• 1/4 cup Buffalo Wing Sauce 
• Another 1/4 cup Buffalo Wing Sauce 
• 1 cup (or more) shredded cheese (not pictured)
• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan “powder”
• 1/2 flour
• Salt and pepper – be generous with the pepper 
• 1/2 stick butter
• 4 green onions

1. Cook the Quinoa according to the package.  Or if you’re like me and want to be a real quinoa rebel, cook it in your rice cooker!  1 cup dry Quinoa (rinsed or not – I rarely rinse.) and 2 cups liquid.  I used chicken broth for this recipe but you can use water or any broth! Cook it on your “Brown Rice” setting. Once cooked, set aside.
2. Take the 1/2 cup flour and put it and the shrimp into a ziplock bag.  Squish it all around until the shrimp is coated with flour.
3. Next, add 1/4 cup of buffalo sauce to the bag of floured shrimp.  “Shake. Shake. Shake, Senora!” til everything is coated again with that heavenly sauce.  Put the bag in the fridge until it’s time to assemble.
4. Breadcrumb topping time:  Melt the butter in the microwave.  Mix the melted butter, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, green onions, salt and pepper in a bowl.  The breadcrumbs will be wet-looking and that’s the whole point.
5. Assembly time!!!  In a greased 9×13 pan, layer the quinoa, 1/4 cup buffalo sauce (if this looks like too much or too little, use as much as you think will be heat-ceptable) and the shredded cheese.  Give it all a good stir then pat it flat in the pan.
6. Get that deliciously-marinating bag of shrimp out of the fridge and layer them over the quinoa.
7. Lastly, add the breadcrumb topping evenly over the top.  
8. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.  (My oven cooks quick though.  You may need an additional 5 minutes or so.)
9. Let cool and tear this baby up!

P.S. if I wasn’t taking pictures of this and cooked at the speed of which I normally cook, this would  e on the table in 30 minutes which includes cooking time!  The only thing that will slow you down is cooking quinoa.  If you have some premade in your freezer (of course I do 😂), this meal comes together lickety-split!

I was talking to my girlfriend, Abby, about this recipe and said, “And just like that, I saw that Jim and I had eaten 1/2 the pan already…” whoops!   But seriously folks… it’s easy to eat a ton of quinoa, right?  (Looks around nervously…)

As with all/most of my recipes, you can sub the shrimp for chicken, tofu, cauliflower, etc.  It’s your world; I’m just in it!  Actually… I have a cube of tofu (is that the official name of it?) in my fridge that I’m going to make with this recipe.  I’ll let ya know how it goes!

Happy Cooking (and eating)!