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I’ve been on the hunt for creative ways to eat all the quinoa I over-purchased from Costco. It happens to the best of us. This recipe is inspired by The Bittman Project’s Double-Quinoa Casserole with Asparagus and Dill.

There’s nothing better than these spring-time meals with hearty greens like spinach, green asparagus, green onion, green cilantro, and green, green, green. It’s not something I’d like to eat every day, but bringing together flavors like lemon with that first bite of asparagus is heaven after a long winter of carrots and potatoes.

I grew up eating a lot of casseroles, and while I didn’t appreciate them as a kid, every once in a while, I’ll start craving one like mad. I’m not sure an asparagus quinoa casserole would have been around back then, but these days, it’s going to make an appearance at least once a year.

I found that this dish was best straight out of the oven. The next-day leftovers had lost some of the pizazz from the lemon. You may want to squeeze a little bit of lemon over leftovers for some freshness.

Nicki’s Note: I couldn’t get my quinoa to pop this time. I’m not sure what happened, but I gave up and the casserole was just fine without it. I’ll update the recipe later if I figure it out. You can try the technique from The Bittman Project and see if yours works. You’ll just need 1/2 cup more quinoa for that.

Author: Nicki Dowland

Nicki Dowland is a teacher and retired nacho blogger. She documents shopping, cooking, and eating local over at her substack called Cooking The Harvest. Nicki would like to see more awareness for gender and racial equality and the movie Wayne’s World.