50 Favorite Quinoa Recipes - Your Thrive Life (2024)

FAQs

What to add to quinoa to make it taste good? ›

I find that some of the best seasonings for quinoa are cumin, dried bay leaf, turmeric, and salt, and black pepper. I also love to flavor it with fresh garlic and herbs such as parsley, dill, and cilantro. You can add the seasonings of your choice into the pot at the same time with the liquid and cook it as directed.

Our Best Ideas for Quinoa

It's lighter and more nutritious than other grains too. You can make a quinoa salad in minutes, use it in stuffed peppers, pair it with salmon and more. In this Mexican-inspired bowl, crunchy tortilla chips and roasted pepitas are nicely complemented by avocado cream and hearty quinoa.

Once you've made a batch of quinoa, you have endless options for using it. Make it the base of your next grain bowl, toss it into a salad, or stuff it into squash or sweet potatoes. It's also at home in soups & wraps, and it pairs nicely with sweet flavors as well as savory.

If you dress quinoa with lemon juice, shallots, and olive oil, and perhaps with some chopped herbs, you're set. To tame the bite of lemon juice, add a little honey or cut it with fresh orange juice. Or, if you're taking your salad in a Latin or Asian direction, use lime juice instead of lemon.

Easy ways to flavor quinoa: Broth: first and foremost, change up the liquid that you're using to cook your quinoa. Rather than using water, try to change it up for broth (veggie, chicken, beef, mushroom, etc). You can also use coconut milk if you're wanting something a little more creamy/tropical.

Quinoa is rich in both fiber and protein, contains a much higher amount of other nutrients, and has a similar fluffy texture to the rice. A cup of quinoa contains twice more protein and about 5 g more fiber than white rice. Quinoa contains fewer calories and carbohydrates than white rice.

You can eat one-two cups of cooked quinoa in a day. You should avoid eating it if you experience stomachache, itchiness or vomiting after consuming it. A study by Harvard Public School of Health has reported that eating a bowl of quinoa daily is healthy and without any side effects.

It is high in proteins and fiber and enriched with antioxidants that help in making the immune system stronger. You are advised to consume quinoa more in comparison to oats as quinoa will provide more health benefits in low calories.

How Quinoa Helps In Weight Loss? Rich dietary fibre and protein increase metabolism, and that makes quinoa good for weight loss. Cooked Quinoa contains five grams of dietary fibre per cup. Eating high fibre foods is often the missing piece when a person is trying to shed weight.

Quinoa is easy to make, and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner! Quinoa can be found everywhere now, and takes about half the time to cook that does rice. Its grains are slightly nutty in taste and become fluffy with a small tail when cooked.

What happens if you don't rinse quinoa before cooking? ›

Rinsing quinoa definitely starts to hydrate the seeds. Flavor – In terms of flavor, the unrinsed quinoa definitely had a nuttier, earthier flavor, but I didn't find it bitter at all. The rinsed quinoa was definitely milder and the flavors more muted.

The whole debate started thanks to saponin, a naturally occurring chemical that coats every tiny grain of quinoa. It's there for good reason—to ward off insects—but it has a strong, unpleasant taste. Rinsing the quinoa gets rid of the saponin and thus its bitter flavor—great.

*Soaking grains helps to remove some of the naturally occurring phytic acid in the grain, which helps improve digestibility and speed cook time. To soak: Rinse quinoa thoroughly then add to a large mixing bowl or pot and cover with twice the amount of lukewarm water (2 cups water, 1 cup quinoa).

The Method. Measure out the amount you need, then rinse it thoroughly. The bitter flavor I mentioned earlier comes from lingering saponins on the surface—a good rinse will remove them.…

Happily, the solution to preventing bitter quinoa is very simple. All you need to do is rinse your uncooked quinoa in cold running water for a minute or so until the water runs clear.