How to Cook Quinoa

Quinoa’s pretty much become a staple in most healthy diets. But cooking it can feel complicated! Let’s make it easy.

What is Quinoa?

Quinoa is not a typical ‘grain’, you may be surprised to learn. It’s actually a seed from a plant native to South America- Chenopodium quinoa. Go to South America, and you’ll find this is a culinary staple. When I lived in Bolivia, it was growing on many of the farms I visited.

Quinoa is naturally gluten-free, so many people can tolerate it in their diet. It also packs a protein punch (like my use of alliteration there??). It’s considered a “complete” protein- meaning it provides all 9 amino acids that your body can’t produce on its own. One cup has about 8 grams of protein, plus a whole host of other vitamins and minerals and 5 grams of fiber.

Different Types of Quinoa

When you go to buy quinoa, try not to get confused by the different types. You’ll likely see quinoa in three different colors: white, red, and black. Oh! And “rainbow”, when the colors come all mixed together. In all honesty they don’t taste terribly different to me. The nutrient contents vary a bit, but my advice is to just pick the color that’s going to look best with whatever dish you’re making.

Meals You Can Make With Quinoa

With quinoa, the meal possibilities are very similar to what you can accomplish with rice. Any dish you’d use rice in, you can sub quinoa. For instance, instead of having rice with your veggie and tofu curry, use quinoa. Instead of rice or a wheat type of grain in your buddha bowl, use quinoa. You can use quinoa as an ingredient in veggie burgers, too. You can make a sweet quinoa breakfast porridge. If I’ve got some leftover non-flavored quinoa in the fridge, sometimes I’ll toss a bit in my smoothie, too.

How to Cook Quinoa

Cooking quinoa is pretty simple, but there are a few things to watch out for. These basic directions will get you started on cooking up a simple batch.

*note: 1 cup of dry quinoa will yield about 3 cups cooked.

Ingredients

1 cup of dry quinoa (your choice of color)

2 cups of water

1/2 t sea salt

Directions

First, you need to rinse the quinoa. This step is crucial, DON’T SKIP IT! Theres a natural coating on the quinoa seeds called saponin. It tastes bitter so if you’ve made quinoa before and you skipped this step, and you didn’t like the result, that could be why! Take note- sometimes you’ll buy quinoa in the store and it will say it’s been pre-rinsed. I just ignore that and rinse again. You can never be too careful.

When you rinse the quinoa, do it under cool running water, and get your hands in there and gently massage the seeds. I do that to make sure I thoroughly remove the coating. If you’re doing this in a bowl, you may find that the water turns cloudy. Keep refreshing the water until it runs clean or almost clean.

Drain the quinoa well and transfer it to your pot on the stove. OR if you’ve got a rice cooker, use that! I just got one a few months ago and I use the brown rice setting. Works like a charm.

But if you’re doing things stove top, continue on…

*Optional step: Turn on the heat to medium. Do not add the water yet. Instead, allow what water is in there to steam off, and dry sauté the quinoa for a minute using a wooden spoon. This extra step is absolutely not necessary but it can help produce grains that are less sticky.

Next, add the water and the salt and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, cover and lower the heat to a simmer. Allow the quinoa to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Check on it at 15 minutes to see if it’s done.

When the quinoa is cooked through and all the water is gone, remove the pot from the heat, but keep it covered and let it sit for 5-15 minutes (depending on how much time you have). Fluff with a fork and… you’re done!