This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
Quinoa (KEEN-wah) is a protein packed ancient seed from South America, similar to the texture of brown rice when cooked with a nutty flavor. It contains all 9 essential amino acids, lysine, phosphorous, copper, iron and magnesium and it is easy to make. It’s not truly a grain, it’s actually a relative of spinach.
It is recommended that you soak and rinse the seeds well before cooking. Once cooked the seeds expand about 4 times their original size, so 1 cup of uncooked quinoa seeds yields approximately 4 cups cooked quinoa. Preparation is simple, 1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water or broth and is done in about 15 minutes.
Basic Quinoa Recipe
Yield: 4 servings
Serving Size: 1 cup (cooked)
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water, or broth
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash quinoa and add to a medium saucepan.
- Add water or broth, salt and boil, covered for 15 minutes or until all the water has absorbed.
- You will know when they are cooked when they are fluffy and you see a small thread.
- Fluff with a fork and it will be ready to use for other recipes.
- You can store it in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days and reheat in the microwave.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.Notes
1 cup cooked quinoa = 4 ww
Nutrition
Serving: 1 cup (cooked), Calories: 172 kcal, Carbohydrates: 31 g, Protein: 6 g, Fat: 2.8 g, Sodium: 3.4 mg, Fiber: 3 g
Love to use it as a breakfast food. Heat up quinoa with a little coconut milk, maple syrup, and walnuts. It is SO good!
For the beef, potato and quinoa soup, can I use the red quinoa?
Sure
I use less water. Â For 2 cups Quinoa — 2 Â 1/4 cups water. Â Works great, nice & fluffy.
I have this amazing salad recipe that I've eaten for lunch countless times 🙂 It's 1 cup dry quinoa (about 3-4 cups cooked), half a head of red cabbage, 10oz matchstick carrots, and half a bunch of green onions-this makes about 5 large salads. I use this low calorie sesame ginger dressing on it and it's fantastic
you have to cook it longer than 15 minutes…it took about 17 – 18 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.
I soaked, rinsed, and boiled my quinoa in chicken broth. When I tried eating it, every 5 or so bites had a gritty taste like there was sand or something in it. Anybody else had this before? The quinoa was from the bulk section of the local Sprouts (health food store.) I hate that gritty feeling so bad that I feel sick even thinking about trying again.
I have the same problem with the bag that I bought from Costco. The taste of sand or glass under my teeth is awful! I like quinoa and I didn't have that problems with other bags that I bought from Costco previously..
I just made some warm quinoa salad and on reading this, I was surprised that no one mentions sprouting the quinoa? Not to direct people away from this fabulous blog, but since we all learn from each other, if anyone is interested, check out (read: google) "warm quinoa salad jules stonesoup" for the recipe I made incl sprouting tips (her directions are very simple and sprouting is super easy!). It was lovely! But once you're done, dont forget to come back to skinnytaste cos there are lots of recipes here too which are awesome!
I was excited to find it at Walmart and for a reasonable price ! Give Walmart a try. I found it in the rice section
WAlmart certainly does carry quinoa as do they goat cheese and hummus. Maybe you need to look instead of depending on a teenage stock boy to do your work for you!!!
Different Wal-Marts carry different things, depending on what will sell there. Also, it's been two years since that person posted…a lot has changed in the food industry since then. More natural and alternative choices are available now because of demand. No need to be cranky about it.
I wish I would have read this before I cooked mine. Followed the box directions but I think I undercooked it. Still good, though!
I'm a chef and cook Quinoa every day. It's one of the easiest ingredients I've ever worked with. The reason you rinse it is because there's a fine resin on the seeds. If not rined well before cooking, your Quinoa may taste bitter. Take a metal-mesh strainer and rinse your Quinoa under cold water for about 5 – 10 minutes. Bring your water to a boil, 2 cups water to 1 cup uncooked Quinoa, put the Quinoa in the water once you see a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer. 15 minutes later, your Quinoa is cooked…the Quinoa looks like ant hills in the pot when done! Fluff with fork and add anything you like to make a great salad!
Great Post… Thank you!
Where is your quinoa from? I bought some at Trader Joes's and it's 4points for 1/4 cup.
4 pt+ for 1/4 raw which = 1 cup cooked. I think of it as 1 pt+ for each 1/4 cup cooked.