How to Cook Perfect Quinoa – 5 Easy Quinoa Recipes

I love quinoa! But you know it already, and by now I think I have learned to make perfect quinoa. In this post I am going to share with you how to cook quinoa. Not Just How to make quinoa, but quinoa in rice cooker, Instant Pot quinoa as well. So that you can make perfect quinoa for all your quinoa recipes, whether it is quinoa bowl, quinoa salad or quinoa recipes Indian style.

I was always not this confident while cooking quinoa, I had my fair share of over cooked, mushy quinoa back in time. But that was 6-7 years ago. After trying and experimenting with various methods of cooking quinoa, I have finally arrived on a foolproof quinoa recipe that yields perfect quinoa every time. In this post I am sharing easy quinoa recipe on stovetop, rice cooker and Instant Pot quinoa.

Those of you who have still not started adding this delicious ingredient in their diet Please do read next few lines 🙂

What is Quinoa? Why You Include Quinoa Recipes in Daily Meals.

Quinoa is a gluten free and high protein grain. Also, Quinoa Protein is complete protein (All 9 essential amino acids are present in Quinoa). Many people ask me whether quinoa is a whole grain or not. Actually it is not a grain! It ia a Pseudo-cereal because technically it is  a seed of Chenopodium quinoa plant.

How to Cook Quinoa

Quinoa is fairly easy to cook for me now. I can happily say that getting the perfect fluffy quinoa after cooking is a norm than an exception. But as I said I reached to this cooking perfect quinoa each time stage after many batches of mushy overdone pans of quinoa.

I started to experiment with various quinoa recipes. Started off with adding less amount of water to quinoa. It was lucky by chance kind of method. Sometimes that worked and sometimes I ended up with dry quinoa, which never tasted perfect. If I added more water while cooking quinoa, once again I got wet and mushy quinoa.

But the secret of how to cook quinoa perfectly is quinoa to water ratio. Always add 2 parts of water to one part of quinoa. For making fluffy quinoa, cook the quinoa with water in open pan and after it absorbs all the water, cover the pan with lid and turn off the heat. Let it stand for 5-7 minutes and you will get perfect fluffy quinoa with spiral-like threads around each grain.

So, if guys are also looking for no fail method of how to cook quinoa, it is this so simple.

How to Make Quinoa in Rice Cooker

First of all why use rice cooker when you can make quinoa very easily in a pan on stovetop. But in case you absolutely love to cook everything in rice cooker you can cook quinoa in rice cooker almost similarly as you cook rice. It is really very easy to make rice cooker quinoa and instant pot quinoa.

Whenever I cook the quinoa in instant pot, I use rice cooker mode and adjust the water to double the quantity of quinoa I am using. Again I keep the pot covered for 5 minutes after opening it once. You won’t believe how easy to cook quinoa and you can make a big batch for all your quinoa recipes during weekly meal prep.

Cooking quinoa once in a week during my weekly meal prep has been a routine in my weekly ritual. This way I cook quinoa once in a week and  enjoy it all week long to make a variety of quinoa salad. You can cook quinoa recipes Indian way into pulao or quinoa upma.

What Does Quinoa Tastes Like

Quinoa is fairly neutral in flavour with a slightly nutty taste and texture. The taste of quinoa depends on the liquid you are using to cook quinoa. You can cook quinoa in water or vegetable or chicken broth/stock. Actually It is quite unique in terms of taste.

Is Quinoa Gluten Free? Or Paleo

Quinoa pronounced as Keen-wah is a very nutritious gluten-free grain. But quinoa is not paleo.

Which Are the Quinoa Recipes I can make

You can practically use of any rice recipe to make it into quinoa recipe. You can serve it plain with any curry in place of rice. Otherwise you can make quinoa salad. You can make quinoa soup. You can make may Indian quinoa recipes. I have some of my favourite quinoa salad recipes which I make quite often to pack for my office. If you follow my Insta stories You already know that. If you are not following it I will say WHY NOT 😀

Meal Prep and Storage Suggestions For Quinoa Recipes

Cooked quinoa stays good in fridge for upto 6-7 days. I make different recipes with it so sharing some quinoa meal prep ideas here.

Meal prep for Quinoa pulao. If you have cooked quinoa and chopped veggies, you can make quinoa pulao, quinoa fried rice, quinoa upma or quinoa soup recipe in minutes.

This is an easy meal prep of jar salad that I make for my office lunch. There are many variations of this quinoa salad. You can try any of below mentioned quinoa salad recipe or make your own salad with your favourite ingredients.

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How to Cook Quinoa - 5 Easy Quinoa Recipes

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Learn to cook perfect quinoa with fluffy grains every time. Best quinoa cooking method to cook quinoa for all your quinoa recipes from quinoa salad, quinoa soup.

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: continental

Keyword: quinoa, quinoa recipes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup Quinoa
• 2 cups water
• ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

1. First of all wash the quinoa and drain well. This will help to remove bitterness from the quinoa.
2. Add this quinoa in a pan along with water and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.
3. When water starts to boil, lower the heat a bit to maintain the gentle simmer.
4. After 10 minutes when quinoa absorbs all the water, switch off the heat and cover it with lid for 5 minutes.
5. After 5 minutes open the lid of the saucepan to reveal the perfect fluffy quinoa with curly threads around it.
6. Use this quinoa as it is or make any of your favourite quinoa recipe with it.

My Favourite Quinoa Recipes

Mizuna Quinoa Salad

Mizuna quinoa salad incredibly delicious and filling salad for lunch.  If you don’t find Mizuna you can substitute it with Arugula or rocket leaves, But Guys! You MUST make this Mizuna quinoa salad if you love healthy quinoa salad recipes for lunch.Peppery and warm mizuna leaves and zippy salad dressing this is my favourite Jar salad to pack for office Lunch. Get the Mizuna quinoa salad recipe.

Chickpeas and Quinoa salad

This is one of my favourite quinoa recipes. From past few months I have published quite a few quinoa salads recipes. This easy  quinoa salad recipe is , full of flavor and textures salty feta and baby chickpeas add fresh and tangy taste. This bursting with flavours healthy quinoa recipe is perfect salad recipe for lunch. Get the Recipe of green Chickpeas and quinoa salad.

Instant Pot Quinoa Soup

Another tasty and easy quinoa recipe. Instant pot Veggie and Quinoa soup with power-packed nutrition and a hearty taste is the perfect soup to cook and enjoy this winter. Get the Protein and fiber packed nutritious veggie and quinoa soup recipe here.

Quinoa Veg Pulao

Quinoa pulao is healthy gluten-free and delicious protein rich delicious Indian dish made with Quinoa. Get this delicious Indian Quinoa  Recipe of pulao here

Grilled Paneer , Cranberry Quinoa bowl

If you are looking for a healthy protein rich quinoa bowl recipe, this grilled Indian cottage cheese and quinoa bowl is perfect option for you. Cranberry adds more nutrition and a tangy taste.

Roasted Pumpkin Quinoa Salad Recipe