How do you cook quinoa?
Quinoa is a strange beast. Even though it seems like a grain, it is actually a seed. Unassuming in appearance in its raw form, once cooked you will see a tiny spiral (the germ) that separates and curls around the quinoa seed. It boasts superfood qualities: high in protein, iron, fiber and magnesium. And it goes with everything (quinoa with roasted vegetables, yum!)
Unwashed quinoa [KEEN-wah] can be a little bitter right out of the bag, so a vigorous rinse with water in a fine mesh strainer before cooking is a good idea. The rinse gets rid of the outer coating (called saponin) and removes any bitter or soapy flavors that might have been on board with the raw seed.
So how do you cook quinoa? The general rule of thumb on how to cook quinoa is 2 cups water to 1 cup uncooked quinoa. 1 cup uncooked quinoa will usually yield about 3 cups cooked. And what’s so cool is that it is versatile: you don’t have to use water when cooking. Chicken or vegetable stock will add a punch of flavor to the mix. Want to get fancy? Add some rosemary or basil to the cooking pot.
How do you cook quinoa? It’s simple!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water (or stock)
- A dash of salt
Steps:
- Rinse quinoa thoroughly in a fine mesh strainer, rubbing and swishing for about a minute and a half.
- Drain and place quinoa in a small saucepan
- Add the liquid and salt and bring to a boil
- Lower heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes
- After 15 minutes, remove the pot from the burner and let stand for 5-10 minutes. There shouldn’t be any liquid at the bottom, and it shouldn’t be clumpy
- Fluff with a fork, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper
For those who wish to cook quinoa in a rice cooker, follow the instructions on your machine – but the same measurements used in the stovetop preparation should do the trick.
*How do you cook quinoa Optional Step: After rinsing, but before adding the water, toast the rinsed quinoa for about a minute in a pan with a little olive oil to add a toasted, nutty flavor element.
LSE says
July 31, 2018 at 10:01 pmI have been reading up on Amazon Associates Affiliate program and was reading your blog where you talked about including links to Amazon. I was reading some other blogs where they said you can’t disguise links, you have to be able to tell that it will take you to Amazon. It got me thinking and I see you have a text link to the strainer in the above article. Is this ok with Amazon, I am really confused. I really want to start a blog but I don’t want to get banned for doing something I am not allowed. I am confused on this part. Thanks in advance for your feedback.
Caroline Phelps says
August 1, 2018 at 8:29 amHi Sam, with Amazon you must have a disclaimer stating that you are a participant of their associate program on every page you use their link. The easiest way to implement this rule is to add a disclaimer at the bottom of your page like I have (such as many other bloggers as well) so it automatically shows up, you don’t have to manually add it every time. You can easily do this by adding a plugin in WordPress 🙂
Also, what they mean by not disguising links is about renaming or shortening Amazon links (you don’t see amazon.com but instead something like bitly.com/somethingelse). Don’t worry about being banned, as long as you follow these rules you will be good. Congratulations on starting a new blog, it’s a fun adventure and I wish you all the best!
Jeffrey says
March 31, 2017 at 2:40 pmIn a recipe I use quite often it calls for Uncle Bens wild rice and a can of mushroom soup and a can of cream of celery soup. Can I substitute the quinoa for the rice?
Caroline Phelps says
April 8, 2017 at 3:17 pmHi Jeffrey, I substitute quinoa for rice all the time but because I don’t know what kind of recipe you are cooking, I’m not sure if it would alright. I’ve never cooked quinoa using cream of celery or mushrooms but it sounds like it would be delicious!