As much as I love my myriad of baked oatmeal recipes, I’ve wanted to shake things up a bit lately and try something other than oats for breakfast.
Enter quinoa. If you’ve never had quinoa (“keen-wah”) it’s a little seed that is packed with protein and fiber. It cooks up fast and is fun to eat because the little pellets have a great texture once cooked. Usually quinoa is seen in savory dishes, but it also works great in sweet recipes, like this breakfast Apple Nut Quinoa.
The juice in this recipe provides all of the sweetness that you need and really ups the flavor a notch (or ten). Use any juice blend that you’d like, but try to get one that is 100% juice and doesn’t contain any added sweeteners. I thought apple cranberry would have been nice, but the apple cherry that I used was much less expensive and happened to have no added sugar, so I went with that.
Hit up the bulk bins at your local grocery store or health food store for the best price on quinoa. It’s often over priced when sold in small packages (these are usually found near rice and beans).
It’s almost New Years and time for resolutions, so keep this one handy for when you get that sudden motivation to be “healthy”! ;)
Apple Nut Quinoa
Apple Nut Quinoa
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa ($1.36)
- 1 1/2 cups apple juice ($0.34)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.01)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon ($0.03)
- 1/16 tsp ground cloves (pinch) ($0.02)
- 1 medium apple ($0.96)
- 1/2 cup walnuts ($1.82)
Instructions
- Place the quinoa in a wire sieve and rinse thoroughly for 1-2 minutes with cool water. If you don’t have a wire mesh sieve, place the quinoa in a bowl, fill it with cool water and swish the quinoa around. Allow it to settle and then carefully pour out the water. Repeat 4-5 times. Rinsing quinoa well is essential to remove its natural coating, which can cause the quinoa to taste bitter.
- Place the rinsed quinoa in a medium pot. Add the juice, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir briefly. Place a lid on top and bring the pot up to a boil over high heat. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off and allow it to rest, without removing the lid, for ten minutes.
- Meanwhile, chop the apple into small bite-sized pieces. Also roughly chop the walnuts.
- After the quinoa has cooked and rested, remove the lid and fluff it with a fork. Add the apples and walnuts and stir them and then eat!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Mesh Sieve
- Chef's Knife
Notes
Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
This is what quinoa looks like when it’s dry. Little white pellets. Careful, they like to static cling to plastic bags and tend to get ALL over the place when spilled…
Rinse the quinoa really, really well… and then rinse it some more. The easiest way is with a wire mesh sieve because they are so small that they’ll fall through a colander. But, you can just do it carefully in a bowl if you don’t have one.
This is the juice that I used. It’s totally yummy and has no added sugar, just blended juices. You can use plain apple or apple/cranberry or just be creative!
Put the rinsed quinoa in a pot and add the juice, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. I filled my 1/8 tsp measuring spoon half way for the cloves, so about 1/16 tsp. Give it a quick stir to make sure it’s combined. Put a lid on top and bring the pot up to a boil over high heat. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn it down to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes. After simmering for 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest for an additional ten minutes without removing the lid.
Meanwhile, roughly chop up the walnuts…
And chop the apple into small pieces.
After the quinoa has cooked and then sat for 10 minutes, remove the lid and fluff it up with a fork.
Add the apples and walnuts…
Stir to combine and you’re done! How easy is that!
I had less than a cup of juice to use so I was happy to find this recipe and not waste it. I reduced the amount of walnuts slightly (.75 oz for two servings) and it turned out to be 300 calories for a big bowl. I also halved everything and it turned out great. Thank you!
I ran out of oatmeal so I was excited when I saw you had a breakfast recipe for quinoa, which I do have in my pantry. I made this with some modifications since I did not have fruit juice. I soaked 6 pitted dates in a cup of hot water and blended and collected the juice from some crushed pineapple to total 2 cups liquid. I did not I have apples on hand so I used the crushed pineapple in its place and I toasted the walnuts. I served it with about a tablespoon of butter and it was so delicious! I am definitely going to make this often. It was also very filling.
We really enjoyed this. It was a nice change from oatmeal. Thanks for an easy breakfast!
Hello! I love how quinoa and wonder if you could pretty please help your adoring fans know how to use it in a muffin recipe or two? (I’m thinking morning glory and maybe apple cinnamon?) Then we can get some of this perfect protein in an on the go style healthy morning treat. Thanks Beth, my family would starve to death without you!
I just wanted to say I LOVE your website. I am a new vegetarian and your recipes have been a life saver. My meat-eating husband is a super picky eater and every recipe I’ve tried has been a hit!
This breakfast was amazing! The only thing I did was add 1/2 tbsp of maple syrup only because I love the smell of maple syrup and cinnamon on cold mornings. I’m usually a grazer when it comes to eating and this has kept me full for 4 hours!
Thank you thank you thank you! Keep these delicious recipes coming!
Loved this! Why have I never thought of cooking the quinoa in juice for sweeter/breakfast type dishes? It adds so much flavour. You are actually a genius, just so you know.
Just made this tonight and thought I did it per directions but after the 10 minute rest there’s still lots of liquid. Did I not boil it long enough? ( As soon as it came to a boil I turned off the heat as the recipe said). Letting it sit without lid now in hopes that will help. What did I do wrong?
Hmm… Take a few quinoa with a fork and taste them to see if they’re tender. If they still seem a bit hard, put a lid on the pot, turn the heat back on, and let it simmer for a few more minutes. It sounds like it just didn’t cook long enough for some reason. Sometimes the cooking time is a bit variable due to the size and thickness of the pot and other factors. You might have to play with it a little to get it just right.
Thanks Beth. That’s exactly what I did and that solved it. Delicious by the way!
Raaaa! Amazing! Yuuum. Hope my kiddies love it too. x
I don’t know how picky you are about “added sugar” but that brand of juice actually does have Stevia added; I was pretty disappointed when I found out.
Stevia isn’t added sugar. It’s Stevia.
I’d never made quinoa before, but I tried this and it was delicious! I added some raisins to mine for extra sweetness.
Tasty – and for an extra punch of flavor, toast your walnuts! I’m wondering about doing a banana version. Or a pumpkin version. Or cranberry and almond version. Or… how about a cheese and crumbled bacon version – kinda like cheese grits? Ahhh, the possibilities are endless.
Ooh I would LOVE to try this with cranberries and almonds. Great idea!
I’m going to use apple cider for the juice. Looking forward to making this!
Looks absolutely delicious! Great idea :)
Yum! I make a quinoa like this, but I actually serve it as a dinner side dish: http://www.coffeeandquinoa.com/2012/10/autumn-harvest-quinoa/ I love breakfast quinoa, though, so I’ll have to try this out!
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What a great idea. I’ve never thought to make quinoa for breakfast! I think I would add raisins to mine. Thanks ;)