Quinoa granola
You make this quinoa granola – the name says it all – with quinoa but also with oat flakes, ginger spices and sunflower and pumpkin seeds. A delicious start to your day!
Quinoa granola
How delicious does this plate of quinoa granola look? I love it. Ever since I discovered how easy it is to make my own granola, all sorts of variations on the theme have come along. For example, I like to make a regular granola, but a paleo granola is also often on the menu here. What I put in it depends a bit on what I have left over and what I’m in the mood for.
I saw this quinoa granola in Donna Hay’s book Fresh & Light (I don’t know if it is still available.) and it looked so delicious that I wanted to try it.
Cooked or uncooked
The first time I made this recipe for quinoa granola, I followed Donna’s instructions completely. And although it’s actually not very clearly stated in the recipe, I had concluded from it that you make it uncooked. And it certainly works, but it is on the crunchy side. Maybe I should have let it roast longer.
Next time, though, I made it with cooked quinoa and I liked it a lot better. If you cook the quinoa, do cook it shorter than usual. About half the time is sufficient. It then cooks further in the oven while roasting.
Puffed quinoa
Another tasty option for this quinoa granola is to puff the quinoa first. You can do this with either quinoa that you have to wash first or with quinoa that can go straight into the pan. In the first case, you let it drain well and dry a bit. Then heat a saucepan or frying pan with a little oil and toast the quinoa until it puffs. Bit similar to popcorn but a lot smaller. Handy to use a lid although they don’t pop out of the pan like they do with corn.
The quinoa can then be further processed into quinoa granola. By the way, you can also buy puffed quinoa that way, but it’s a little harder to find. Plus it’s not complicated to make it yourself.
Gluten-free
Quinoa is naturally gluten-free but if you want to be sure your granola is gluten-free, make sure you buy gluten-free oat flakes. Store bought oats can sometimes contain gluten. That should be mentioned on the package so make sure to double check.
In this recipe you mix the quinoa with oat flakes, maple syrup, oil, cookie spices and the seeds. You can add other things like nuts, chia or flaxseed and the like if you want. After toasting, you could add dried fruit.
Cooling
Let the quinoa granola cool well after baking and then transfer it to an airtight jar. It will stay good and crunchy for at least a few weeks that way.
Quinoa granola
Ingredients
- 275 grams quinoa
- 125 grams rolled oats
- 55 gr sunflower seeds
- 35 gr pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 60 ml maple syrup
- 2 tbsp olive oil or other vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180˚ C (350˚F)
- Put all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and mix until well combined and you have little lumps forming.
- Spread out over a large baking tray covered in baking paper and put into the oven
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown and check half way to turn over the granola so it bakes on both sides.
- Once golden take out and leave to cool completely.
- You can keep it in a airtight container for about 2 weeks
Nutrition Information
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
I use quinoa in salads but I never thought about it for granola. This looks yum.
It’s quite good although I’ve heard people talk about using quinoa as some sort of popcorn and I still need to figure that one out.
Your photos always inspire me! Love you recipe, and the addition of delicious quinoa! Curious, for your lighting, do you use two lights, or one? Hugs, Terra
Thanks so much Terra. As for the lighting; it’s regular daylight coming from the right (big window north faced) and I filled in the shadows from the left with some foam board. I’m actually writing a post about shooting on white with this picture as example so you’ll be able to see the setup next week… 🙂
Oh yes this is on my list to make from Donna Hay’s book too. I often just cook the quinoa in batches and then use it in pilafs, in my breakfast yogurt etc. Did you cook the quinoa before? If I remember correctly the recipe called for popped quinoa, which I am unable to find here! Lovely lovely images!
Well I was sure I had seen that somewhere before and I was a little hesitant in how to use the quinoa. I didn’t see anything in the recipe so I just went with uncooked. And it’s ok to eat like that but I would love to try the popped quinoa too. Need to figure out how to do that! Maybe popping in a bit of oil first before roasting?
Yes I have been wanting to make the quinoa granola from her book too. Did you cook the quinoa before? If I remember correctly it asked for popped quinoa which I cannot find here.
I usually cook larger batches of quinoa and then use it is salads, pilafs, breakfast yogurt over the week. Lovely vibrant images!
Oooooh! What a great idea! Also, your photos are beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
Looks delicious!
This looks SO GOOD! Really, you’re photos are just amazing 🙂
Thanks so much Claudia!
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