Crispy Quinoa two ways! This easy Oven Baked Crispy Quinoa can be made either sweet or savory….so you can use this gluten-free breadcrumb substitute as a topping on all your favorite recipes from smoothie bowls to salad, baked casseroles to roasted veggies. This easy vegan recipe is a Passover rockstar…you’ll want to make a triple batch to use it on ALL THE THINGS!
I adore an easy, peasy recipe with simple, wholesome ingredients…and one that is as versatile to use as this Oven Baked Crispy Quinoa that makes everything taste better. Use this crunchy, tasty quinoa in place of panko breadcrumbs in all your recipes.
Looking for more Healthy Passover Recipes? Discover new and exciting ways to enjoy Kosher for Passover Recipes while maintaining a balanced diet with Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes for Passover.
Sweet and crispy quinoa is perfect for all the recipes you’d like to enhance with something crunchy….and when nuts aren’t an option and you need something gluten-free. Think nice cream toppings, something crunchy for plant-based yogurt, smoothie bowls, oatmeal parfaits, overnight oats or a pumpkin muffin! During passover, you can put this onto anything that would usually be enhanced by a sprinkle of granola.
The answer to your otherwise boring salad is here! A sprinkle of golden crispy quinoa enhances the taste and texture in a no-fail, still nutritious, sexy kinda way. It’s crunchy with just a hint of nuttiness…
This simple quinoa recipe is the most fabulous, flavorful, crunchy salad topping…EVER. Greatly enhance a Simple Arugula Salad, or a Vegan Kale Caesar. You can also sprinkle it on top of ANY veggie, casserole, mexican dish, italian dish…with a can’t go wrong enhancement. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Trust me, this crispy quinoa condiment will be your go to vegan recipe during Passover and every other day of the year too.
Ingredients
Whether you’re going to make a savory or a sweet version of this yummy vegan quinoa recipe, you’ll need some cooked quinoa!
How to make quinoa
Measure quinoa and rinse well in a sieve. Otherwise your quinoa will have a bitter, kinda dirty or soapy taste. Rinsing off the saponins, which naturally occur on the outside of quinoa, not only enhances the flavor of quinoa, but will help avoid tummy upset.
- Instant Pot: Place rinsed quinoa in the instant pot. Measure the same amount of water as quinoa. Seal and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Use natural release. Fluff with a fork.
- Stove top: Place rinsed quinoa in a small sauce pan. Measure 1.5 times the water as quinoa. Bring to a simmer of medium heat and allow to cook for 15 minutes, uncovered. Fluff with a fork.
FYI: 1 cup dried quinoa will produce 3 cups cooked quinoa. 3 cups cooked quinoa. After it’s baked in the oven, it will produce 1.75 cups crispy quinoa
Sweet Crispy Quinoa
- Cooked Quinoa
- olive oil
- maple syrup
- cinnamon
Savory Crispy Quinoa
- Cooked quinoa
- olive oil
- Spices: salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, paprika.
How to make it crispy!
Spread your cooked quinoa onto a large rimmed baking sheet. Use two forks to break up any clumps.
Leftover quinoa that’s cold or freshly cooked, warm quinoa can be used, but it. needs to be spread into a single layer and allowed to come to room temperature.
Drizzle with olive oil and either savory or sweet mixture of spices and then put into a preheated 425 oven for 10 minutes.
Stir well, making sure to re-distribute evenly and incorporate any crisp bits that have accumulated in the corners and put back in the oven for 10 minutes.
Quinoa will turn golden and crispy when it’s perfectly done. Allow to cool completely, stirring to facilitate even cooling without any moisture build up.
When totally cool, transfer to store. Use an airtight container or jar. It will stay good and crispy in the fridge for 2 weeks, or freeze for 3 months.
What to do with Sweet Crispy Quinoa
- This is a fabulous snacky idea for someone who’s allergic to nuts but wants a crunchy topping for things like smoothie bowls, yogurt or oatmeal.
- Sprinkle into a bowl of vegan fruit dip….so fun, especially if you make fruit skewers.
- I adore this sprinkled onto some creamy vegan chocolate pudding.
- Use it in place of granola during Passover.
What to do with Savory Crispy Quinoa
- Salad: Stack romaine and thinly slice. Toss with vegan caesar. Sprinkle generously with crispy quinoa. Toss well. Sprinkle more of the crunchy goodness on top.
- Substitute the cumin and paprika for Italian spices and then sprinkle on top of lasagna, stuffed peppers or stuffed zucchini.
- Sprinkle on top of veggies like roasted broccoli, cauliflower steaks, grilled asparagus or garlicky green beans.
- Substitute for breadcrumbs in any recipe to make it gluten-free.
- Fabulous replacement for panko breadcrumbs.
Debra’s Pro Tips
- Spread the quinoa out as much as possible on the baking sheet. If you’ve just cooked the quinoa, give it a chance to cool off and release steam. More steam/more moisture = less crispy quinoa.
- After you’ve tossed with the oil and spices, spread it out again. More space = more crispy, more crunchy….and less chewy.
- Use two forks, rather than spoons, to help stir the oil and spices into the quinoa and break up any clumps that may have occurred.
- Put it back into the oven for an additional 5 minutes, to continue to dry it out, if it’s not as crispy as you like when the timer goes off.
- Cool COMPLETELY and then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. You can freeze in freezer safe container for 3 months. It will keep its crispiness, but it will not get more crispy.
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📖 Recipe
Oven Roasted Crispy Quinoa
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry quinoa or 3 cups leftover, cooked quinoa
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Savory Crispy Quinoa Spices
- ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Sweet Crispy Quinoa Spices
- 1 tblsp maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Skip this step if you're using leftover or already cooked quinoa. Measure and rinse quinoa. INSTANT POT: add rinsed quinoa plus 1 cup water and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes, allow natural release. Stovetop: add rinsed quinoa to small saucepan with 1.5 cups water. Bring to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
- Evenly spread cooked quinoa onto a large rimmed baking sheet.If your baking tray isn't big enough to hold it all in one thin layer, then use 2 pans.
- For Sweet Crispy quinoa: drizzle olive oil and maple syrup and then sprinkle cinnamon onto the quinoa.
- For Savory Crispy Quinoa: drizzle olive oil and then sprinkle cumin, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper onto the quinoa.
- Use two forks to combine everything and then spread quinoa out into one thin, even layer on the baking sheet.
- Bake in preheated 425 oven for 10 minutes. Use the two forks again to stir everything up and then re-distribute evenly on the baking tray.
- Bake for another 10-15 minutes until perfectly crisp, and totally dried out. Check at the 10 minute mark and stir to be sure quinoa that's in the corners doesn't burn.
- Let crispy quinoa cool completely. Then you can store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or use a freezer safe container and it will keep for 3 months in the freezer.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
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