I know, controversial, but I never ever cook quinoa as the packs says. When I have, either there isn’t enough water and the pans runs dry and the quinoa gets burnt if you don’t catch it; or, and this one is the most typical, there’s too much water and it’s cooked for far too long and your quinoa ends up mushy and tasteless.
You may completely disagree with me, and that’s fine, but I like my quinoa so that the grains separate and have texture and is something to actually eat and chew properly. This way you’ll make the most of it’s lovely nutty flavour too.
So, this is what I do…
I take just under a mug full of uncooked white quinoa…
Then I fill the same mug with water to the top…
I put the quinoa and water into a pan, over a high heat and bring the water to the boil…
Once it’s boiling, I turn down the heat so that the water is simmering, put the lid on, and leave it to simmer for 6 minutes, yes, just SIX minutes…
After 6 minutes, turn the heat off, leave the lid on and leave the pan for 20 minutes. I’m sure you’ll be tempted to test it and you’ll find the grains not quite cooked, have no fear! The steam will continue to cook the quinoa.
After 20 minutes, remove the lid and fork up the quinoa and you should have a perfectly cooked pan full of lovely, textured grains….
Of course, if you like it how you already cook it, feel free to ignore me, but it’s not just me saying this… read this post for more info
Enjoy!!!
I think this is REALLY interesting, Elaine – and I shall employ your method next time I make anything with quinoa in it. It’s because of that very lack of flavour you mention that I recently changed a recipe from containing quinoa to containing rice (and it was still yummy); but I know quinoa has more going for it. X !
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It does and when it’s overcooked it’s not pleasant so I can understand people not enjoying it. Let me know how you get on x
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That’s exactly what I do, same goes for rice.
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Cool 🙂
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That’s how to make perfect rice too! 🙂
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☺️x
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great Elaine. I love this post.. my quinoa and brown rice usually gets mushy. now i know what to do and what not to do. Thank u.
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Brilliant, I’m so glad it’s useful 🙂
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I have to admit to the same, and I avoid gooey mess. X
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☺️ xx
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I actually cook my rice similarly, Elaine :). Cook them in less water and then leave them covered for 10-15 minutes. They come out cooked and fluffy and not sticky.
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Fab! I’m learning lots today 🙂
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If I ever get around to opening my pack of quinoa before it goes out of date I will try it your way for sure!
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Cool xx
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Love this tip Elaine – I hate mushy grains – this is brilliant and timely!
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Fab 🙂 love the photo change xx
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I don’t either! Until I started cooking it in my rice cooker, it never came out exactly right!
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☺️
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Thanks for the tip, Elaine 🙂
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☺️ x
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I’ve always done well with rice, but not quinoa, which has made me avoid it in general. I have some in the pantry and am going to try it your way. I’m one of those who has been following the directions but haven’t liked the consistency when done. Thanks
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Well I hope this makes a difference for you 🙂 good luck
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Elaine, thank you so much. I kept wondering if it was supposed to taste like that. Finally just switched to black rice. Now I’ll go back to the quinoa and try it your way. See? This is why I follow food blogs.
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Yay!!! I hope it makes a positive difference for you 🙂
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It did!!!! And so delicious this time. Smoked Cajun salmon with quinoa!!!!
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Oh cool!! I’m so glad you tried it and it worked well :))
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Thanks for the tips!
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☺️ xx
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You made my day, Elaine. I love the taste of quinoa, but I kind of detest the constency that it always gets when I cook it according to the indications. I will soon try your version!
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Brilliant! I hope you can enjoy it more now 🙂
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That’s sounds very similar to how I cook brown rice. I do mine in the microwave in our rice bowl/cooker thingy. Just cover rice with water. Cook for 12 minutes. Remove from microwave and then sit aside for a further half an hour. Drain off water and you have perfectly, fluffy rice grains.
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Cool, thank you 🙂
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Elaine this is pretty much how I do rice! Never thought of using the same method for quinoa, I will definitely try this! 😄
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Fab, I hope you like it x
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Hey – that’s exactly how we do it! Almost – your six minutes is the time it takes to check the mailbox/have a quick shower/wash some dishes.
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Ha ha :))
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Love your technique, Elaine. When my mom makes rice, she uses a small rice bowl to measure and her pinky to determine how much water to add. It’s fantastic.
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Cool 🙂 this has been really interesting actually, lots of comments about people cooking rice the same way x
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Thank you, new and valid advises are always welcome in my kitchen!
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My pleasure 🙂 thank you for reading
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Great advice, as I was thinking about cooking some, so thank you!
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My pleasure 🙂
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Oh, I’m going to bookmark this. I may reblog next time I make something with quinoa, which should be soon. It’s a good, EASY trick! I love it!
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Fab, thank you 🙂 🙂 xx
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I tell people the same thing in my nutrition classes! Slight difference (8 minutes wee simmer, then 12 sitting) but I’m sure both of ours are fluffy and fab 🙂 All packets I’ve ever seen are for making mush. When people say they don’t like quinoa I ask two questions: 1) did you rinse it well? and 2) did you follow the stupid packet direction?. You will have transformed a lot people’s opinions with this post, elaine.
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I do hope so, Kellie! Thank you x
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Coincidentally on the same day of this post, I was cooking my first dish with quinoa , so this helped me quite a bit! Thanks for sharing this…
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Great, I’m so glad 🙂 did it work for you?
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The first thing I did was not to read the instructions written on the pack as your post title just stuck to my mind 🙂 Yes and after that reading your method did help but I kept the proportion of water like for rice, would like to reduce the water proportion by a bit 🙂 Thanks for asking!
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Great 🙂
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I love the way you cook it even better! 🙂 Thanks for this! xxx
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My pleasure 🙂 x
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Totally agree with you Elaine I adopted my own method too for cooking quinoa, I will try your method always good to have variations xx
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Cool, thank you x
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Gonna try it soon Elaine….
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Fab, I hope you like the outcome x
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Elaine, I did wonder if those 6 mins are enough to cook, but the outcome as per your method was perfect. Not even a single pearl of the quinoa stuck to the base of the pan and it came out fluffy and not mushy. Thank you so much 😀
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Yay!! That’s brilliant! Thank you 🙂
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🙂
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I hope you don’t mind if I share your comments?
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I am extremely glad Elaine , please do 🙂
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Thank you xx
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I am totally trying this. ❤ You are brilliant.
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I hope you like it xx
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I made quinoa first time today and luckily ran into this post of yours before trying it. It really came out perrrrrfect!!! 🙂 No sweat… thanks for the great tip!!
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Brilliant, I’m so glad it was useful 🙂
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Thanks so much for this tip! I’m going to try this with the Organic Black Quinoa my lical grocery store just started stocking! Hoorayyyyy for FoodBod blog!!!! ♡Namaste♡
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That’s brilliant, thank you 🙂
All I would say is that I used white quinoa, I can’t comment for black quinoa, it’s quite different, the texture and consistency is very different from white quinoa, so you may need to play with it.
Thank you for your lovely comments x
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I love you!
my gosh, I’ve had my fair share of quinoa fights, and will try your method this weekend…. I have a dinner party planned and quinoa salad will be my side dish
Can hardly wait!!!!!!
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Thank you so much for sharing my method…and for liking it so much 🙂 🙂 love your salad x x x x
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