This quick and easy recipe for skillet popped quinoa is ready in seconds. It's crunchy, nutty, and toasty. Enjoy with salads, smoothie bowls, granola, oat bars, or as an easy puffy snack.
I've wanted to make crispy puffed quinoa for years! Now that I've done it, I can't stop. It's a delicious snack, great salad topper, smoothie bowl add-on, granola addition, and more.
If you're into crunchy textures, you'll love this simple recipe. Just heat up a large pan, add raw quinoa, wait a few seconds for it to pop, then pour out to let cool. It happen super fast, so be prepared to move quickly.
What you'll need
All you need to make popped quinoa is raw quinoa! For this recipe I suggest using packaged, pre-rinsed quinoa so you can get straight to cooking. Quinoa comes in several varieties, such as white, red, black, and tricolor, and any color will pop perfectly!
Terrasoul Superfoods Organic White Quinoa 
Cooking tips
- Use a wide heavy bottom pan.
- Do not pop more than ¼ cup of quinoa at a time.
- Keep the quinoa in a single layer for even cooking.
- Place puffed quinoa on a plate or in a bowl to cool.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to a couple weeks.
Ways to use popped quinoa
There's several ways to enjoy popped quinoa, here are a few of my favorites:
- As a salad topper, especially on my kale crunch salad!
- Sprinkled on smoothie bowls, like my vegan acai bowl.
- Make quinoa crunch bars with my vegan chocolate or vegan white chocolate recipes as a base.
- Add it to your favorite energy bar or oatmeal bar.
- Alone as a simple snack. Or add some seasoning as it cools like chili powder, garlic powder, even lime juice!
How to Pop Quinoa
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup quinoa raw
Instructions
- Start by heating a dry saute pan on the stove over medium heat.
- When the pan seems hot, toss in a couple quinoa seeds to test. The quinoa should jump and pop immediately!
- Add the rest of the dry quinoa and shake into a single layer. Continue to shake the pan as the quinoa pops.
- After a few seconds the popping will slow and the quinoa will give off a nutty aroma. Remove from heat and transfer popped quinoa to a plate to cool.
- Once cooled, enjoy or store in an airtight container.
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