Cooking quinoa in rice cooker means you don’t have to worry about the water boiling over and making a huge mess on your stove. It also means perfectly fluffy quinoa every single time, without fail. It’s seriously the easiest way to cook quinoa and add more whole grains to your diet.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Gluten-Free
Keyword healthy, high fiber, quick and easy, rice cooker, whole grain
Prep Time 2minutes
Cook Time 25minutes
Total Time 27minutes
Servings 4people
Calories 156.4kcal
Author Steph
Cost $3
Equipment
rice cooker
Ingredients
1cupquinoadry
2cupswatercold
1/2teaspoonsea salt
Instructions
First, rinse the quinoa in lukewarm running water. There’s a coating on each grain called saponin, and it doesn’t taste very good. Rinse the grains for a minute while agitating with your fingers. When you don’t notice any tiny bubbles forming on the quinoa, that means the saponin is gone.
Add the rinsed quinoa to the rice cooker. Add cold water or broth, as well, and salt if you’re using it. Don’t use salt if you’re cooking the quinoa with broth, because it’s salty enough.
Give the rice cooker a gentle swirl to get everything mixed in. Cover the cooker and set it to the rice setting.
After this, a lot depends on your individual rice cooker. Some cook quinoa in as short as 15 minutes, while others can take as long as 30 minutes. A cup of quinoa doesn’t take very long to cook, though, so it’s still a quick, easy, and healthy grain to make.
Once the rice cooker switches itself off, carefully open the rice cooker — it will be hot, and steam can burn your face and hands. Once the steam has dissipated, gently fluff the grains with a fork to get that fluffy quinoa texture.
Video
Notes
You can also use vegetable or chicken broth instead of water, for a richer, more savory flavor. NOTE: If you use stock, do not add salt! Your dish will likely be too salty.