This rice cooker quinoa recipe is easy, hands off, no stir, and makes absolutely perfect and fluffy quinoa! A fast and easy way to cook your whole grains. This recipe is simple, tasty, and the rice cooker does all the work for you.
Check out my Rice Cooker Lentils and Rice Cooker Oatmeal recipes for even more easy recipes!
Quinoa is one of my favorite grains – especially the red variety! I love it in salads, soups, tabbouleh, pilafs, by itself, you name it and I will probably love it. I’ve always cooked quinoa on the stovetop in the past… but I had my rice cooker out on the counter yesterday and decided to give quinoa a try.
I love trying out new ways to use the rice cooker aside from just plain old rice. A few months back I tried Lentils in the Rice Cooker and was hoping that the quinoa would turned out just as good!
This Rice Cooker Quinoa Recipe Is:
- Foolproof
- Simple
- Consistent
- Perfect Every Time
- Fluffy
- Tender
- Vegan, Gluten Free, and SO Good!
Can I Cook Quinoa in the Rice Cooker?
Absolutely, it’s the BEST way I’ve found to cook quinoa (better than the Instant Pot, in my opinion)! The texture was perfect and I didn’t have to worry about it on the stovetop while it was cooking (overboiling, burning at the bottom, not steaming properly, too much water, etc). This will definitely be my go-to cooking method for quinoa from now on! Just follow the 2:1 water to grain ratio, and add a little seasoning if you want – its a perfect candidate if you want to double the recipe for weekly meal prep. I’d like to experiment with adding other herbs, veggies, or garlic in the future while cooking. But for now, here is the basic recipe 🙂
One of the BEST Pantry Staple Protein Recipes
This easy quinoa recipe is a fantastic pantry-staple meal! It uses almost all ingredients you would have in your dry pantry or cupboards – most of which you probably have on hand. Keeping a well-stocked pantry makes it easy to come up with delicious and healthy meals using a few staples you can rotate. I made a list of my Top 125 Plant-Based Pantry Staples that always keep stocked. And you can check out all my favorite pantry staple ingredients in my Amazon shop here. By stocking up on healthy whole ingredients you can cook delicious recipes without a trip to the store!
What’s In This Rice Cooker Quinoa?
- Quinoa: I used this fantastic white quinoa, but you can use red or multicolored. You can cook quinoa on the stove top, in the Instant Pot (my preferred method), in the rice cooker. This quinoa is a fantastic addition to salads, soups, or wraps… a healthy plant-based protein you can feel good about eating.
- Water or Reduced Sodium Vegetable Stock or Bouillon: I love this low sodium vegetable base for my recipes because it has a great flavor and is lower in sodium. I only develop my recipes with low sodium ingredients so the ingredients shine. You can always add salt to a recipe if it needs it, but it’s almost impossible to take it out! By starting with a low sodium broth or bouillon, you can build bright vibrant flavors and add more salt later if needed.
- Bay Leaves: I always add bay leaves to every bean soup I make… it gives the quinoa a flavor which is savory and delicious! When I lived in California I had laurel bay trees in my backyard, and I used to pick the dried leaves… now I buy these online 🙂
- Garlic Powder: Also a major pantry staple ingredient that gets used in our house daily! I love this garlic powder and add it to a lot of recipes that I would use fresh garlic in too.
- Pink Himalayan Sea Salt: I like to use a pink Himalayan Sea Salt in my kitchen, which has more natural minerals than plain processed table salt. It’s fairly inexpensive, so I’d recommend this salt if you’re looking for an easy way to level up your spice pantry.
- Tellicherry Peppercorns: Like the salt, it’s amazing the flavor difference you can get with really good tellicherry black pepper. Amazon has a generic brand tellicherry peppercorn which is the same price is buying pre-ground, and has a million times more flavor… so I use these really great tellicherry peppercorns, which I would definitely recommend.
How Do I Make Quinoa in the Rice Cooker?
- Wash and sort the quinoa: make sure you wash until the water turns clear and pick out any little stones or other bits that may be in there.
- Add quinoa, water, salt to the rice cooker, and set it on high (or ‘Grain’ setting which mine has)
- When quinoa is finished cooking, check to see that all the water has absorbed, fluff with a fork, and serve!
What’s The Best Rice Cooker to Buy?
We have this fantastic Hamilton Beach rice cooker that has lasted us years and years, so I have to say I’ve been very happy with it! It gets weekly use, and is great for cooking rice, lentils, and quinoa in the rice cooker. But I’d love to upgrade to this Zojirushi model eventually, it’s THE Cadillac of rice cookers. Our family has it, and it is one fantastic rice cooker. And it has a great feature which keeps the rice warm on the counter, so you can enjoy it all day.
Use This Rice Cooker Quinoa In These Delicious Hearty Salads:
Bruschetta Quinoa Salad Recipe (Vegan, Gluten Free)
Simple Lemon Quinoa Salad (Vegan, Gluten Free)
Thai Quinoa Cabbage Salad (Vegan, Gluten Free, Summer Side Dish)
Rainbow Quinoa Salad (Vegan, Gluten Free)
Red Quinoa & Vegetable Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette (Vegan, Gluten Free)
Get the Same Ingredients I Use for My Easy Quinoa in the Rice Cooker
I get all the fresh produce for my recipes from my garden and from Misfits Market – they sell all organic produce at a super discounted price, and it’s purchased direct from the farmers. We get Misfit Market boxes every other week and love picking out our favorite seasonal produce for delivery. You can get $10 off your first $30 box by clicking here!
If you think organic produce is too expensive… think again, and give Misfits Market a look!
As always, if you make this vegan and gluten free rice cooker quinoa recipe be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe, and tag me @theherbeevore on Instagram so I can feature you. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
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Quinoa in the Rice Cooker (Perfect Every Time!)
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground Tellicherry Black Pepper optional
Instructions
- Wash and sort the quinoa: make sure you wash until the water turns clear and pick out any little stones or other bits that may be in there.
- Add quinoa, water, salt to the rice cooker, and set it on high (or ‘Grain’ setting which mine has)
- When quinoa is finished cooking, check to see that all the water has absorbed, fluff with a fork, and serve!
Notes
Save Money on Organic Produce!
I get all the fresh produce for my recipes from my garden and from Misfits Market - they sell all organic produce at a super discounted price, and it’s purchased direct from the farmers. We get Misfit Market boxes every other week and love picking out our favorite seasonal produce for delivery. You can get $10 off your first $30 box by clicking here! If you think organic produce is too expensive... think again, and give Misfits Market a look!Nutrition
Or tag me @theherbeevore in your photo on Instagram!
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