Quinoa-Toasted

“I love Quinoa, but never thought to toast it. One suggestion though. When you are rinsing the quinoa, save the rinse water. Pour it into a spray bottle and you have an organic liquid that repells insects. Use it on your vegetable plants. I wouldn’t recommend using it on culinary herbs though as it could affect the taste. The coating of the quinoa, saponin, a resin-like substance is extremely bitter and forms a soapy solution in water.”

“I can’t give this any stars (as I haven’t tried it yet), but I noticed from a lot of the reviews that people were getting a bitter taste by cooking their quinoa without this method…? I wanted to mention that I buy Bob’s Red Mill organic whole grain quinoa at Costco, and it says right on the package that it has been “thoroughly rinsed and air dried to remove the bitter saponins, so it can be used without rinsing”. I was at Sam’s Club the other day too, and I checked a bag of quinoa they sell there (also organic), and it said it had been rinsed as well. I don’t rinse before I cook my Bob’s RM, and it always tastes great. Maybe it’s just the organic ones that rinse it first before selling it in stores. I don’t know. Regardless, I do still plan to try your method of toasting, to add another depth of flavor to the quinoa. UPDATE 12/7/10: I was looking for a way to jazz up my quinoa, and I came back across this recipe/method. WOW, does it ever change the texture and flavor for the better! My quinoa started to smell like, hmm… popcorn-y almost, and I was worried I overtoasted it, but it came out really good. I was seriously thinking of finding random recipes to just use up my quinoa and just buy whole grain couscous after that, but this method has pulled me back in! I can definitely say I am a quinoa fan, and I will be using this method again and again. Thank you for posting it!”

“the best! you’ll swear you added butter or chicken broth because the flavor is so rich and complex…. it should be noted that to cook the quinoa you should use two cups water to one cup quinoa. add salt to the boiling water. simmer with lid on for twenty minutes. remove lid and remove from heat, let cool for five minutes. could not be more simple or delicious!”

“I used this recipe to make WicklewoodWench’s recipe #447113 and it was fantastic. It made the grain nutty and so flavorful. I was amused while I was toasting the grains that they started “popping” like popcorn, although on a much smaller scale. I have cooked with unrinsed/untoasted quinoa, and while it was not bitter it had a sort of “healthy” taste to it. Eating quinoa after it has been toasted does *not* make me think “I’m eating health food”, and that, my friends, is a very good thing. Thanks Dib!”

“Really adds to the depth of the flavor of quinoa.From now on I will be making all my recipes with toasted quinoa.”

“Be careful not to OVERtoast the quinoa!I left mine on too long attempting to get it “golden brown” and it tasted like burned nuts.LOL.I’ll be more careful next time!Thanks for sharing!:)”

“WOW!! 🙂 Really does make all the difference in the world. Has such a beautiful flavor without the bitterness. I’m now in love with this grain and even my kids love it! Thanks for sharing, this is absolutely5 STAR’s!!!”

“Gives quinoa great depth of flavor and takes away any bitterness. It smells great while its toasting…”

“I’ve neve used Quinoa before but wanted to give it a try and sure glad I found this before I tried it,The hardest part for me was just draining the water off as I didn’t have a fine enough strainer, the toasting went fine though I worried about over or under toasting.Used it to make a Spanish Quinoa and it tasted great and was DH approved so it most have worked.Now that I’ve tried this will have to use this wholesome grain in a lot more ways.Thanks for the information.”

“Love this method – I have never had bitter quinoa but I have never had it taste like this either!
Yummmmmmy”

“my quinoa doesn’t need to be rinsed but i did anyway just in case the toasting wouldn’t work. i noticed the temp was too high and it ended up sticking. i had to nurse it the whole time. i lowered the temp to low and it seemed to be ok. i did notice less bitterness and it seemed to taste better. i’ll be doing this again.”

“I have never purchased or ate Quinoa before.I followed this recipe to a T.My son and I both loved it.I think I am going to try this sprinkled on things!No bitter taste at all!”

“I tried this and it really did make a difference!I agree with the rater who said it starts to smell like popcorn when it’s getting nice and toasty!!Thanks for posting–I’m just starting to make recipes with Quinoa….which I still can’t stop thinking is quin-oh-ah instead of keen-wa (the proper pronunciation)!!”

“What a great, ingenious idea! Thanks so much for sharing, my first experience with quinoa has been heavenly!”

“awesome!I will never use quinoa that hasn’t been toasted again!Really livens up the flavors!Thanks for sharing this method!”

“Tonight is the first time I am making quinoa and I am so happy to have found this recipe. I love the aroma of the grains toasting. This is gonna be awesome in recipe#236985. I cannot wait to dig in! Thanks Dib’s, once again you ROCK!”

“I am rating to ensure I don’t lose this recipe. I have only eaten quinoa once before some time ago but I do think I recall a bitterness.Will be cooking this up for a cheesey bite recipe that is cooked up in muffin tin”

“Very easy and turned out great! Thanks for posting.”

“Truly amazing how much difference this one simple step can make!”

“Thanks, Dib’s, for sharing this.I had tried quinoa years ago and, even after rinsing, still found it to bitter for us to really ‘like’ and implement into our diet.I wanted to use some of this ancient grain in Zaar World Tour 7, and remembered I’d seen this technique, so I rinsed and then toasted the grain, as per your instructions.Well, it’s made all the difference in the world!I made 2 different salads today using the toasted grain and they were both so well-received by my family.Thank you for making this more accessible to us. :-)”