High protein, gluten free quinoa is easy to make in the microwave.
About a month ago, I showed how to cook quinoa on the stove very easily. Here’s how to cook it in the microwave oven or countertop convection oven, which provides all the incredibly rich nutritional and flavor benefits without a pot to watch or clean. Hope you dig it! I sure do.
Cooking Time: about 7 minutes
Total Time Required: includes cooking time and time to absorb water after cooking
Needed
(for 4 or more people)
1 Cup (8 ounces) Quinoa
2 Cups Water
1/2 – 1 Teaspoon Salt (optional)
1 Tablespoon Butter or Margarine (optional)
Measuring Cup
Fine Meshed Strainer
Microwave Safe Bowl
Microwave Safe Dinner Plate
Timer
1. Measure 1 cup (8 ounces) of quinoa, and pour the quinoa into a fine mesh strainer.
Rinse with cold tap water while running your fingers through the quinoa seeds. If your quinoa has a sudsy froth to it as you rinse it, keep rinsing until that froth, which has a bitter taste because it is actually a natural bird and insect repellent called saponin, is washed away. Then pour the rinsed quinoa into a microwave safe bowl.
2. Measure and add 2 cups (16 ounces) of cold water to the quinoa in the bowl.
3. Add an optional 1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt (or about as much as shown), and cover the bowl with a microwave safe dinner plate.
4. Put the covered bowl in the middle of the microwave oven and cook using HIGH heat or 100% power for 5 minutes.
5. When the timer sounds, carefully remove the partially cooked quinoa from the microwave oven. If the bowl feels too hot to handle, use a potholder or dishtowel to protect your hands when you take the bowl out of the microwave oven. I took hold of the top of the bowl where it was comfortably warm to handle. Remove the plate, add an optional tablespoon of butter or margarine, and give the quinoa a quick stir with a spoon.
Cover the bowl with the plate again, and put the bowl back in the middle of the microwave oven to cook for another 2 minutes.
6. When the timer sounds, again carefully remove the cooked quinoa from the microwave oven. Uncover the bowl, stir the cooked quinoa, and let it sit to absorb any remaining water for about 10 minutes until…
…the quinoa looks fully translucent like this.
7. Finish by fluffing the cooked quinoa with a spoon.
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Images courtesy of the author