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How to prep, cook, and season quinoa

Learn how to cook quinoa using an Instant pot or stovetop pan with my simple recipe. You will also find how to season quinoa to make it more flavorful and use it for your breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword how to cook quinoa
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 4

Equipment

  • Instant Pot

Ingredients

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1.25 cups water Use 2 cups for stove top or rice cooker method
  • ¼ teaspoon salt optional
  • 1 teaspoon oil

Instructions

Prep the quinoa

  • Wash the quinoa couple of times by rubbing it with your hands to remove the outer coat of quinoa call saponins. If you do not wash them properly, there might be a slight bitterness in quinoa.
  • Drain the water from the quinoa entirely and keep it aside.

Stovetop instructions

  • Heat a cooking pot. Add the drained quinoa, water to the cooking pot, and close it partially with the lid. Use 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of quinoa.
  • Increase the heat to high and let the water come to the boiling, around 5 minutes.
  • Now reduce the flame to low and close it with the lid completely.
  • Let the quinoa cook until all the water is absorbed. It will take anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes. It might take more if you are cooking a large quantity of quinoa.
  • Please switch off the flame and let it sit for ten more minutes.
  • Fluff it up with a fork, and the cooked quinoa is ready to use.

How to cook quinoa in an Instant Pot:

  • Coat the Instant pot inner pot with a teaspoon of oil. Though this step is optional, this will prevent the quinoa from sticking to the pot.
  • Add drained quinoa, water, and salt (Use salt only if you plan to use quinoa for making savory recipes). Use 1.25 cups of water for every 1 cup of quinoa.
  • Close the instant pot with its lid, seal the vent.
  • Select manual or pressure cook mode cook it on HIGH PRESSURE for 1 minute.
  • Once the Instant pot beeps, wait for 10 minutes and do a pressure release.
  • Fluff it up with a fork, and the quinoa is ready to use.

Notes

Check the post for seasoning the quinoa.