I always have quinoa in my pantry and I never thought to pop it… until now! Learn how to pop quinoa in one minute by following these easy steps. Oh… and watch me do it in our video for our Festive Whole Roasted Cauliflower!
This popped quinoa is:
Crunchy
Toasty
Nutty
A delicious snack
Great salad topper
And so incredibly easy!
Watch me pop quinoa in this video for my Whole Roasted Cauliflower recipe!
How To Pop Quinoa
Popping quinoa is incredibly simple BUT it is quite easy to burn it and not pop it! So here is the key to popping quinoa…
HEAT.
Quite a bit of it!
- Heat a dry pan until it is really quite hot! Almost to the point of smoking. I prefer to use my cast iron skillets for popping quinoa because they can withstand the high heat and are safe to heat without any oil.
*If you are using a pan that cannot be over heat without a bit of oil then you can certainly brush on some oil and it won’t affect how your quinoa pops.
- When your pan is very hot, add ⅛ to ¼ cup quinoa to the skillet. If the heat is high enough the quinoa will start popping and jumping right away. Shake the skillet to keep the quinoa moving and ensure it doesn’t burn.
- You will be able to see that the seeds of quinoa are popping similar to how corn pops. The outer shell will split and the centre will puff through with a white fluffy puff!
- As soon as you can tell that most of the seeds have popped, pour them into another bowl and get them off the hot skillet right away! If they stay on the skillet for longer than a minute or so they will burn and have a burnt, bitter taste.
*Wear some oven mitts to protect your hands from the hot skillet!
Pop A Little At A Time
I highly suggest only popping a small amount (⅛ to ¼ cup maximum) of quinoa at a time. Believe me… I have tried popping more (even ½ cup) and it burns every time!
If too many quinoa seeds are in the pan at the same time they don’t have enough space around them to pop immediately and if they don’t pop immediately… they burn.
Popped vs. Burnt
The first few times I tried to pop quinoa I thought I was popping it because I would hear and see a few of the seeds pop. My pan was not hot enough and I was trying to pop too much quinoa at a time so some of the seeds would pop but not all and I would leave the quinoa in the pan for too long. I was trying to encourage all the quinoa to pop but by leaving it in the pan too long I was burning the quinoa.
When I tasted; what I thought was popped quinoa… it was still quite hard, tasted a little burnt, and I figured that must be what popped quinoa tasted like. Until…
- I let my pan heat nearly until it was smoking,
- Added a small amount of quinoa,
- And the seeds immediately started popping.
- This time it was very clear that THIS was popped quinoa.
- As soon as the seeds had popped I immediately poured them into another bowl,
- Tasted them, and this time…
- They were deliciously puffy, crunchy, and toasty but NOT hard!
Take a look at the photo below to see if you can tell the difference between the raw quinoa, burnt quinoa, and popped quinoa.
- In the very top bowl is raw quinoa.
- The second bowl is some popped quinoa but mostly burnt quinoa.
- And in the third bowl is nicely popped quinoa.
The differences can be quite subtle but for the quinoa that I burnt… some of it popped but the pan was not hot enough so it didn’t start popping right away. That made me keep the pan on the heat for too long. You may be able to tell that the colour is darker because the seeds burnt and when I tasted them they were still quite hard and not very pleasant to eat.
In the bowl lowest in the frame is fully popped quinoa. The colour is still darker than the raw quinoa but it has a much more evenly toasted colour, a fluffy texture, and pleasant taste.
Yield – Raw vs. Popped
Since this is popped quinoa and not “puffed quinoa” there is only a small difference in the volume of quinoa once it has popped.
If I needed ½ cup popped quinoa for a recipe I would pop ½ cup raw quinoa.
There will be a small increase in volume but it will be slight. Puffed quinoa is closer to the airy texture of puffed rice and is achieved through a mechanical process. In that case there would be an increase in yield but not so much for popped quinoa.
Should Your Pan Have A Lid
You can certainly cover your pan with a lid as soon as you add the quinoa. This will trap the heat in and encourage the quinoa to pop quickly.
HOWEVER…
I actually prefer to use a deeper pan, like a deep saute pan or a dutch oven. I find that the deeper pan keeps the popping seeds more contained and minimizes how many jump out of the pan. BUT… since they pop so quickly… I find it easier to not juggle a lid at the same time.
Benefits Of Popped Quinoa
Although quinoa is relatively quick to cook, I love that I can get all the nutritional benefits out of this superfood in just one minute!
Popped quinoa is a wonderfully healthy snack,
It’s so quick and easy,
And it’s versatile!
I will have to create some more recipes that incorporate popped quinoa but some ideas would be to:
Serve it with our Festive Whole Roasted Cauliflower!
Sprinkle it on top of salads like our Holiday Leftover Roasted Vegetable Salad,
Add it into treats, like these Chocolate Quinoa Crisps from The Toasted Pine Nut,
Or to energy bars/bites like Choosing Chia’s Puffed Quinoa And Nut Bars.
Let me know in the comments below what recipes you want to see that incorporate popped quinoa!
Jeanette
Do you need to rinse the quinoa before you pop it?
Kathryn Alexandre
Oh good question. I don’t ever rinse it. If you prefer to rinse it, the quinoa will likely have to be fully dried again before popping. Most quinoa is pre-rinsed and the package will likely tell you if this is the case. I do tend to rinse rice, lentils, and dried beans but quinoa I use straight from the packaging.
Shir
Hello
I have tried to make this with a stainless steel pot but it burned. Why?
Kathryn Alexandre
It can definitely be a little tricky to pop quinoa without it burning. I don’t think the stainless steel pot is necessarily the issue but it could distribute the heat a little less evenly than cast iron. You may need to really shake the pot around once you have added the quinoa to try and avoid any seeds sitting on a really hot spot for too long. Some things to keep in mind are to get the pot really nice and hot before you add the quinoa so that the seeds pop almost instantly when added. Be sure to not crowd the seeds so if your pot is on the smaller side you may only be able to add a tablespoon or so of quinoa at a time (doing small batches also makes it less frustrating if anything burns because at least you have not burnt a larger batch). And if your pot can withstand being on high heat without using any oil I prefer to use a dry pot. A dry pot makes it easier to shake the seeds around and quickly dump them into another bowl as soon as most of them have popped. I hope these things help and you have better luck if you give it another try!
Evan
How much popped quinoa do you get from 1/8 cup of raw quinoa?
Kathryn Alexandre
Oooo good question! I’ll add that detail to the blogpost. Because this is popped quinoa and not “puffed quinoa” (which can’t be made at home and is done by a mechanical process) the popped quinoa does not really vary at all in volume from raw quinoa. Although it splits open and pops the popped volume will be essentially the same as the raw volume (maybe a gram or two of difference in weight). If a recipe called for 1/4 cup popped quinoa I would pop 1/4 cup raw quinoa. Thank you again for pointing this out!