These nutritious and healthy quinoa cakes are perfect for small hands (and big ones!) and full of quinoa, egg, cheese, and veggies.
Yay for another healthy quinoa recipe! I like to buy quinoa at Costco, 10 pounds at a time. It’s about the only bulk item we can get through fast enough to warrant purchasing. That, and applesauce pouches…oy. But the gigantic bags of quinoa are a great excuse to create more and more quinoa recipes for YOU, which I love doing.
This recipe is super fast if you have some leftover quinoa from another dish…
…even better if it’s because you are making one of my favorite quinoa recipes: pizza quinoa casserole; baked turkey & quinoa meatballs; one-pot mexican quinoa; or quinoa & arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette. 😉
Today, it’s a quinoa recipe that doesn’t even require a fork…HEALTHY QUINOA CAKES!
Healthy Quinoa Cakes
What do I love about it?
- Easy: cook quinoa, mix everything together, pan fry. Done!
- Nutritious: packed with whole grains, protein, and some veggies – it’s practically a meal.
- Family-friendly: it’s great for ALL ages.
- Freezable: double the batch, or save some for later – they freeze perfectly!
So won’t you join me in my quinoa obsession? Pick up a 10 pound bag, meet me back here, and let’s get cooking!
Healthy Quinoa Cakes Recipe:
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Healthy Quinoa Cakes
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 28 minutes
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 12 cakes 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: American
Description
These nutritious and healthy quinoa cakes are perfect for small hands (and big ones!) and full of quinoa, egg, cheese, and veggies.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 2 cups chicken or veggie broth
- 1/2 cup chopped roasted red pepper
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. oil for frying
Instructions
- Prepare quinoa as directed, with broth for extra flavor. Let cool. (Can be made ahead of time.)
- In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except for oil. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
- In a medium pan over medium high heat, add 1 Tablespoon of oil to pan.
- Scoop out 1/4 cup of quinoa mixture into hand and carefully place into pan. Add a few more cakes to pan, but don’t overcrowd.
- Cook for about 3 minutes, then carefully flip over with flipper. Mixture is fragile, but will stay together!
- Cook for another 3 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer to plate lined with paper towel.
- Repeat with remaining mixture, adding oil to pan when needed.
Notes
- Mixture is fragile, handle carefully.
- These freeze great, so once they have cooled, store in a freezer bag and microwave for 1-2 minutes, or until hot, when you are ready to eat. They won’t be as crispy, but still taste great.
Keywords: quinoa cakes, quinoa, healthy quinoa recipe
Mercedes
Another great toddler food and a perfect, easily customizable lunch idea! Keep them coming Em!!
Emily
So glad you approve, thank you! 🙂
sarah k @ the pajama chef
sounds delicious! i love the veggies in them too 🙂
Emily
Thanks Sarah! I definitely try to add them in wherever I can! 🙂
Vince
I love quinoa but I tend to just use it as a grain in bowls – rather than recipes. These look like a perfect way to experiment with quinoa, especially as you could easily change the flavors and ingredients.
And yes, great for small hands!
★★★★★
Emily
Absolutely, the possibilities are endless!
Sally
Hi, how could you make these dairy free?
Emily
Hi Sally,
It’s tough because the cheese adds flavor, but also acts as a binder. I would recommend adding another egg and seeing if that is enough to hold it all together. I haven’t tried this, so I can’t vouch for it but it’s worth a try! And be sure to let us know if it works – or not!
Holly
We made this recipe tonight and loved it! BUT beware that the calories in the nutrition info are incorrect. I think the calories used in the calculation were for 1 cup cooked, which is around 220. But this calls for 1 cup of dry quinoa, which is 640 calories. All told, each cake comes out to around 360 calories instead of 92! We unfortunately didn’t realize that until after we scarfed a bunch down, ha. But if you don’t mind the extra calories, this is a fantastic recipe and a great way to use up that quinoa!
Emily
Hi Holly, thanks so much for bringing this to my attention, I just re-ran the nutrition facts! The nutrition will obviously change if # of cakes changes, but they are coming out to 131 calories per cake (12 total).
Holly
Yes! Shortly after I commented I realized my computing mistake. 131 sounds accurate to me…I think I was getting around 150 just based on the ingredients I used. I was going to reply to my comment, but didn’t see it posted right away, so wasn’t sure if even worked. Thanks again for the recipe! It’s a keeper for sure…my kids loved them.