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Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is gaining popularity as a healthy, high-protein, gluten-free alternative grain. It’s light, delicious and extremely versatile. Quick and easy to cook as well. Here are the basic cooking instructions for quinoa.

Cooked Quinoa

Cooking quinoa is similar to cooking brown rice using the absorption method. One cup of dry quinoa will make 2-3 cups cooked. Don’t worry about making extra though, if you have leftover quinoa it makes a delicious muesli or porridge for the next morning.

Cooking Quinoa:
First, measure out the dry quinoa. Remember it doubles in size during cooking.

Rinse the quinoa well under cold water and drain. It’s handy to use a fine mesh sieve for rinsing.

Put the rinsed quinoa into a saucepan and add cold water. The quinoa to water ratio is 1:2. In other words, use 2 cups of water for every cup of quinoa. Toss in a dash of salt.

Cover and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, and set the lid just ajar, to prevent boiling over. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. The quinoa goes a bit transparent when it’s cooked, except for a little spiral sprout.

If the quinoa is tender but there’s excess water in the bottom of the saucepan just leave the lid off completely for a few minutes until the water evaporates. When done turn off the heat, put the lid on and let sit for about 5 minutes.

Use a fork to fluff up the quinoa.