Simple, creamy Quinoa Pudding made with a handful of ingredients. Enjoy hot or cold for a delicious high-protein breakfast, dessert or snack. Great for meal prep!
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Creamy quinoa pudding made with quinoa, dairy-free milk, cinnamon, vanilla, and a touch of sugar or maple syrup is a really simple recipe made using just a handful of ingredients.
This lightly sweetened dairy-free pudding is not unlike the traditional rice pudding that we all know and love, but comes along with a healthy dose of wholegrain and protein.
Quinoa pudding can be served hot or cold and makes a really lovely, comforting and hearty breakfast, snack or dessert. When freshly cooked and hot, the pudding is milky and creamy, and as it cools, it thickens up. If you eat it the next day straight from the fridge, it's really thick and creamy! I really enjoy it both ways, but straight from the fridge is definitely my preference.
You can eat your quinoa pudding just as it is or with toppings of choice. For dessert, I love it with a big dollop of strawberry or fig jam, and for breakfast, it's lovely with fresh fruit or fruit compote, and if you've got some, a dollop of vegan yogurt and a sprinkle of vegan granola or toasted nuts for crunchy texture.
Mel x
Ingredients
Here is what you need at a glance, along with some important ingredient notes & substitution ideas:
- Quinoa - This should be uncooked quinoa. While all quinoa varieties will technically work for a pudding like this, white quinoa is best.
- Sugar - Use white or cane sugar, or brown sugar for a more molasses-forward flavour. You can also use maple syrup or date sugar.
- Spices - Cinnamon, vanilla and a pinch of salt give this pudding a lovely, fragrant, subtle, warming flavour.
- Milk - My preference for this milky pudding, especially when making it for breakfast, is to use soy milk because it increases the protein content significantly. You can use any dairy-free milk you like, except homemade oat milk, which will not work well in this recipe. Store-bought oat milk, however, is ok to use.
Variations
You could have some fun with this recipe and add lots of different flavourings or mix-ins to make it your own. Some lemon or orange zest would be lovely, cocoa powder for a chocolate version, raisins, chopped dates, dried cranberries, shredded coconut and coconut milk, nutmeg, cardamom, saffron, turmeric, a splash of rose water, etc. I don't recommend adding fresh berries/fruit while cooking, though. Keep those as a topping.
Recipe
Creamy Quinoa Pudding
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 1 cup (180 grams) uncooked quinoa
- 4 cups (960 ml) milk of choice , such as soy, coconut in a carton not can, or almond milk. Soy milk will make a higher-protein pudding. Do not use homemade oat milk.
- about ¼ cup (50 grams) sugar or maple syrup (adjust to taste)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put the quinoa in a sieve and rinse well. Shake to remove excess water.
- Use a spoon to scrape the quinoa into a medium pan. Place over medium-high heat and let the quinoa gently toast for about 3 or 4 minutes until it's dry-ish and smells nutty/toasty.This step is not essential, but will result in a slightly more flavourful pudding. Feel free to skip the toasting if you are in a hurry.
- Add all of the ingredients except the vanilla to the pan. Bring to a simmer.
- Adjust the heat to keep it at a low bubbling simmer (important, or the quinoa won't soften properly) for about 25 minutes. Stir frequently and don't leave it unattended, as it can boil over very quickly. Like when making rice pudding, if you forget to stir it, a skin can develop. Just stir it in, and it will disappear, or you can scrape it off.
- By the time 25 minutes have passed, the pudding will have thickened slightly, and the quinoa will be soft. It will still look milky and a bit too thin for pudding. Don't worry, that's normal. My video shows what it looks like in the pan versus what it looks like 5 minutes later in a bowl.
- Remove from the heat, add the vanilla and stir to combine. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes, and it will thicken up nicely. Enjoy warm or cold.
NOTES
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Annie says
A surprisingly delightful twist with quinoa! I typically get stuck in a rut with quinoa always being a savory dish so I was intrigued with this recipe. The texture was great, the sweetness and vanilla really elevated it. The quinoa pudding is delicious on its own or a fantastic base if you want to dazzle it up with nuts/seeds or berries; I added some nuts and pumpkin seeds for interest and added nutrients.
Melanie McDonald says
I'm so pleased you enjoyed it Annie, and thank you for coming back to leave a review. It's much appreciated!
Stefanie W Lewis says
Why not home made oat milk??
Melanie McDonald says
Have you ever heated homemade oat milk in a saucepan? The consistency changes and it becomes gluey, thick, and weird because of all the starch. Definitely not something you want in your quinoa pudding! It's very unpleasant. Store-bought is fine though becuase they remove the starch through enzymatic hydrolysis.
Melanie Pickering says
Would this work, the same as rice, in an Instant pot? I usually do rice pudding for 10 minutes.
Melanie McDonald says
The answer is I'm not sure. I've been meaning to try it but haven't got around to it. My concern is that the milk will foam up too much potentially clogging the vent. Milk also has a tendency to burn in pressure cookers. That's why a lot of Instant Pot rice puddings use a lot of water and add the milk after. This quinoa pudding needs all milk because quinoa isn't as starchy as rice. If you do try it I think you'd need less milk because there won't be any evaporation (maybe reduce to 3 cups?), and it will probably take less time than rice. I usually only cook plain quinoa for 1 minute in my Instant Pot but this might need a bit longer to get the pudding consistency. It's hard to say without trying it. If you do try it let me know how it turns out!