How to Make Popped Quinoa (Easy, Crunchy Recipe)

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure.

Popped quinoa is a quick and easy way to boost a dish with extra nutrients and crunch! Learn how to make toasted quinoa for sweet and savory recipes.

Spoonful of golden colored popped quinoa with bowl of toasted quinoa in background, sitting on top of red, orange, and blue cloth napkin.

Popping quinoa has been on my bucket list for years! I’ve had it in premade salads and thought it was delicious, but I never took on making it myself… until now!

And now I can't stop popping!

It's delicious in chocolate quinoa crunch bars. And it's a great way to add protein to homemade granola bars or cereal for a quick breakfast.

While many refer to quinoa as an ancient grain, it is a seed... a magical seed! And let me tell you why it is so special! Popped quinoa is:

healthy and packs a punch as a complete protein that contains all nine essential amino acids.
vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, and oil-free.
super quick and easy to make in under 10 minutes.
a perfect way to add a nut-free crunch to any dish.

Jump to:

What is Popped Quinoa?
Ingredients
Equipment
Soaking Quinoa
Directions
Ways to Use Popped Quinoa
Storage
FAQ
More How-To Recipes
📖 Recipe

What is Popped Quinoa?

The term “popped quinoa” comes from the popping or crackling sound that quinoa makes when heated up and toasted.

If you hope to make "puffed" quinoa with a fluffy texture at home… this is not what you will get. Popped quinoa is often confused with puffed quinoa that you buy in stores or online.

Puffed quinoa is more like puffed rice. It is light and airy, which is achieved through a mechanical process (which cannot be replicated at home).

This recipe creates a beautiful golden brown popped quinoa with a crunchy texture and a slightly nutty flavor. Some seeds may puff out a bit, but not as much as you think.

Close up of popped quinoa in a glass bowl. Toasted quinoa looks golden brown and slightly puffed out. The bowl of quinoa is on top of a orange, red, and blue cloth napkin.

Ingredients

If you haven't guessed already, there is one main ingredient in this popped quinoa recipe:

Quinoa - You will need raw quinoa seeds. Don’t boil the quinoa first!
- You can pop any type of quinoa (white, red, black, or tri-colored), but I recommend starting with white until you understand the toasting process and timing. It's easier to tell when the color has changed to toasted and not burnt.
- Clean it first if the packaging does not say it is pre-rinsed. Rinsed quinoa ensures there will be no bitter taste from the saponins.
Water - A little bit helps keep the quinoa moist and gives you more control during the toasting process.

Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the complete list of ingredients with measurements plus recipe instructions.

Equipment

You need a skillet or pan that can be heated to a high temperature! I recommend using a tiny pan, 5.5” in diameter, and working in small batches.

A small pan allows you to control the toasting process and ensures that you can pay attention to all the quinoa so that none of it burns.

I tested it in larger pans and found the heating process more difficult to manage. Someone with more experience could control it, but that is not me!

I also tried toasting quinoa in a cast iron skillet, which was unsuccessful. While the heavy bottom helped keep the quinoa from burning, the fact that the skillet needs to be oiled does not work for this recipe… since oil is not recommended when toasting quinoa.

Quinoa toasting in small 5.5" granite pan on stove. Burner is red underneath the pan.

Soaking Quinoa

I learned about soaking or moistening quinoa from Ancient Harvest's how-to properly toast quinoa, and it has been a game changer in making perfectly popped quinoa!

Here's what I experienced by testing this recipe 3 different ways: with dry quinoa, moistened quinoa, and quinoa soaked overnight.

Dry Quinoa - Toasts for too long before the quinoa pops. More quinoa goes to waste by becoming burnt—a tedious process.
Moistened Quinoa - Using a 4:1 ratio of quinoa to water helps prevent quinoa from burning during toasting. The quinoa has time to dry out before popping. Best for eating popped quinoa alone or in salads.
Overnight-Soaked Quinoa - Soaking quinoa overnight makes quinoa more tender and takes away some crunch. Completely submerge your quinoa in water and store it in an airtight container. Don’t soak the quinoa for too long, no more than 10-12 hours. This method worked better for chocolate bars or energy-bite recipes with quinoa. However, I still prefer the extra crunch of moistened quinoa.

Moistening or soaking your quinoa overnight both work and will achieve a gorgeous golden brown toasted quinoa. The method you choose depends on how much you are willing to prepare beforehand.

Directions

Here's a step-by-step guide to popping quinoa in small batches:

Step by step collage of how to pop quinoa. Step 1 shows raw quinoa seeds moistened with water. Step 2 shows seeds clumped together on hot pan. Step 3 shows breaking up quinoa seeds with whisk on a hot pan. Water is starting to evaporate and the seeds are becoming toasty. Step 4 shows final popped quinoa seeds in bowl.

Moisten quinoa with a 4:1 ratio of quinoa to water (or soak quinoa overnight, completely submerging it in water.)
Place about 1 tablespoon of moistened quinoa into a small pan heated to medium-high temperature and flatten it into a single layer.
- Note: In order to determine when the pan is ready, test about 10 quinoa seeds to see if the pan is hot enough. The seeds should crackle or pop within 15 seconds of going on the stove.
Water will start to evaporate and dry out the seeds. Break the quinoa up with a whisk.
Once quinoa starts to make a crackling or popping sound, shake the pan around. It will be time to take the quinoa off the stove within a few seconds.
- Your quinoa will smell toasted and nutty. It will also visibly change to a golden brown.
- The whole process goes by within 15-30 seconds. Blink, and you might miss it! It's only a matter of seconds until the quinoa turns from toasted to burnt!

Repeat this process until all quinoa is popped. Let cool for a few minutes before eating (it will be very hot right off the stove).

Ways to Use Popped Quinoa

These are some of our favorite ways to eat popped quinoa:

On top of salads for added crunch. It would be fantastic sprinkled on kale salad with balsamic vinaigrette.
To make chocolate quinoa crunch bars. You could also add a layer of almond butter to make chocolate quinoa nut bars!
Add it to your favorite energy bar recipe for added crunch and protein.
Sprinkled into maple vanilla granola or your favorite kind for an extra kick of protein.
Alone as a snack, or add some spices like chili powder to it.
Boil the quinoa afterward and use it as normal cooked quinoa. The toasting adds a delicious nutty, toasty flavor and would work great as a Buddha bowl or taco base.
Grind into flour to be used as a gluten-free flour alternative.

Picture of chocolate quinoa crunch bar using popped quinoa. Background shows 3 more chocolate quinoa bars on a pink plate on top of a plaid colorful cloth along with a bowl of popped quinoa.

Storage

Store popped quinoa in an air-tight container in a cool, dry place. I've kept mine on the kitchen counter for about a week, and it maintains its crunch.

Glass bowl filled with golden colored popped quinoa seeds on red, orange, and blue cloth napkin in background.

FAQ

Is popped quinoa the same as puffed quinoa?

Not exactly. Store-bought puffed quinoa has more of an airy texture, like rice krispies. Quinoa is mechanically puffed, which cannot be replicated at home.

Why won't my quinoa puff?

The skillet may not be hot enough, or the quinoa wasn’t laying flat in one layer in the pan. However, remember that your quinoa isn’t going to puff as you would see in quinoa puffs at the store. It will make a crackling or popping noise and become toasty, but it isn’t going to puff like popcorn would.

Do you need to rinse the quinoa?

Some quinoa is pre-rinsed and listed on the packaging. In that case, no, you wouldn’t need to clean it.

Otherwise, rinse and clean the quinoa before using it to ensure its saponins are rinsed away. The quinoa seed is encased in saponin, a soapy coating with a bitter taste that acts as a natural pesticide for birds and pests. Some people are more sensitive than others to saponins, especially those with digestive issues.

How do you rinse quinoa?

Rinse quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or nut milk bag. The saponins will foam up, which is how you know they are being washed away. Drain off excess water, but don’t let the quinoa completely dry out.

Do you need oil to pop quinoa?

Not at all! Popped quinoa works better when it has no oil in the pan. The oil would slow the popping and make it less crispy if added afterward.

More How-To Recipes

Did you make this recipe?
Please leave a rating and tell us how you liked it!

📖 Recipe