Gluten-free and vegan Quinoa Crunch made with uncooked quinoa, raw sliced almonds, sesame seeds, and sweetened with maple syrup. Ready in less than 30 minutes, this quinoa breakfast topping is a great alternative to granola.
Hey there! Today, I am just popping in with a super quick recipe. This quinoa crunch is my current favorite snack. It is a recipe similar to granola, but much quicker to make. It embodies everything I love in a snack; it is crunchy, healthy, and easy to make. Plus, it is made with wholesome ingredients like sesame seeds, quinoa, and raw almonds. It also is a recipe that I used in a coconut quinoa porridge recipe that I will be posting tomorrow.
ABOUT THIS QUINOA CRUNCH RECIPE:
This recipe is probably one of the easiest recipes on this blog.
To make it, simply mix all the ingredients, spread them on a baking sheet, and bake in 375 F. degree oven for 10-12 minutes. And voila!!
You made a delicious snack you can use to top off your morning cereals, porridges, ice cream or to enjoy just by itself.
One thing I recommend here is to make sure to dry the uncooked quinoa after rinsing and draining it. Because doing so, helps with preventing sogginess of the end product.
You can also substitute almonds with walnuts or any other nuts you have on hand. I know during the wintertime I will be making a winter-y version of this recipe with walnuts and ground cinnamon.
As you probably guessed it, variations you can create using this recipe as a base are endless. Just give it a try and you’ll see what I am talking about.
HOW TO USE THIS QUINOA CRUNCH TOPPING:
I use this quinoa topping to top off my yogurt, overnight apple muesli, overnight steel cut oats, pressure cooker steel cut oats, and quinoa porridge (as shown in the image below).
Quinoa Crunch {Vegan + GF}
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa, uncooked, rinsed, and drained well
- 1/2 cup sliced raw almonds
- 3 tablespoons raw sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, coconut, canola, or safflower would work
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- While the oven is heating, spread the quinoa onto a clean dry kitchen towel (or paper towels) to dry it as much as possible.
- Place the quinoa, almonds, sesame seeds, maple syrup, salt, and vegetable oil in a bowl. Stir to make sure that all ingredients are homogenously distributed.
- Spread the mixture evenly on the baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until fragrant.
- Let it cool on the counter.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe is adapted from Megan Gordon’s cookbook Whole-Grain Mornings.
I used black quinoa, pecans, and honey because that’s what I had in my pantry and it turned out delicious. The black quinoa made it very crunchy, Thank you for the recipe!
This is wonderful to hear Stacie. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hi Chelsea, it looks delicious! How crunchy is it? As crunchy as an unpopped corn kernel? I would like to fix this for a family breakfast. But one of my aunts cannot eat all crunchy snacks – tender teeth. She can eat Kind and Kashi bars. Thank you.
Hi Vic,
No, they are not as crunchy as an unpopped corn kernel. Much less, I would say. If your aunt can eat kind bars, she should be fine with this quinoa crunch.
I hope this helps.
Hey there!
Just wondering, do you cook (e.g boil) the quinoa before baking in the oven?
Hi Chelsea.
No, you do not need to cook quinoa. As long as you wash it and try it with paper towels or on a clean kitchen towel, you are fine.
It is the easiest and quickest snack.
I hope you’ll like it.
Cheers!
I honestly wish I could eat quinoa… alas, my metabolic system is just not cool with grains. Beautiful work, as always, and I truly love how quickly it comes about (also, all of your granola recipes look so impressive!).
Aww thank you Ksenia. I really appreciate your kind words. 🙂
I am sorry to hear that you can’t eat quinoa. Can you eat other grains like brown or wild rice?
I was wondering if you use uncooked quinoa in your crunchy quinoa recipe? My husband just returned from a paddling trip in the Arctic and one of the things he enjoyed was quinoa porridge. I’m going to try your recipe, and then I came upon the crunchy quinoa, can’t wait to eat this combo, thank you!
HI Dorothy,
I am so glad to hear that you found this recipe. I hope you and your husband like the quinoa porridge recipe.
Yes, this recipe uses raw quinoa. I made sure to clarify that in the recipe.
Sorry for the confusion. I hope this helps.