How to Rinse Quinoa
on Apr 27, 2018, Updated Jul 28, 2020
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If you’ve ever wondered how to rinse quinoa, you’ll love our Easy Rinse Method for Quinoa! Along with showing you how to make apples last longer, this is one of our most popular kitchen hacks and tips.
We have a few quinoa recipes here on Platter Talk. Quniona is the ancient power food that is making a resurgence in the 21 century.
I try to use more of it in our menu planning and one of my favorites quinoa recipes is Costco’s Quinoa Salad. (That’s on my list of must-make copycat recipes!)
How to Rinse Quinoa
As you may or may not know, quinoa needs to be rinsed with cold water before cooking it. This simple process will help get rid of the bitter-tasting compound (saponin) that coats the tiny seeds; if you don’t do it, it’s going to taste wrong and you’ll never want to use this ancient power food again in your diet. We don’t want that!
Because the quinoa seeds are so tiny, you don’t want them to disappear down your kitchen sink drain when you rinse them. Here’s where things get fun: Use a fine-mesh strainer or a coffee filter for an easy way to rinse quinoa!
Be sure and check out our top tips to make you a better cook. You may also be interested in how to grease a cake pan and what plates are safe to use in an air fryer. Who knows what you may learn to make your life in the kitchen just a little easier and less complicated?
Updated from the original publication date of November 8, 2013
I have been eating red quinoa for a week now with lots of veggies and an egg for breakfast with a liitle hot sauce and I feel so good with lots of energy!!!
Go Gurl!!! Haven’t tried it yet, soon…
Every morning i have about a cup of quinoa,1 banana and the formola i must drink at least 4a day (medical reasons), i blend that with my smoothie maker and drink,i forgot i also add a handful of bluberries☺
I rinse the quinoa in filtered cold water in a pot, swishing it around with a spoon. Then I strain off the water using a large fine mesh strainer. I repeat until the water looks clear. Then I cook the quinoa in vegetable stock, in the same spot.
This is absolutely brilliant! I had to give up caffeine a few years ago, but kept my coffee maker and all the filters. So happy it can all be used as a quinoa strainer! Worked great!
That’s a great tip. I’m fed up of losing most of my quinoa down the sink. Unfortunately I don’t use a coffee machine like you’ve mentioned but a rummage through my kitchen drawers and hey presto! I have a jelly bag which will do the job just fine.
I forgot to rinse bulk quinoa for a bread recipe but toasted and ground it to a fine flour . The 4 ounces of quinoa was added to the recipe along with 5 ounces of potato 5 ounces of sorghum and 5 of gabanzo flours .When baked I didnt detect a bitter taste.
Baking may alter the compound that causes the bitterness in quinoa; I’m not sure. Also, the other ingredients in your bread may have countered any bitter flavor that would have been there and finally, some quinoa is pre-rinsed.
Thank You
I loved to cook quinoa and never rinse it. And i never ever taste the bitterness.
I didn’t have a fine mesh strainer so I googled to see what I could use and this was the first thing that came up! I wouldn’t have thought of this on my own so thank you!!
So happy you found found this too, Beth. Please don’t be a stranger to Platter Talk!
Such a great idea!! Thanks for sharing, I will definitely be trying this one out!
Great tip about using the coffee strainer. I will try this out
Oh fantastic! Love this…and thanks for the coffee filter/strainer idea..totally doing this!
Wow, thanks for such a great advice! I love quinoa!