With a few ingredients and a straight forward cooking method, this creamy quinoa pudding is a delicious toddler breakfast you can enjoy, too.
Quinoa Pudding
This method of turning quinoa into a creamy pudding—similar to rice pudding—is a great option for kids. Quinoa can have a strong flavor, which can make it a challenging food to feed to kids. Because when you slowly simmer the whole grains in milk with a little cinnamon and vanilla, the end result is sweet, creamy, and it works well for breakfast (it’s a great baby breakfast), snack, or dessert.
We like this with a little fruit and you can serve it either warm or cold.
We love this with fruit (fresh or frozen fruit stirred in) for additional flavor. I sometimes even stir in a little applesauce or fruit puree.
Nutrition in Quinoa
Quinoa is actually a type of seed that’s one of the few vegetarian proteins that are complete—which is great for growing bodies. It’s also rich in nutrients, is naturally gluten-free and high in fiber and protein.
TIP: Quinoa is more expensive than some other grains since it’s usually harvested by hand (which is good to know so we understand the cost!).
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Ingredients You Need
To make this recipe you need to have the following ingredients on hand and ready to go.
- Quinoa: Look for quinoa near other grains such as rice in your supermarket.
- Milk: You can use cow’s milk, canned coconut milk, or a favorite nondairy milk in this recipe.
- Maple syrup (or honey): As desired to sweetened. Avoid honey for babies under age 1.
- Vanilla extract and cinnamon: This adds nice flavor to the pudding, similar to how they works in oatmeal.
- Fruit (like berries), optional to top.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Here’s a preview of how to make this recipe so you know what to expect from the process. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Rinse your quinoa. (This helps to remove some of the naturally bitter flavor.)
- Add to a sauce pan with milk.
- Simmer, adding the rest of the ingredients except the fruit.
- It’s done when the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa is soft.
TIP: You can serve this warm like oatmeal or chilled like rice pudding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Let this cool fully, then transfer to airtight containers. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
If you use nondairy unsweetened milk and skip the added sweetener, this can be a great baby food option. Other than that, it works for any age!
You may see different colors of quinoa available at the store and any should work in this recipe. I used regular quinoa in the photos and for testing.
How to Store
Store, once cooled, in airtight containers in the fridge for 3-5 days. Serve chilled from the fridge or heat briefly to warm.
Best Tips for Success
- Rinse the quinoa to remove the saponins, or the compounds that can make quinoa taste bitter. I use a fine-mesh sieve.
- Simmer on medium-low and stir regularly to avoid scorching the bottom of your pot.
- Use any type of unsweetened milk—cow’s, coconut, or nondairy.
- To serve this to a baby, use unsweetened nondairy milk and omit the added sweetener.
- Serve chilled like rice pudding or warm like oatmeal.
- Add diced fruit as desired.
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I’d love to hear your feedback if you try this recipe, so please comment below to share.
Easy Quinoa Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 4 cups milk (cow's milk, canned coconut milk, or unsweetened nondairy milk)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- berries or diced fruit optional
Instructions
- Place the quinoa into a fine-mesh colander and rinse under cold water for about 15 seconds. Drain and add to a medium pot.
- Add the milk and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring every few minutes to avoid scorching the bottom of the pot, or until the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa is soft.
- Stir in the maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.
- Serve warm or chill to serve later, topped with fruit if desired.
Notes
- Store, once cooled, in airtight containers in the fridge for 3-5 days.
- Rinse the quinoa to remove the saponins, or the compounds that can make quinoa taste bitter.
- Simmer on medium-low and stir regularly to avoid scorching the bottom of your pot.
- If a skin forms on the milk during cooking, simply remove it with a spoon and discard it.
- Use any type of unsweetened milk—cow’s, coconut, or nondairy.
- To serve this to a baby, use unsweetened nondairy milk and omit the added sweetener.
- Serve chilled like rice pudding or warm like oatmeal.
- Add diced fruit as desired.
Nutrition
This post was first published April 2020.
Hello! Could you use half coconut milk and half whole milk?
Sure!
This is so good. Made it for breakfast and used half coconut milk half regular milk and I cannot stop eating it. My toddler refuses to try it, but the rest of us love it. If you’re looking for a good oatmeal alternative, this is great!
Love this recipe. I’ve made it several times . Today I was running low on quinoa so used a mix of quinoa and oats. Turned out great!. I use half the amount of milk (unsweetened vanilla almond milk) and sub unsweetened apple sauce for the maple syrup so both my 10 month and 2 year old can enjoy it. Also added chia seeds to thicken it up.
Because my 2 year old is in a “eat with her hands” phase these days, I cooked it and then baked it for 10 mins in a mini muffin tray (borrowed the idea from your baked oatmeal cups which we love also).
Really great recipe. I love rice pudding and was out one day
And decided to try quinoa. I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk and it really gives it a nice flavor.
I think this has twice the milk it needs. I cooked this and 45 minutes later the quinoa had still not absorbed all the milk. I plan on making it again with half the milk instead.
Hi Amy! Can this be frozen in batches and thawed to serve?? Thanks in advance! 🙂
Hi-I haven’t tried that but I think it would work just fine!
Any ideas on making this in an instant pot?
am i missing something? i’ve made this before, but i just came back to this post to make it again, and the recipe is no longer on this post… i have all the ingredients, i just need amounts for everything.
I’m not sure what happened but it’s there now!
thanks! i just improvised yesterday and it still turned out great. my 2yo loves this!!
Hi! I have already cooked plain quinoa. It always makes sooo much more than I need. How would you change the recipe? Just simmer it with less milk and add the other ingredients?
I think I’d do 1 cup cooked quinoa (or however much you want to start with) and enough milk just to cover it, them simmer until it’s absorbed. That would likely give you the same consistency in the end. I think it would be about a 1:1 ratio.
Turned out great! Would love to know how your crockpot version turned out as well. Thanks!!
Just made this for my 15 month old and he loved it! I had some too 🙂 I mixed in frozen raspberries and blueberries once it was done. Thank you!!
Is the ratio really 4:1?? I’ waited and waited, but the quinoa never absorbed the milk. ?
That’s how I’ve done it—it usually looks like nothing is happening until the last 5-10 minutes. (I’ve found that when I used less liquid, it just tasted like regular quinoa in milk versus more of a pudding consistency but you could use less if you wanted to.)
Amy, I’m so thankful for your website! We recently found out our kids need a gluten free, dairy free lifestyle to feel their best. I so appreciate that you have accommodations for almost all your recipes so we can eat yummy foods and meet their nutritional needs. This recipe went over so well on a cold snowy morning. We pretended it was Goldilocks’ porridge and that made breakfast even more fun!
I’m so glad to hear that and that sounds like a fun morning!
Been simmering for 35 minutes and its still quite liquid…how much testing did you do with that ratio, do you think elevation/environmental humidity could be a problem?
I test all of my recipes about 3-4 times. It’s possible that the type of milk or the factors you mention could cause some variation (I’m not at an elevation so I can’t say whether that would be an issue). I hope it worked out in the end though!
This looks yummy! What are the containers you used to store? They are adorable!
They’re really awesome and a perfect size! They’re these from AEGI https://amzn.to/3dVI3P6
Could I make this in the slow cooker? I’m terrible when it comes to scortching my pots, ha!
Hi! Oh wow, that reminds me that I’d meant to try it that way! I am sure you could. I bet 7-8 hours on low would work well. I would for sure coat the bowl of the slow cooker with nonstick spray to prevent it from sticking (I am fairly sure that would happen if you don’t grease the slow cooker). I will try to test it that way this week too!