Leftover Quinoa Ideas: What To Do With Leftover Quinoa

Stuff it into a tomato or bell pepper

Got leftover quinoa? For a simple meal for one or two, stuff whatever leftover quinoa you've got into a bell pepper or a tomato, add a shake of garlic salt or whatever seasoning you like, perhaps some breadcrumbs or cheese if you're not eating vegan or gluten-free, and pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Presto! You've got yourself a whole new meal. Like making stuffed tomatoes or bell peppers? Here are 8 ways to make stuffed tomatoes. 

Make muffins!

Savory or sweet, muffins are a great way to use up leftover quinoa. Here's how:

• Savory quinoa, spinach, ​and cheese muffins 
• Marian's quinoa corn muffins (pictured)

Quinoa fried rice

Just like regular fried rice, quinoa fried rice works best with a dry quinoa which is not only pre-cooked, but completely dry from being leftover, so it absorbs all the seasonings better. Round out your quinoa fried rice to make it into a full meal by adding some fried tofu or a few scrambled eggs, if you're not vegan. Here are a few ways to make a vegetable quinoa fried rice with your leftover quinoa:

• Simple vegan quinoa fried rice recipe
• Vegetarian quinoa fried rice with bok choy and mushrooms (pictured)

Make quinoa cookies!

I'm not going to lie: Making quinoa cookies is my ultimate favorite way to use up leftover quinoa, and honestly, in my house, sometimes it's the only way I use up leftover quinoa! I love having healthy snacks on hand, and quinoa cookies are the perfect nourishing treat to grab and go, whether for breakfast or anytime. Here are a few healthy cookie recipes which call for pre-cooked or leftover quinoa:

• Chocolate quinoa breakfast cookies (pictured)

Quinoa patties or veggie burgers

Bored of quinoa salads? Use your leftover quinoa to create veggie burgers! You won't even know there's quinoa in there.

• Sweet potato veggie burgers with cooked quinoa (pictured)
• Black bean and quinoa burgers
• Quinoa patties with cheese
• Roasted vegetable and quinoa patty veggie burgers

Quinoa stuffing

Ok, so this recipe doesn't exactly hide the quinoa so if you're bored of quinoa, it won't do, but it's such a creative and unusual way to use up quinoa, that I had to include it. The savory stuffing flavors are very different than the usual quinoa salads, and, if you top it all off with gravy and add some mashed potatoes, you've got nearly a full meal.

• Savory quinoa stuffing recipe

Save it for breakfast

If you're already someone who enjoys having quinoa for breakfast, then you've already thought of this, but just in case you haven't already tried it, quinoa does indeed make an excellent hot breakfast cereal, and your leftovers will do just fine. Here are a few ways to prepare a quinoa breakfast bowl to use up what you have on hand:

• Quinoa breakfast bowl with brown sugar and strawberries
• Maple and cinnamon quinoa breakfast cereal
• Chocolate banana breakfast quinoa (pictured)
• Chocolate peanut butter breakfast quinoa

Wrap it up

Keep some tortilla or wraps on hand (they freeze well and don't take up much space since they're flat), and pile on just about any kind of leftover quinoa you've got with a few veggies and a bit of salad dressing, mayonnaise or other sandwich fixings for an excellent wrap! Use your leftover quinoa with beans for a high protein burrito, add scrambled eggs or scrambled tofu for a breakfast burrito.