8 Tips For Making Fluffy Quinoa, According To A Personal Chef

Quinoa is a master of disguise. It's made its way into the mainstream food scene as a whole grain, when it's actually a seed. Its nutty flavor is easily adaptable for a wide range of recipes from savory quinoa veggie burgers to loaded chocolate chip cookies. There are dozens of varieties of quinoa, but only three are widely available — red, white, and black. White quinoa is the variety you're likely to find in your local grocery store.

Part of quinoa's rise in popularity is due to its nutritional value. One cup contains 8 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. It's also an excellent source of minerals like manganese, magnesium, and folate. In culinary school, we studied grains like quinoa for weeks, learning the basics of how to prepare them to preserve their health benefits and make the most of their diverse flavors. During my time as a personal chef, this made it easy to incorporate quinoa into the weekly menus of my clients who were looking for healthy, nutrient-dense foods.

Quinoa is often compared to or suggested as a healthier alternative to rice. They're even cooked similarly. However, when it comes to texture, quinoa and rice have a few differences. Rice cooks up light and fluffy but, when done properly, quinoa should surpass rice on the fluffiness scale. It's easy to cook, but also easy to botch if you don't know the steps to take to achieve fluffy quinoa perfection. These tips will help you get it right every time.

Usually, when you consider the size and shape of a pan it's likely for a recipe that will be baked. You can't bake a cake or a lasagna bolognese properly if your pan is too large or too small. The same holds true for quinoa, even though it's cooked on your stovetop, not baked. In order for it to cook correctly, you have to choose a pan that's the right fit.

Quinoa is cooked by absorbing a liquid, usually water, that's brought to a boil and then simmered. It must be fully covered by the liquid added to the pan. The right size pan will ensure the quinoa absorbs the liquid at the right pace. For best results, choose a pan that's deep with high sides, like a pot you'd make soup in, instead of a shallow pan with a larger circumference, like a sauté pan. A deeper pan will make it easy for the water to cover the quinoa. Using a wider, shallower pan creates more surface area, meaning you'll need more water to fully submerge the quinoa.

One step that's key to cooking quinoa successfully should be completed even before the quinoa hits the stove — rinsing. Even if the packaging claims the quinoa has been pre-rinsed, take an extra few minutes to rinse it anyway. There's one big reason why you should always rinse quinoa before cooking it. Each tiny quinoa seed is coated in a natural substance called saponin. It has a harsh, bitter taste that serves as a built-in pest control as it protects the quinoa from being eaten by insects and birds. It's also bitter for humans. Rinsing quinoa removes the saponin and, as a bonus, it less saponin means fluffier cooked quinoa.

To rinse quinoa, pour it into a fine mesh sieve or colander. Place the strainer in your sink and run cold water over it. Move the strainer under the running water in a circular motion so the water hits all of the quinoa. I like to use my fingers to move the seeds around in the sieve, lifting those at the bottom to the top to make sure each piece is rinsed. It only takes a few seconds of rinsing to get rid of the saponin.

Ratios are an important part of cooking. When you understand how ingredients work together during the cooking process, it's easy to prepare many dishes without relying on a specific recipe. Learning the ratio of one ingredient in relation to another makes it simple to whisk up a salad dressing, figure out how much water you need when cooking rice, determine the fruit-to-liquid ratio for your smoothies, or know how much water you should use to cook fluffy quinoa. If you spend a few minutes perusing quinoa recipes on the internet you'll likely read instructions to use a 1:2 ratio of quinoa to liquid (advice you'll also find on most quinoa packaging) meaning you should use twice as much liquid as quinoa for the best results.

The problem with this ratio is that it often leads to quinoa becoming thick and clumpy when it's cooked. When there's more water than the quinoa can absorb the resulting texture is dense, and gummy instead of light and fluffy. To cook quinoa that's light and airy, ignore the instructions on the package and embrace the golden ratio instead. Use 1¾ cups of liquid per 1 cup of quinoa. One-quarter cup of liquid might not seem like much, but it will make a noticeable difference in the texture of your quinoa.

Bring a liquid to a boil then reduce the heat until it simmers. Whether you're cooking grains, reducing a sauce, or making soup from scratch, you've undoubtedly followed these common steps. You'll also need to master this process to cook quinoa. Once the water and quinoa are in your pot, your first step will be to bring your cooking liquid to a boil. This is done for a couple of reasons.

First, the ideal goal for cooking quinoa is the simmer, but bringing the liquid to a boil first ensures it reaches a temperature hot enough to fully cook your food. You'll also save yourself some time by hitting a boil first then lowering the heat until your liquid simmers, because it's actually faster than starting with a simmer. Once the liquid reaches a boil, lower the temperature immediately. If it boils too long you run the risk of too much of the water evaporating away before the quinoa can absorb it. The distinction between boiling and simmering should be visible as you cook. Boiling will produce large, rolling bubbles that move robustly across the surface, while simmering gives tiny bubbles that may or may not reach the surface.

My years as a cooking instructor have taught me that the most difficult task for some cooks to master in the kitchen is leaving the food alone to cook. A lot of cooking is spent waiting, but for many cooks, something happens when food hits a pan that makes them need to help it along by stirring constantly or using a wooden spoon or spatula to move it around the sauté pan. While some recipes call for this level of constant tending, many do better when left on their own, and not doing so can actually prevent them from cooking properly. Quinoa definitely falls into this category.

Quinoa cooks from the direct heat of the boiling water and from the steam that builds up in the pot once it's covered. You should leave the lid tightly in place for the same reason that you should leave your slow cooker closed while cooking. It allows the steam to escape, and also allows the water in the pot to evaporate, leaving you with less water to cook your quinoa.

Once your cooking liquid comes to a boil it turns to steam. When the steam hits the pan's lid, it turns back into water and drips back into the quinoa. Leaving the lid in place helps build heat faster in the pan and keeps all the water and steam trapped inside to cook your quinoa faster and fully.

It's not only important to leave the lid in place while your quinoa is simmering — it's equally important that the lid stays tightly in place even after your take your quinoa off the heat. Once you've reached the end of your cooking time, your job of ensuring yourself a pan full of fluffy quinoa is not yet done.

For the fluffiest quinoa, you need to leave it covered for an additional five minutes, at least, after you take the pan off the heat. You always allow a cake to cool once you remove it from the oven, and let meat rest after cooking it and before you slice it. Fluffy quinoa needs a similar period of rest.

Don't be tempted to skip this seemingly insignificant step because a leaving quinoa to steam for a few minutes is one of the secrets to a good finished texture. Even after you've allowed the quinoa to simmer, there could still be some water left unabsorbed in the pot. Leaving the lid in place gives it additional time to steam and for the quinoa to absorb any leftover water.

You might not think of grains as a raw food, but technically they are so it's important that your quinoa is fully cooked before you eat it. Like everything grown in fields, quinoa has the potential to be exposed to harmful bacteria like E. coli and salmonella. These bacteria can be eliminated by cooking the grains. Undercooked quinoa can also cause digestive issues, because the saponin that's naturally present on each grain of quinoa can upset your stomach.

Quinoa gives you two very clear signs that it's been fully cooked. Uncooked quinoa is hard. Partially or undercooked quinoa will soften some, but will still have a much tougher consistency than cooked, making it difficult to chew. If your quinoa is crunchy, odds are you haven't cooked it long enough. Add a splash of water to the pan, get it back on the heat for a couple of minutes, then cover it and let it steam for 15 to 20 minutes. You can also tell quinoa is done by looking closely at it. When it's fully-cooked, you'll see the germ separating from the seed. It will look like a thin, white thread curled around the seed.

The final step in making sure your quinoa turns out light and fluffy is an easy one. After your quinoa has been rinsed, simmered, and steamed you might be initially disappointed when you remove the lid and have a look. Immediately after cooking it will likely look dense and thick compacted in the bottom of the pan, but don't worry. Grab a fork and you'll be enjoying a bowlful of fluffy quinoa in a matter of seconds.

Dragging a fork gently through the cooked quinoa will separate the grains, breaking up clumps and allowing the quinoa to fluff up. Be sure to stick with a fork for this step. The tines of the fork allow you to separate the quinoa and incorporate air into them so they loosen and fluff. Spoons won't be able to separate the quinoa as well and may mash the grains instead of separating them.