Confession time. I’ve got a big sweet tooth. With my integrative nutrition health training, I also know the dangers of sugar. That doesn’t mean you need to give up muffins for breakfast! Try these quinoa muffins sweetened naturally with strawberries and dates.
With a busy baby at home who is quickly learning to crawl, time is limited at home. This makes the philosophy of cook once – eat many times important at our house. For dinner I made quinoa with garlic and onions. The next morning I was digging around in the fridge wondering what to make for breakfast and decided to get a little creative.
What if I used the leftover quinoa to make muffins?
All of the recipes that I had found online to make quinoa muffins used quinoa flour. Instead I wanted to use cooked quinoa.
So, I grabbed my muffin pan, a few eggs, and some naturally sweet foods like strawberries and dates.
Before I scooped the mixture into the muffin pans, I added paper muffin wrappers. Remove the paper wrapper as soon as they are out of the oven to prevent sticking or skip the paper, grease the pan with coconut oil, and add cook right in the pan.
If you’re someone that likes a little bit of a crunch, then sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top before you bake. Along with the crunch, you’ll get a few extra added health benefits by adding the pumpkin seeds. Including:
- magnesium for your heart health
- plant-based omega-3 fats
- zinc for immune support
Quinoa has a way of absorbing the flavors that you cook it with. The sweet taste of strawberries was a perfect combination of the garlic, and the dates made it seem more like a ‘traditional’ muffin.
This recipe made 12 muffins. I kept out enough muffins for breakfast during the week, then froze the rest for an on-the-go option especially while I’m traveling.
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 2 cloves garlic, sautéed
- ½ cup onion, sautéed
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup strawberries, chopped
- 3 dates, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cook quinoa as directed (or used leftovers). Chop and dice onion and garlic. Then sauté on stove over medium heat. Mix quinoa, onions, and garlic in medium bowl.
- Diced strawberries and dates into small pieces. Whisk 3 eggs and mix with quinoa blend, strawberries, and dates.
- Spoon into muffin pan. Use silicone muffin wrapper or grease pan with coconut oil.
- Bake 25 minutes until tops turn light brown.
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