Wake up to a delicious Quinoa Breakfast Bowl. This nutritious base can be loaded with your favorite toppings for a delightful blend of flavor and texture, it’s the perfect start to your day!
Take a break from oatmeal with quinoa breakfast bake and quinoa granola for breakfast.
Table of Contents
I have tried to make sweet quinoa breakfast bowls before without much success. It is so nice to have something different rather than oatmeal, muffins or eggs for healthy breakfast. Especially, if this warm slow cooker quinoa breakfast bowl is waiting for you on the countertop in the morning!
The idea is to cook breakfast quinoa in a slow cooker and add toppings in a bowl. You could even meal prep and make ready-to-go containers for up to a few days ahead.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Make ahead breakfast: You can turn it on before you go to bed at 10pm and it won’t burn by 6am, I haven’t tested longer. If you have a programmable slow cooker, you can set that one up. Even better!
- It’s so good for you: I can comfortably say it’s one of those healthy breakfast ideas I’ll never get tired of. It’s rich in fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals, naturally gluten-free, and tastes good.
- Fills you up: This quinoa porridge was filling, just the way breakfast should be!
- Tastes good: The way I made breakfast quinoa this time was fantastic! I used canned coconut milk which adds a lot of flavor and creaminess.
Recipe Tip
Full disclosure is that my kids did not love breakfast quinoa. They eat many things but not quinoa for breakfast. Just heads up. I could eat it fresh every day!
Ingredients for Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
You’ll need just 5 simple ingredients, including water, to make this easy quinoa breakfast bowl recipe.
- Quinoa: Dry, uncooked quinoa of any color.
- Cold water: You’ll use less water for this crock pot method than you would when cooking most quinoa recipes on the stove. This is because there is no evaporation, and we add more liquid with coconut milk.
- Coconut milk: Adds a creamy, nutty taste. You have to use canned light coconut milk, not from a carton.
- Sweetener: I like the natural sweetness of maple syrup. Honey or any other liquid sweetener will also work.
- Salt: Just a pinch of salt to enhance the natural flavors of the other ingredients.
How to Make Breakfast Quinoa in Slow Cooker
Make slow cooker quinoa breakfast bowl in 4 easy steps and 10 minutes prep time. Get a good night sleep and enjoy a stress free morning!
There is a full recipe card located below.
- Rinse quinoa: Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh sieve under cold water, drain well.
- Combine ingredients: Add quinoa, water, coconut milk, maple syrup and salt to your slow cooker. Gently stir to mix and cover with lid.
- Cook: Cook for 6-8 hours on Low or 3-4 hours on High.
- Serve: Serve breakfast quinoa bowl hot with a splash of milk and toppings of your choosing.
Tips for Best Results
Preparing quinoa can be tricky, here are my top tips for a perfectly fluffy bowl of quinoa packed with flavor.
- Rinsing quinoa is a must: You gotta give quinoa a good rinse to remove saponins, the coating that makes quinoa bitter. Rinsing makes it taste better and helps fluff it up too.
- Don’t skip canned coconut milk: I have made it simply with almond milk and didn’t give quinoa a rinse. It wasn’t good.
- If you have only full fat coconut milk: Use half of 15 ounces can and 2 cups cold water.
- Use any size slow cooker: Either small slow cooker like I used or a regular size crock pot will work.
- Don’t cook longer than 8 hours: Maybe 9 hours is OK, otherwise I am afraid quinoa will burn.
- Double the recipe: You can double all ingredients but keep the same cook time.
Can I Cook It on the Stove?
Yes. Cook quinoa on the stove but instead of adding water, add all ingredients to a small saucepan and stir.
Bring to a boil, cover with lid, and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Add your toppings and enjoy!
Recipe Tip
You could also cook this breakfast quinoa bowl using this Instant Pot quinoa method. Just omit water entirely and pressure cook dried quinoa, coconut milk, maple syrup and salt as per recipe.
Sweet Toppings Ideas
If you like your breakfast sweet like me, you could add:
- Nuts: Walnuts, pecans, pistachios, almonds, cashews, or pumpkin seeds. Toasted nuts would add deeper flavor and crunch.
- Milk of choice: I love my breakfast bowls served hot with a splash of milk.
- Fresh fruit: Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries; sliced apples, bananas, peaches, or kiwi.
- Dried fruit: Raisins, cranberries, mango, dates, pineapple, shredded coconut or coconut flakes.
- Chocolate: Chocolate chips, chocolate shavings, cocoa powder, or Nutella.
- Granola like healthy granola or quinoa granola.
- Honey and maple syrup.
- Vanilla and cinnamon. I love adding apple with this combination.
- A spoonful of jam.
- Swap the extra splash of milk with something creamy like yogurt, peanut butter, or nut butter.
Savory Toppings Ideas
If you would like a more savory breakfast, I recommend adding:
- Vegetables: Sweet potato, roasted butternut squash, mushrooms, sautéed spinach or kale, zucchini.
- Protein: Eggs cooked any way, tofu, bacon, or ground sausage.
- Diced avocado.
- Tomato.
How to Store and Reheat
Store: Refrigerate cooked quinoa in an airtight container for up to 5 days, keeping any toppings stored separately.
Freeze: Cooked quinoa can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw on a counter for 2-3 hours or in the refrigerator overnight.
Reheat: Best way is in a microwave, for about 1 minute. You can also add quinoa to a small pot with a splash of milk and simmer on low heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir often and watch carefully not to burn.
FAQs
Nutty, soft and mushy like a porridge, with the sweet taste of coconut milk and maple syrup.
I don’t recommend to use regular milk because quinoa in slow cooker will burn, or almond milk because it will not taste good. Maybe, and just maybe, you can use oat milk. But I highly recommend to stick to coconut milk since it has fats that makes this quinoa porridge taste good.
Yes! The key is to rinse it to remove bitterness from saponins. Once you add healthy toppings like fresh fruit to your quinoa bowls, you have a delicious breakfast that will keep you full till lunch.
In a very fine mesh strainer like this one. If holes are any larger, tiny quinoa grains will fall through the openings.
More Quinoa Recipes to Try
- Quinoa granola bars
- Chicken quinoa bowl
- Instant Pot ground turkey quinoa bowls
- Quinoa egg muffins
- Chocolate quinoa muffins
Slow Cooker Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa, uncooked, rinsed and drained
- 1 1/2 cups cold water
- 14 ounces can coconut milk, light
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Splash of any milk, optional
- Nuts, berries, fruit, honey, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, for toppings, use any
Instructions
- Add rinsed quinoa, water, coconut milk, maple syrup and salt to a slow cooker. Give it a stir and cover with a lid.
- Cook on Low heat for 6-8 hours or on High for 3-4 hours.
- Serve hot with a splash of milk and toppings of choice.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I give this 5 stars because I love the idea of a slow cooker breakfast. However I agree with the kids about quinoa. Could this work with brown rice?
I am pretty sure it will work and if it gets a bit mushy even better or doesn’t matter!
I went to bed last night thinking that I wanted to eat a healthier breakfast in the morning. Quinoa was on my mind but I did not like the way I made it last time. I needed something new.
I woke up to your post in my email box this morning and tried it in the instant pot. Easy and delicious. I did not know that it needed to be rinsed to rid it of it’s bitter outside. Made all the difference and I loved it cooked in coconut milk. Thank you!
Haha great minds think alike! Yes I usually do not rinse quinoa for the Savory dishes but for the sweet ones it is almost a must! Glad you loved this quinoa breakfast bowl!
Can I double the recipe and cook it for 4 hours? Would that need to be on “high”?
It has not been tested like that but you can try! And yes, usually if it’s low for 8 hours, 4 hours works on high, but that could vary.
Hello! I was wondering if you can use regular whole milk or almond milk?
Probably almond but not regular milk as it will burn. Use about 2 cups.