How To Make Quinoa Flour {A Simple Guide}

There are plenty of alternatives to traditional flour made from wheat. But, what is quinoa flour? Quinoa is already a less popular grain than things such as wheat and oats, so why go out of your way to make flour from quinoa? Well, quinoa is quite a healthy grain and makes for great flour, if prepared correctly!

How To Make Quinoa Flour At Home

how to make quinoa flour at home

You can find quinoa flour at health food stores. Unfortunately, it is usually more expensive than buying bulk quinoa, which is already one of the more expensive grains on the shelf. So, How do you make flour with quinoa?

Luckily, the process is simple. Can I make it at home? Of course! All you need is a couple of tools to help you in the process and you’ll be making high-quality quinoa in no time!

Soak Or Rinse Quinoa

While soaking or rinsing quinoa isn’t necessary to create quinoa flour, it will reduce antinutrient content and improve the flavor.

Antinutrients, like phytic acid, are commonly found in grains, even though quinoa is lower in them than most other grains. It also contains saponins that can make the quinoa taste bitter or soapy.

The best option is to soak your quinoa overnight in water to reduce antinutrient content and then rinse it to remove the majority of the saponins.

Alternatively, you can rinse your quinoa under water to remove saponins if you are pressed for time. Antinutrients won’t affect the flavor of the quinoa flour like the saponins would, so rinsing is imperative to tasty flour.

Toasting

Once you have rinsed your quinoa, you can toast it to enhance the flavor and reduce the saponin content even more. A lot of people aren’t fans of the flavor of quinoa but it’s usually because they don’t take care of the saponins before consuming the quinoa.

Spread your quinoa onto a cookie sheet or two and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes to reduce the saponin content and enhance it with a nutty flavor.

Milling To Flour

While soaking, rinsing, and toasting aren’t necessary, they are required for the best tasting flour. If you want to, you can simply mill your raw quinoa. Just be warned, you might not like the flavor.

To mill your quinoa, you need to have a home grain-milling machine, coffee grinder, or high powered blender.

Depending on what equipment you use, the process will be a little different.

If you are using something like a blender, simply pulse on and off until your quinoa has reached a similar texture as regular all-purpose product.

Using & Storing

Once you have milled your flour, you can sieve it into a container to ensure you have no lumps or large seeds leftover. Then, you are ready to use it right away.

If you aren’t using it immediately, store it in the refrigerator. It will last in there for up to 6 months. If you need it to last longer, put it in the freezer for up to a year.

Since the process isn’t very hard or time-consuming, you may be better off just making small batches and using them well before they have a chance to expire.

How To Use Quinoa Flour

Using a quinoa flour substitute for all-purpose flour works for the majority of recipes. There are plenty of recipes that call for quinoa flour specifically as well.

The one thing that won’t work great is yeast-based recipes since yeast and gluten work to create the bread rise. Quinoa is gluten-free, so the recipes won’t turn out the same as they would with wheat flour.

Other than that, there are tons of options, including quinoa flour ___:

  • Flatbread
  • Flour bread
  • Flour pancakes
  • Flour chapati

Recall that the quinoa flour taste is nutty and much more distinct than wheat flour. This will change the flavor of your food, so finding recipes that compliment the flavor of quinoa flour will be a fun experience in the kitchen.

In short, what is quinoa flour good for? All recipes that don’t require the yeast-gluten reaction to create high-rising bread!

FAQs

FAQs quinoa

Can You Use It Instead Of All-Purpose Flour?

You can use it to replace all-purpose flour in any recipe that doesn’t require yeast to create a high rising bread. Yeast-based recipes won’t work well with quinoa flour because it doesn’t contain gluten.

How Do You Make It Taste Better?

Soaking, rinsing, and toasting will improve the flavor profile of quinoa flour, as discussed earlier in this article.

What Do You Use It For?

All baked goods except yeast-based bread work well with it.

Is It Healthy?

Quinoa is typically seen as more healthy than other grains. It doesn’t contain gluten, which causes digestive distress in sensitive individuals. Grains are typically much higher in antinutrients, while quinoa is lower. Quinoa also offers more vitamins, minerals, and protein than other grains. All of these factors contribute to a healthier flour. You can see the nutritional content of quinoa here.

How Do You Toast It?

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until golden.

Is It Good For Weight Loss?

It is around the same calorie-load as wheat flour, so it isn’t any better for weight loss. It is higher in protein, which may improve your satiety and lead to a lower appetite.

How Long Is It Good For?

6 months in the refrigerator or 1 year in the freezer. The quicker you use it, the better it will taste.

Is It Keto-Friendly?

No, it is lower in carbohydrates than wheat flour but it is still too high for ketogenic diets.

Ready To Try It?

Now you know how to make quinoa flour at home using simple equipment you probably already have. Also, you know how to use it to replace all-purpose flour in your favorite recipes. It is a healthy addition to any homestead pantry, so try it out! Maybe you’ll even want to start growing quinoa on the homestead as well!

And if you’re looking for more things you can make from quinoa, check out this article about quinoa milk.

2 thoughts on “How To Make Quinoa Flour {A Simple Guide}”

  1. Since I am a vegan, quinoa is one of the main staples in my diet. It is super healthy and especially contains a lot of plant-based protein.

    Reply
  2. Thank you for your guide to make quinoa flour!! I absolutely love quinoa, which is actually a seed along with its cousin seeds, millet and amaranth which are also my favorites!!

    Reply

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