Quinoa Pizza Bites Recipe

I must preface this recipe with the fact that up until this point, I did not think I liked quinoa. The main reason for my dislike of this seed was that I had a poorly prepared dish with it last year and thought that no matter what, the little gluten-free gems could never taste good. Welp folks, I was wrong. This easy quinoa recipe can be used as an alternative to gluten-free pizza dough and will rock your taste-bud’s world.

Quinoa Pizza Bites

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese
• 2 tsp garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1/2  tsp seasoning salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
• 1 cup pepperoni slices (1 per Quinoa bite)
• Pizza sauce for dipping

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set water to boil and cook quinoa as instructed on package.

While quinoa is cooking, get other ingredients measured and ready to mix together.

Once quinoa is cooked, place in medium mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients (except pepperoni and dipping sauce) and mix.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven. I found that 15 minutes was perfect.

Transfer quinoa pizza bites to a serving plate with a side of pizza sauce for dipping. Enjoy!

You can’t tell me that these suckers don’t look amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed filling my pizza craving with something that had much less guilt than a gluten-free crust would consist of. The only part about the entire process that took extra effort or time was the cooking of the quinoa, which was simply boiling water and setting a timer. Making the little bite-size pizza mounds was not too difficult either; just act like you’re putting cookie dough on a cookie sheet.

I hope you try this simple quinoa recipe, but I’m sure that you will if you already love quinoa. If you haven’t realized how good quinoa can be, I hope you spread your gluten-free wings and try it out now. Let’s be honest, what better way to try out a new food than to make pizza with it?

Do you find quinoa difficult to cook with? What’s your favorite quinoa recipe?

Author Information: Laura Hanley

Laura Hanley, known as G-Free Laura, has been gluten-free since 2009. She reviews gluten-free products, restaurants, posts simple recipes, and writes about gluten-free experiences onwww.gfreelaura.com. Laura also blogs for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness and Rudi’s Gluten-Free Bakery. You can follow Laura’s young, wild, and [gluten] free updates by finding her on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Google+.