by 
This Sweet and Sour Quinoa involves cooking quinoa in pineapple juice, vinegar, ginger, garlic, tomato paste and soy sauce. The quinoa soaks up all the delicious flavours and truly tastes amazing! Try adding an egg and forming balls for baby-led weaning or lunchboxes.
Reasons to Love Sweet and Sour Quinoa
- TASTE: The tangy and sweet flavour masks the bitterness of quinoa, that many children (and adults) dislike.
- ADAPTABLE: Serve as a side, along with fish or chicken, or turn into a main meal by adding a protein source (chicken, prawns, tofu all work great) and some extra vegetables. Alternatively, add an egg and form into balls, perfect for lunch boxes or as a finger food / snack.
- ALLERGY FRIENDLY: Dairy free, egg free (unless forming balls), nut free and can easily be made gluten free by skipping the soy sauce or replacing with coconut aminos.
- FREEZER FRIENDLY: Freezes well, especially the balls, making it a quick and easy lunch box item.
Ingredients Information (with Alternative Suggestions)
- QUINOA - White quinoa has the most delicate taste and cooks up fluffier than other varieties of quinoa. For this reason, white quinoa is a popular choice for babies and also in dishes like this. That being said, tri colour quinoa also works great.
- PINEAPPLE & PINEAPPLE JUICE - This provides the sweetness to the sauce. Use the juice from the can of pineapple.
- SOY SAUCE - Adds saltiness to balance the sauce. If making for a young toddler you may wish to skip it to reduce sodium levels. If a family member has a soy/wheat intolerance/allergy then you can replace with coconut aminos.
- WHITE WINE VINEGAR - Adds the sour flavour to the sauce. You can use your preferred vinegar.
- EGG- Only needed if making quinoa balls, used for binding.
Process Shots and Cooking Tips
This quinoa is made in one pot and takes around 25 minutes to make. Much of that time is for simmering, requiring little "hands-on" work.
- SAUTE: Start by sauteeing the onion, garlic and ginger. This helps to release the natural sweetness of the onion and provides a great flavour base.
- COOK: Add all the remaining ingredients (apart from pineapple pieces) and bring to a boil. Once at a rolling boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for around 15 mins (until the liquid has absorbed).
- REST: Fluff with a fork, replace the lid and allow the quinoa to sit for 5 mins.
- ADD PINEAPPLE: Add the pineapple and stir through. Serve.
Making Quinoa Balls
If you are doing baby-led weaning, or looking for a lunchbox item, then quinoa balls are a great option and are easy to make.
- ADD EGG: Add a beaten egg and stir to combine.
- FORM BALLS: Form into tablespoon sized balls.
- BAKE: Bake for approx 25 min, until golden.
Storage Instructions
- REFRIGERATE: Allow to cool, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to two days.
- FREEZE: Allow to cool, transfer to an airtight container / heavy-duty freezer bag and freeze for up to two months.
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Sweet and Sour Quinoa
A flavoursome, kid friendly meal with the option to turn into balls for baby-led weaning or for lunchboxes.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Serves:2
Hover over "serves" value to reveal recipe scaler
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- 1 Red Onion ,finely chopped
- 2 Garlic Cloves ,minced
- 1 teaspoon Minced Ginger
- 2 tablespoon White Wine Vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 125ml (½ cup) Pineapple Juice
- 125ml (½cup) Water
- 100g (½cup ) Quinoa
- 100g (approx. 2 rings) Pineapple ,finely chopped
Quinoa Balls
- 1 Egg
Instructions
- Heat oil in pan over medium / high heat. Reduce heat and gently fry the onion until softened (approx. 5 mins). Add the garlic and ginger and fry for a further min.
- Add the vinegar, soy sauce, tomato paste, pineapple juice, water and quinoa and then stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and allow to simmer for 15 mins, until the liquid has been absorbed.
- Turn the heat off, fluff with a fork, replace lid and leave the quinoa to sit for a further 5 mins.
- Stir in the chopped pineapple and serve
Quinoa Balls
- Make quinoa as above
- Pre heat oven to 180c/ 355f and line a baking tray with parchment paper / silicon mat.
- Allow the quinoa to cool and then stir in the beaten egg.
- Form tablespoon sized balls and place on prepared baking tray. (makes around 15 balls)
- Cook in the oven for 20 mins, until golden and cooked through.
Video
Recipe Notes
COOKING TIME: Allow a further 30 mins if making balls.
COOKING FOR BABIES: If making for a baby then you can leave out the soy sauce to reduce the sodium level or replace with coconut aminos. Make sure to chop the pineapple finely to avoid choking.
Nutritional information is a ROUGH guide only, calculated using an online nutrition calculator.
Nutritional facts
Calories: 378kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 82mg | Sodium: 609mg | Potassium: 650mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 281IU | Vitamin C: 37mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 4mg
*This recipe was first published in May 2016. It has been updated to include a video, process shots and new photos. The recipe remains the same but has been split to allow an option to make as a dish or as balls.
Magda
What a great recipe! My 18 months old loved them, he already had four of them!
My mixture was a little bit more wet than yours, do I added some oatmeal and it turn out fantastic.
Amy
Thanks, Magda! I'm delighted your little one enjoyed them! Good tip with the oatmeal 🙂
Angie
Mine came out sopping wet, more like soup. I tried adding flour (without adding a ton), it didn’t make much of a difference. Now I’ve plopped the batter in a mini muffin tin and waiting to see what this will come out like. I just want those gorgeous yummy looking quinoa balls for my family. What have I done wrong?
Amy
Hi Angie, sorry this recipe didn't work for you.
Have you watched the video? What stage was your mixture wetter than mine was in the video?
My thoughts -
Perhaps it wasn't cooked long enough (as different stove tops may take longer) - was the mixture wet after cooking the quinoa?
You may have larger eggs than I had?
Did you chill the mixture?
Hopefully, they have come together in the muffin tray so it hasn't been a complete waste.
A
I made these quinoa balls for my 8 month old. They were surprisingly good, and baby liked them as well, but they were very crumbly and fell apart too easily, leaving me with a huge mess to clean up. I was hoping these would allow my baby to eat quinoa with less clean-up than usual, but that was definitely not the case. It seems like they're missing an additional ingredient to better bind the quinoa together.
Amy
Hi, Sorry you didn't have much luck with the texture of the balls. I found these were great for limiting less mess when serving quinoa. I never had an issue with them crumbling. Did you watch the video - did the mixture look the same when forming into balls? I wonder if your mixture was too wet? Did you chill and add a beaten egg before forming into balls? Did they form into balls easily? I can't think what else could have gone wrong.
A
I made them again, and yes, the mixture was wetter than the one in the video, once I've added the pineapple and egg. I did try chilling it this time, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I ended up adding some millet flakes to the mix to firm it up a bit, and it did help, although it was still very crumbly inside!
Anna
Hi Amy, found your blog yesterday and have already made the Banana Blueberry Waffles, Carrot & Apple Muffins and these Sweet & sour Quinoa Balls.
The muffins were nice, I used wholemeal flour and they tasted a little 'floury', also for my family I would prefer them a tiny little bit sweeter. Would you suggest an extra banana? I don't mind adding a tablespoon of honey so might try that.
The Waffles were good (had no blueberries), the banana taste was a little lost but the consistency was good, might chop up little bits of banana and add them at the end to enhance the taste.
Made the Quinoa balls tonight and whilst the flavour was good they were wet in the middle and fell apart despite cooking them for 30 mins. The mixture was pretty wet when I made the balls too, maybe I need a bit more quinoa to mop up the juice? What do you think?
Nada
Hello 🙂 great recipe . With what can we replace the pineapple please? Can't find it in here
Amy
Hi Nada, I'm not sure how it will work without the pineapple. It adds a lot of sweetness to the dish and I used both the juice and fruit. You could perhaps try mango but without trying it I can't say how it would work.
Josie
Hi, could you substitute the quinoa with anything else, e.g. couscous?
Amy
Hi Josie, you probably could but the cooking times would vary greatly. I would have to test it out using different grains before I could say for sure, sorry.
Esther spencer
Hi. Do these freeze well please?
Amy
Hi Esther, yes they freeze well. I freeze them and pop them in my son's lunch box ??