Quinoa fritters are a great thing to make during the week because they’re easy, generally quick, and reheat really well.
Quinoa is such a great staple for vegetarians. One serving (a 1/4 cup) has 15% of your daily iron, 6g of protein and a good amount of fibre. It’s also very affordable and low-cal if that’s a concern. Just to clear up any confusion, “Royal” quinoa is a mix of red and white quinoa. If you just have one or the other, you can use that as well because the texture won’t change much—I just like it for aesthetics.
Although I just ate the fritters on with a dip, I think they could be really good crumbled into pastas or used as a sandwich filling. They’re really filling and pack lots of flavour, but they’re versatile in the sense that they would taste good in a ton of different dishes with all kinds of sauces. I adapted a recipe from here.
And as for my visit to the The Delicious Food Show! It’s taking place all weekend at the Better Living Centre with hundreds of exhibitors and a handful of great guest speakers. I was lucky enough to be there on the day where Martha Stewart was speaking, which on its own was a cool experience because she’s basically built her own empire of food and home companies. I was sad that Nadia G. (from Bitchin’ Kitchen) wasn’t going to be there when I was, but I was soon distracted by non-stop food sampling.
One of my favourite food trucks was one called ME.N.U. which served creative fried rice balls stuffed with all different kinds of fillings, and topped with yummy sauces. I could have eaten an embarrassing amount of those. Another exhibitor which really stood out was Hot Bunzz, which gourmet buns filled and topped with innovative foods. Mine had beets, quinoa and walnut pesto, just to list off a few.
There’s also a blog called Cucina Moderna which has some interesting videos on cooking tips, recipes and product comparisons. If you’re interested, give it a look.
Ingredients
Makes 12 fritters
For fritters:
- 1 cup royal quinoa, uncooked
- 3/4 tsp. sea salt
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, finely granted
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1 small onion, finely minced
- Black pepper to taste
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus some for dusting
- Vegetable oil for frying
For Creamy Dill Dip:
- 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
- 1 tsp. fresh dill (or dried, whatever you have in your kitchen)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
Method
To make fritters: Rinse quinoa in cold water, then place in a pot with 2 cups of water. Add salt, bring to a boil, then lower down to a simmer, uncovered, for 12-15 minutes until the water has absorbed/dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
In a large bowl, mix together cooked quinoa, parmesan cheese, eggs, onion, pepper and flour. Lightly dust your hands with flour so the dough doesn’t stick to your hands, then roll about 3 tablespoons of the mixture into a ball and set it on a dry surface. Repeat with remaining mixture.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Flatten the balls slightly before placing them into the pan, then fry for 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy. Drain excess oil by placing them on a paper towel, then serve with your favourite dip.
For reheating: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place patties on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes, turning over once. Test the middle to make sure the fritter has heated up all the way through.
To make dip: Mix the yogurt, dill and garlic together in a small bowl. Allow to sit for 20 minutes for flavours to develop, although it’s not necessary. Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container.
the vegetarian ginger 
I love your recipe and pictures look great! I am surely going to try this soon.
I hope you do! I’m 100% making them again. Thanks for reading!
I have used this recipe a good 5 times now, tweaked it by adding a couple cloveds of minced garlic and a dash of cayenne pepper, so effin tasty
They look delicious… and healthy too..
Generally healthy except for the frying part but if you drain the excess oil off they shouldn’t be too bad!
These look delicious! I love quinoa. It is such a healthy and diverse food to cook with
I agree, it’s definitely replaced rice as a side dish for most of my meals as well
These look beautiful! I can’t wait to try these and add them into my quinoa recipe rotation. The red and white “royal” mix produces such a pleasing look!
I’m a big fan of the royal as well, just gives a nice colour contrast 🙂
Wow!! I’m dying to try these but is there anything I can replace the cheese with??
I’ve heard of a lot of people using ground nuts (like cashews). You could use a mortar & pestol or a food processor. I think it would work texture-wise as long as it was pretty fine
Love these pictures. 🙂
Thank you!
I tried this recipe and it was great! I had to make a few changes – being lactose intolerant. Instead of parmesan I used a goats cheese about the consistency of cheddar, but I used one cup. I also added a clove of garlic. (being Italian). For the dip I used soy yogurt and added chopped mint and mashed mango. It is now a new family favorite. Thank you!
Being new to the GF and Vegetarian lifestyle, am looking forward to using more Quinoa. Is there an alternative, though, for the egg to hold these together? I’m intolerant to egg yolks in addition to MANY other items of late. Any guidance is GREATLY appreciated! THANKS!!
I have heard that 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, 1 1/2 tablespoons water, and 1 teaspoon baking powder can work as a binder in recipes (I’ve seen that ratio around the web a few times) but I haven’t actually tried it myself so I can’t promise great results. They also sell egg substitute in stores but again I’m not too familiar with vegan products. Either way, good luck with starting off a gf & veg diet and I guarentee it will become easier along the way!
Chia is also great egg sub./binder. Would be interesting to see if it worked for this recipe.
Could you not substitute egg whites for whole eggs?
Tofu
I have a bag of quinoa flakes,is it possible to use these in the recipe,thank you….
I feel like the texture wouldn’t quite be the same, but in all fairness I have never cooked with quinoa flakes so I can’t tell you 100%. For your first try, I wouldn’t risk it!
They were delicious. I made them for lunch and ate far too many. The dip was lovely too. 🙂
I plan to cook these – they ‘look’ so good. I will use Coconut Oil to fry plus will use Coconut or Almond Flour instead of all=purpose – so may not look the same – but should be delish plus they will soooooo good for me.
Thank you for this recipe. I’m always looking for different ways to use Quinoa.
Tried this the other night. I ate 20 before I could stop myself. Awesome!
I always love hearing that! I’m glad you enjoyed them so much, I know the addictive qualities of fritters.
Wondering how we can determine the nutritional facts for fats/carbs etc
There are several websites that you can use as a base calculator (and the app MyFitnessPal is not bad either) but at this time I don’t include them in my posts because I do not have the means.
Instead of the regular flour I used chickpea flour (any indian grocery carries it, called besan) It made these fritters super crispy and gluten free. Delicious recipe – we have them for breakfast and use them as a side for dinner – yummy
Great idea!
This sounds delicious however my diet is sugar and flour free. is there anything I could use as a substitute for flour? mashed potatoes or more Parmesan cheese maybe?
Hi Alice, I would maybe recommend using oats or a course cornmeal. I think mashed potatoes is an interesting idea but it may be too soft?
I’d love to hear about how this turns out for you!
Do you think it would work to bake these rather than frying them? Perhaps I could stick them under the broiler at the end to get them nice and crispy?
I think you could, but they would probably fall apart a bit easier. Worth a try!
Thank you! Maybe I’ll try some of each. Looks like a great recipe!
These look amazing – I think they’d be great cold for school lunches too – perfect for dipping – going to try that!
Thanks!
Found this on a website listing vegetarian foods with high protein and I must say I am sold. I am trying to eat less meat on account of the health benefits of reducing the amount of meat in the diet, and I have decided to make these today! Such a simple and delicious recipe, thank you for sharing 🙂
Thanks so much for writing! I hope they turned out – this is a staple recipe for me now that I use all the time. Best of luck with your new dietary adventures 🙂