Quinoa Pizza Bites
When this recipe first showed up in my Pinterest feed, I knew I HAD to make it. In case you haven’t noticed, we here at Once A Month Mom LOVE quinoa. However, my kids won’t always eat it. They love pizza, though, and love things they can “dip” into sauce even more. I like to cook with quinoa because not only is it a great source of protein and dietary fiber, but it is a very versatile ingredient. When I cook the quinoa, I always substitute the water out for chicken broth or stock, whichever I have on hand, to give it a little extra flavor.
These little pizza bites are a great, healthy, after-school snack. My daughter eats lunch at 10:45 while she is at school, so by the time she gets home in the afternoon, she is famished. Having healthy snacks like these stocked in the freezer makes it easy to just pop a few in the microwave and not have to worry about eating such an unhealthy, sugar-filled snack. Not only do these make a great snack, but they would make a great lunch, too.
Quinoa Pizza Bites
Author/Source:
Heather @ Onceamonthmom.com, adapted from So Very Blessed
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 0.5 cups fresh basil, chopped
- 1 cup chopped turkey pepperoni slices
- 0.5 teaspoon seasoning salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried crushed oregano
- pizza sauce for dipping
Quinoa is a great source of protein and dietary fiber.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients (except pizza sauce) together in a medium bowl. Spray mini muffin tin with non-stick spray, fill each up with mixture, pressing down gently to compact. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool and serve with pizza sauce for dipping.
Freezing Directions:
Prepare as directed above. Allow bites to cool completely. Remove from muffin tin, place on cookie sheet and flash freeze. When frozen, place in freezer bag. Label and freeze. To serve: Thaw, heat in microwave for 30 seconds-1 minute. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.
Servings: 10 (4 mini muffins each)
**conversion chart image provided by Erik Spiekermann
This Post will be linked at:
- Friday Favorites at Simply Sweet Home’s
-
Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
-
Friday Potluck at EKat’s Kitchen
-
Grocery Cart Challenge at Grocery Cart Challenge
- I’m Lovin’ It at Tidy Mom
Would these be ruined w/ dried basil? We have an extreme drought , and I didn’t even get any fresh started.
Oh no, Diana, I think dried basil would be just fine. Just reduce it to 1 tsp.
What egg substitute, if any, might work? Flax with water? Thanks for the recipe; sounds yummy.
http://onceamonthmom.com/going-egg-free-how-to-substitute-eggs-in-recipes/
Is there a suitable substitution for the eggs? Maybe flax?
Here is a great post for you to reference – http://onceamonthmom.com/going-egg-free-how-to-substitute-eggs-in-recipes/
Where in the grocery store is quinoa usually located? And about how much does it cost? Thanks!
Usually with grains or “whole foods” section. You can also buy it through Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EDG3UE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onamomo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000EDG3UE
THX!
The two cheapest places I have found for Quinoa are the bulk foods section at a natural food store or co-op and Costco. Costco has a big bag of organic quinoa for the price of a small box at the local grocery chain.
Jenna, the quinoa in my grocery is in the pasta aisle. It also may be located by the rice and other grains. I bought a 12 oz package and I think it was around $3.50. Hope that helps!
Thank you
I always buy it in the bulk section either at Fred Meyer or Winco.
This gives ‘servings’ as 10 at 4 mini pizza bites each — so, I presume, 40 little pizzas. That seems a strange number — the instructions don’t say anything about multiple pans, and mini muffin pans come in 24′s. Is that a correct number? Do we need 2 mini muffin pans? (Or cook in two separate batches?)
Yes, it makes about 40.
Do these stay together well/do they fall apart when trying to get them out of the cupcake tin? I made something similar recently and lost about 1/3 of my food when trying to get them out of the tin.
Jessica, mine came out of the muffin tin easily. I let them cool completely and then used a knife to help them slide out.
I had mixed results. I don’t use cooking spray (it’s not ‘whole foods’ after all heh) so I put some olive oil in every cup and made sure it was spread around. I used 2 tins — one full 24-cup which is a non-stick steel sort of deal, and a smaller 12-cup for the extras that didn’t fit in the first. It’s got some kind of red lacquer on it. They were baked at the same time, on the same rack.
Anyway, the ones in the red tin slipped out beautifully and had a lovely golden brown crust on the sides and bottoms. The ones in the steel tin stuck quite a bit — some came up well enough but others fell apart — and were more ‘pasty’ on the bottoms. I was surprised at the difference just from the pan, in fact.
Any idea the nutritional/calorie stats on these?
Sherry we typically use this site http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php when calculating nutritional information.
Would these go to school with my daughter warm or cold?!
They can go either way – check out our 31 Back-to-School Freezer meals post for sending warm (Thermos) – http://onceamonthmom.com/31-back-to-school-freezer-meals/
Megan, I’d heat them up in the morning and place them in a thermos to keep them warm.
Ahhhhhh these are so good. I don’t know if my toddler or I love them more! This is such a great Bagel Bite substitution! Thanks!
Has anyone tried these without the cheese? My ds can’t have dairy and i’m windering if they would just fall apart without the cheese or if they’d be ok?
Megan, I think they’d be ok – the egg should be enough to bind them.
Do you think these would work without cheese? My son is dairy-free.
Yes they should be just fine, see the comment below.
I also added some grated zucchini to this. Love this recipe for school lunches and my kids don’t even realize it’s good for them :)
Hi
I am new to the site and loving it ;) Just an FYI/ warning to anyone who may want to try what I did :
I made the quinoa pizza bites but had to leave out eggs due to allergies. It was late and I didn’t have the flax seed alternative so I used the oil/water/baking powder as suggested as an option for binding agent. It was awful! All it did was make them super oily and the only parts that held were the melted cheese bits (I think)
I have broken them up again and soaked up the oil with paper towels overnight and I just added 4 eggs to make a sort of quiche thing and distribute the oil a bit. Will have to feed them to the non-allergics ;)I had to try and salvage – quinoa is expensive. Fingers crossed ;)
Maybe it’s just me but it’s still very oily. Lesson learned. Otherwise they do taste yummy. Just not an option for my allergic daughter.
[...] pizza bites (recipe found here - I omitted the pepperoni) [...]
[...] Quinoa Pizza Bites [...]
This only made 24 for me. I cooked 2 raw cups of quinoa and it made quite abit. I used only 2 cups of cooked quinoa, saved the rest for soup. Was this recipe to use 2 c of the quinoa after cooked or cook 2 c and use the result?
Melissa, you should use 2 cups of quinoa already cooked. Did you use the mini muffin tins? How full did you fill them?
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I halfed this recipe because i thought there would be too many and omg wish I hadn’t. They turned out perfectly! I used prosciutto instead of turkey and besides that followed it exactly. Taking them for an app for girls night tomorrow. Thanks for the great recipe!
That will teach you. ;) But we totally understand. Glad you liked them.