meyer lemon quinoa

Name: meyer lemon quinoa
Prep time: 12 min
Cook time: 23 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 cups
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon coconut oil; 1 small shallot, minced; 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme; 2 ½ cups water; 1 ¼ cup quinoa, rinsed and drained; 3/4 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon Meyer lemon zest; 1 tablespoon Meyer lemon juice; 2 teaspoons honey; ¼ cup slivered or sliced almonds, toasted

Jump To Recipe January 20, 2015 by Katie // 17 Comments »

Easy Meyer lemon quinoa with coconut oil, shallot and thyme, with a touch of honey. An quick recipe to get on the stove (only 12 minutes of active time) and it goes so well with so many weeknight meals. Gluten-free and dairy-free.

What Inspired This Lemon Quinoa Recipe

When I was putting together this menu plan last week, I realized that I need to share more simple winter sides with you. And I also realized that I need way more quinoa in my life here on the blog. We do eat it a lot, but usually I just prepare it so simply that I don’t feel like it is worth mentioning here.

I’m trying to make up for that omission with this lemon quinoa recipe. I hope you’ll agree that simple quinoa is a-okay. Not just because it is so good for you and it makes bellies happy, but also because it is so dang simple! I love quinoa for easy weeknight meals because it is ready a lot faster than brown rice.

I decided to add Meyer lemon to this quinoa recipe today because I was at Healthy Living and they caught my eye, and of course I couldn’t resist. I spent about an hour shopping because I was starving and disorganized and kept seeing people I knew. By the end I spent way too long and way too much money in the process. This always happens to me when I go to the store hungry.

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BACK TO BASICS

Don’t shop hungry whenever possible. You’ll end up skipping impulse snacks and junk food, make better choices, and save money.
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I need to follow this advice, clearly! I ended up buying all sorts of crackers and things that we really didn’t need. Thankfully, the Meyer lemon ended up being the thing that inspired this lemon quinoa recipe though. There are certain flavors that go really well with lemons, thyme and honey being two of them, coconut being another. Meyer lemons in particular go well with these ingredients because they are so floral, so I buddied them all up to give this Meyer lemon recipe a big boost of flavor.

Cooks Tips on How to Make Quinoa

If quinoa is on your list of ingredients to try, it really is no big thing. You’ll see it’s just as easy as cooking white rice. Quinoa is a seed and it has a natural coating on it called saponin, which protects it from pests, but it tastes yucky to us too (kind of soapy) so you just need to rinse it off before its cooked. To do that, just put the uncooked quinoa into a fine mesh sieve and rinse under cool running water until the bubbles rinse away. Sometimes you can buy pre-rinsed quinoa, and that is really convenient.

Because stoves and cooking equipment vary, you’ll need to check in on the Meyer lemon quinoa at the end of cooking time so that you get nice fluffy results. If there is too much water remaining, you’ll have wet quinoa. To check to see if the water is absorbed without stirring, insert a spoon into the quinoa and pull it aside to see down to the pot. If there is still liquid below the surface, it needs to be cooked a little longer.

Finally, if you can’t find Meyer lemon, try this easy quinoa recipe with regular lemon.

How to Store Quinoa Leftovers

This Meyer lemon quinoa recipe makes 4 cups, so there’s a good chance you’ll have leftovers. Lucky for us, quinoa stores remarkably well and can easily be reused in future recipes. To store leftover quinoa, let it first cool to room temperature before transferring it to a sealed container (a mason jar or Tupperware container works). Cooked quinoa will keep for a few days and can be sprinkled on top of salads, eaten alongside fish and other meats, or enjoyed on its own straight from the fridge.

More Easy Quinoa Recipes:

Cheesy Mexican Quinoa-Stuffed Acorn Squash

Vegetarian Pilaf with Pumpkin and Quinoa

Blueberry Quinoa Tabbouleh

One-Pot Vegan Quinoa and Arugula Salad

Turkey Picadillo Chili with Quinoa