Quinoa is a healthy grain with a high protein content. It serves as a delicious side dish and can be used in place of couscous. This dish, which can be served as a side dish or as a light supper, is crispy, lemony, and healthful.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 25 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- sea salt to taste
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- ¼ red onion, chopped
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Toast the pine nuts briefly in a dry skillet over medium heat. This will take about 5 minutes, and stir constantly as they will burn easily. Set aside to cool.
- In a saucepan, combine the quinoa, water and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook until quinoa is tender and water has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. Cool slightly, then fluff with a fork.
- Transfer the quinoa to a serving bowl and stir in the pine nuts, lemon juice, celery, onion, cayenne pepper, cumin and parsley. Adjust salt and pepper if needed before serving.
Reviews
Made according to recipe. Unfortunately, all I could taste was cayenne, onion and parsley. Not good at all
I used sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds. I didnt have pine nuts. And I use paprika instead of Cayenne. It turned great! I like it because It reminds me of Arabic food. I would dare to eat it with yoghurt and flat bread.
So bright, simple and delicious! I’m making it again right now. Who knew humble quinoa could taste so good? I didn’t have parsley nor celery, but it still tasted wonderful. I served diver scallops over a bed of Lemony Quinoa, yum!
Nice! I would use almonds instead of pine nuts next time. this could be a main dish with chicken pieces or shrimp pieces added. I will do a half recipe next time. We don’t do leftovers much.
Really tasty and light
Mmmmmm, yummy! Simple recipe but very delicious. Made this for company and everyone agreed – 5 stars!
Pretty good but I think the texture would be improved by making the quinoa in advance and letting it sit for a bit to throughly absorb the liquids. I did use stock and added the spices to the cooking liquid to flavor the grain.
Absolutely love this recipe! I have made it a few times and still love it! I follow the recipe to a T! I may add some cranberries next time to mix it up a bit. Great recipe, Thank you!
I added some green onion and cilantro, and I think that added to the flavor, but it was a little too lemony. I would recommend half the suggested lemon juice, and to replace some of the water with the lemon juice. Otherwise, it was very good!
Delicious and super easy to make! Nutty, lemony, a little spicy- SO GOOD.
This recipe goes great with any fish dish. I have successfully substituted walnuts or pecans for the overly expensive pine nuts. Since my beau doesn’t like parsley, I substitute cilantro. Delish! I also add some quartered grape tomatoes. This is a go to dish for pot lucks. Everyone always enjoys it. It is good hot or cold.
Thought this was delicious! I didn’t have chicken broth on hand so I added the raw onion and celery to the water as I boiled the quinoa. Turned out delicious. I followed everything else exactly, except no salt. I do not add salt to anything usually and it did not need it. Will definitely make again.
I LOVE to make this recipe! It’s healthy, refreshing, and a great side dish to baked chicken. I’ll leave out the pine nuts and red onion if I don’t have them. I also add in blanched asparagus when it’s in season!
I WILL make this again! Loved the lemony flavour and then the zippy cayenne after bite!! Instead of pine nuts used pumpkin seeds, was tasty and added a little extra green colour.
It was definitely very lemony but it paired really well with salmon that I marinated in dijon mustard, lemon, paprika, etc. I served it with broccoli and skipped the celery and onion since I wasn’t sure about those with salmon. Thanks for the recipe!
This recipe would be better without the red onion. The onion overpowered the entire dish until that was all you could taste. I will make this again but omit the red onion.
A very tasty and fresh tasting side dish. I made as directed with the addition of an apple, lemon zest and dried cranberries, soaked in the lemon juice and zest. I also mixed white and red quinoa. I did not have pine nuts, so I used walnuts. This was delicious and I will use again and again. Thank you for sharing.
Cut recipe in 1/2. Sauteed celery, onion, garlic and ch. almonds before adding to quinoa. Cooked quinoa w/chicken stock and added the cumin to the broth.
I will be making this again! Easy, tasty and fast. It looked really pretty using red quinoa. No pine nuts available here so we just skipped that part, didn’t miss them, would have liked them. Kids and husband both enjoyed!!
i fried the onions in oil and some of the spices and added the remaining spices to the quinoa whilst it was cooking. tasted great
this was a nice base recipe.. i didn’t have any pine nuts so i left them out.. used half water/half chicken broth (bouillon) as others suggested but could have gone all broth.. i used bottled lemon.. one green onion and some onion powder to make up for the quarter red onion.. used only a half bunch of parsley (worried it would overpower everything).. i added the cumin and cayenne to the quinoa as it cooked like Azurel did.. i think the quinoa could have cooked a little longer as mine was not as dry as i’d like it to be.. i sprinkled in some lemon pepper, red wine vinegar, and beer salt (it’s got citric acid in it and i was looking for sour).. i realized at the end that it was missing garlic! bf said it could have used a bit of montreal steak seasoning.. i think he was also looking for the garlic.. he also said this would be great with some shrimp or chicken stirred in.. either way.. this is what i was hoping for.. something reminiscent of tabbouleh.. ~~UPDATE: having leftovers this morning.. i added some more chopped fresh parsley and some lime juice.. it was exactly what i was looking for yesterday! this is a great dish and i look forward to making this again.. ty for the recipe