Great finger food for toddlers! Protein Packed Quinoa And Broccoli Nuggets is an easy and healthy recipe full of health benefits!
My son loves his veggie nuggets and it is a fantastic way to get him to eat more vegetables. Please also see my Broccoli Cauliflower Nuggets recipe. I decided to make the recipe with quinoa this time. Quinoa is a superfood and the nuggets are now high in protein and nutrients. It is also a great meal for vegetarians if you use vegetable broth. The nuggets came out great!
“While no single food can supply all the essential life sustaining nutrients, quinoa comes as close as any other in the plant or animal kingdom.” I love Organic Quinoa. 
Quinoa is also a complete protein which means that it contains all 8 essential amino acids, an extremely rare quality in the plant world! Quinoa Nutrients: Vitamins B5, B6, E, Folic Acid, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Fiber, Protein, Lysine It is a great alternative to eating rice which has very little nutritional value!
Protein Packed Quinoa And Broccoli Nuggets
(About 15-20 nuggets)
Ingredients:
1 Egg
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup cooked Organic Quinoa
1/4 cup bread crumbs or almond flour
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Salt to taste
Instructions:
Steam or boil broccoli, drain and chop. If you are feeding the nuggets to small kids or like my son who has some trouble with certain vegetables, mash the broccoli with a fork or masher first. The NUK Mash & Serve Bowl
works great!
In a bowl mix it with the rest of the ingredients and place them in a baking sheet or mold pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 375.
I usually cook quinoa in vegetable or chicken broth. I use Pacific Foods Chicken Broth
because it is made with organic free range chickens and has a great rich flavor.
1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of broth. Bring broth to a boil and add the quinoa. Turn to medium heat and cook for about 13-17 minutes uncovered until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, cover and let it stand for about 5 minutes.
You can make a big batch of quinoa broccoli nuggets, making double the recipe and freeze some delicious nuggets for later too! This recipe is perfect for making 15 nuggets in this Freshware Silicone Mold.
I love silicone molds because it is easy and safe to bake and the nuggets don’t stick. Just make sure the nuggets are cold before you take them out of the molds.
If you are using a regular baking sheet, place the nuggets on top of Parchment Paper
and spray some cooking oil to prevent sticking. I use Trader Joe’s Coconut Oil Non Stick Cooking Spray
. You can also use a Stainless Scoop
to make the round shapes.
If you are interested in more quinoa recipes, please see Molded Quinoa With Ground Beef Filing and Chicken Quinoa Chaufa recipes.
Amanda says
Oh my goodness!! I am soooo glad I stumbled across this website tonight. I have an almost one year old who went from loving broccoli to quite the opposite so I can’t wait to try this! Thanks! 🙂
Creative And Healthy Fun Food says
Hi Amanda, I am glad you found my blog 🙂 Let me tell you the nuggets are a hit! My son loves them! Our favorite ones are: http://creativeandhealthyfunfood.com/broccoli-cauliflower-nuggets/ but we like to change them a bit sometimes and this is why I add quinoa or other veggies. My son is 4 and recently his preschool had the greatest idea of growing a vegetable garden. His class is in charge of broccoli and now that he is involved in the process, he asks me for broccoli all the time. Not only nuggets now, but he wants to eat it even raw. The vegetable garden is such a fantastic idea to get kids interested in healthy foods!
Sally says
Hi, any substitute for the bread crumbs ?
Thanks:-)
Creative And Healthy Fun Food says
Hi Sally, is the problem wheat? There are gluten free bread crumb versions available at most supermarkets now. Also a friend of mine told me it also works with coconut flour. So you could use flour or bread crumbs of any kind. This recipe uses just a little bit anyway because the quinoa will give them a nice shape and texture.