Jumpstart your day with this Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bowl! With fresh fruit, toasted nuts, and warm spices, it's refreshing, healthy, and satisfying.
If you saw what I eat for breakfast every day, you would be so bored. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my daily eggs & avocado, but lately I’ve been trying to switch things up just because I think change is good every once in a while. Especially if that change means another excuse to smother things in peaches.
This quinoa breakfast bowl is inspired by the beautiful bowls of oatmeal that I see all over the internet. You know the ones – they’re chock full of colorful fruit and other various superfoods. They’re so pretty that they make me wish I liked oatmeal… so finally I had the idea to make a sweet non-oat quinoa bowl for breakfast.
How to Make a Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
To make the base of this recipe, I cook quinoa in almond milk with a few cinnamon sticks. It’s this simple: Almond Breeze + quinoa + whole cinnamon sticks. You could also get creative with your spices. Nutmeg, cardamom, and/or vanilla bean would all be welcome here.
Quinoa Breakfast Bowl Variations
To your spiced quinoa, add whatever seasonal or dried fruits you like. Obviously, peaches are my thing right now; the raspberries are for Jack because they’re his favorite. For crunch, I topped these with toasted almonds and coconut flakes.
I’m going to give you two options for serving these bowls: my preference and Jack’s preference.
- My way – I’m not a fan of mushy food, so I serve my quinoa breakfast bowl pilaf-style. This way, you cook the quinoa as you would for most other recipes, without too much liquid. It stays fluffy, and you can enjoy it warm off the stove or at room temperature if you make it in advance.
- Jack’s way – Jack likes to eat a porridge-style quinoa breakfast bowl. This way, it’s best served hot with plenty of almond milk to soak into the quinoa.
Sweeten the deal by drizzling a little maple syrup on top.
If you love this quinoa breakfast bowl…
Try Overnight Oats, Many Ways, chia pudding, a smoothie bowl, or these quinoa breakfast cookies next! Or, head to this post for 60+ healthy breakfast ideas!
Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
Ingredients
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 to 2 cinnamon sticks
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Sea salt
- More spices, such as ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or ginger, to taste
Toppings
- Toasted sliced almonds
- Toasted coconut flakes
- Fresh peaches, sliced
- Raspberries
- Almond milk, optional
- Maple syrup, optional
Instructions
- Rinse the quinoa and place it in a small saucepan. Add the almond milk, cinnamon sticks, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a high simmer, cover, and reduce the heat. Gently simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and let the quinoa sit for 5 more minutes, or until the almond milk is absorbed and the quinoa is cooked. Taste and add additional spices to your liking.
- Scoop the quinoa into two bowls and top with toasted almonds, toasted coconut, peaches, and raspberries. Enjoy as a fluffy pilaf, or as more a porridge with warm almond milk poured on top. Serve with maple syrup, if desired.
Notes
- Sub in whatever seasonal fruit you like, dried fruits are also delicious here.
My stove was a little too powerful for this recipe– the quinoa was cooked in 10 minutes or so on the lowest setting. Don’t have cinnamon sticks so I just dusted it with cinnamon powder after it was done. Used 1tsp brown sugar and it tastes great. Not getting a lot of vanilla flavor so I’d use more next time.
What I did was use your recipe: 1c Oat milk, 1/2c quinoa, 1 split pod of vanilla bean but put it in my cooked rice cooker on the “quinoa” setting. Once finished, I stirred in 1t brown sugar and 45g thawed frozen blueberries.
It was perfect! I might play with coconut sugar or using only water instead of milk since it go very absorbed and wasn’t creamy at all so why add the extra fat.
Not a huge oatmeal fan but this is a breakfast I can get behind! I ate half of it for an early lunch and super satisfied!
I’m intolerant to sorbitol so peaches are out of the question. I used Tara’s suggestion to use 1 tsp of brown sugar, and in my case, 45g of thawed frozen blueberries and raspberries to get the desired sweetness. Cooked it in a saucepan as the recipe suggests, though.
I used 1 full serving of sliced almonds and 2/3 serving of coconut flakes (so half of each per person), toasted them both, and used a little maple syrup at the end with no additional spices. Came out delicious! I may adjust the spices a tad, but overall this recipe was easy to make so a winner for me and my wife loved it.
Total calories came out to around 350, FYI.
I am trying to get more protein in my diet,, and really enjoyed this — and I didn’t have any fresh fruit on hand. I can only imagine this with ripe peaches!
I made it “Jack’s way” used a bit of brown sugar to sweeten it up a bit and put sliced dates on top along with toasted almonds and coconut flakes. Yum!
Do you have any tips about when to use syrup vs various sugars (white, light brown, dark brown, raw) vs honey to sweeten hot dishes? This could probably be a whole section in your next cookbook! 😊
Has anyone cooked this in a rice cooker?
Sticks to the bottom bit so
Does rice
Hi! I tried making this but I failed 😣 the fresh cow milk I used curdled within 10 minutes of keeping the saucepan on medium-low heat and the quinoa was barely cooked… 🙁 what did I do wrong? Any tips to avoid the curdling of milk while making this? I used fresh cow milk so I don’t get how it ended up curdling.
Hi! Looking forward to trying this. Can you use other dairy substitutes? I typically have oat milk on hand. Thanks!
Hi Cari, yep, you can use oat milk.
Hi! I made this it was good. Don’t think I did it right.. to make it “your way” I follow then list of ingredients listed and for jack’s way you would add more milk.
Hi so made this! I enjoyed it 😊 I have a question.. to do it “your way” do I follow the list of ingredients has is or would that make it jack’s way…. Hope that makes sense.
Can I use soy milk instead of Almond Milk?
DONT COVER THIS , I did the recipe exactly as instructed and covered it. And as soon as I covered it , I went to do something and heard the pot making noises and came back to a mess. It boiled over…
Hi Danny, it sounds like you could turn your heat down a bit if it boiled over.
Or don’t leave like the recipe suggests when bubbling
I know when I don’t follow directions and things don’t go as I want, what makes me feel better is to 1⭐️ review
Never LEAVE the Kitchen Unattended!! lol 🙂
I’m in love with this quinoa after making it the pilaf style! I can zap it in the microwave for longer if I want to make porridge later. I really enjoyed the taste even though I only have ground cinnamon, no sugar added and yet so tasty! I can’t wait to use it for other combos ❤️♥️
This was great! My picky little eaters asked for me to make it again. I had to make some substitutions because it’s grocery day but it’s so good. Thank you!
I had to use red quinoa, half coconut milk+ low-fat milk, and one star anise. Then topped with a little real maple syrup, blueberries and plain Greek yogurt.
Thank you soo much