Quinoa Cakes with Spinach and Goat Cheese
A little leftovers magic today – I made a bunch of quinoa earlier in the week, and while it is tasty stuff all on its own, I was craving a change. So combining some of the quinoa with goat cheese and spinach, and frying it all up into little patties was just what I was craving for my lunch!
These would be great as appetizers – I’m thinking that some kind of yogurt-y dip, maybe with some chili would make a nice accompaniment.
Quinoa Cakes with Spinach and Goat Cheese
makes about 20 small cakes
ingredients:
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cooked quinoa
4 ounces goat cheese
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper
olive oil for frying
how to:
1. Wash and chop the spinach, pat dry. Mince the garlic. Heat 1 tablespoon
of olive oil in a small skillet. Cook the garlic until lightly browned, about a minute, then add the spinach. Cover, and cook until wilted. Set aside and let cool.
2. In a small saucepan, mix the quinoa and the goat cheese over low heat (to help melt the cheese). Remove from heat when well combined.
3. Chop the cooked spinach finely, mix with the quinoa and goat cheese. Beat the egg and mix in until everything is combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Heat a layer of olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Form the quinoa into 2″ patties about 1/2 inch thick. Drop into the oil and cook until well browned on one side, 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side, then set on paper towels to drain.
Tags: appetizer recipe, gluten-free recipes, leftover recipes, snack recipes
These caught my attention right away. What a lovely combination of flavors! Wishing I had some lined up for my lunch today. Starving!
I love quinoa and would never have thought to use it in this way. The cakes sound so good.
Brilliant! Love the Quinoa! Lacking goat’s cheese, I substituted aged white cheddar. Also added some chili flakes for kick…delicious!
Just bought some quinoa this weekend, and now I know what I’m doing with it. Yum!!!
Wow these look good! This is what i’m using my leftover quinoa for tonight!
Yummy! This is what I will be using my leftover quinoa for!
I almost always have a bit of leftover quinoa when I make a pot of it for a recipe. This is a lovely way to use those leftovers, and would be a great side dish for roast chicken.
I’ve only used quinoa for salads and never thought of frying with it. I love all the ingredients so I look forward to making this real soon. Thanks for the recipe!
great idea. i’ll have to try this one..
awesome. I made way too much quinoa last night, and I’d been thinking about something like this. Thanks.
Thanks for this, I will try it with salmon sometime
I made quinoa for the first time last night in place of rice for some yellow curry chicken. My 18 month old Loved it plain! I made way to much and these look like the answer!
I love using up leftovers, and I hope you enjoy the recipe!
I had some leftover quinoa that I had cooked in a roasted red pepper/tomato soup (that organic boxed kind). With this recipe in mind I chopped up some spinach and beat up a couple eggs and made little burger/cakes. Yummy, high protein, healthy burgers or quinoa cake appetizer! Next time I’ll add garlic and some other spices to the mix. Thanks for this great recipe
[...] Oh, and if you have extra quinoa? Make them into patties. [...]
I really love goat cheese it is really delicous. Most of the time I eat it as a dessert or use it to make a salsa.
I made this today-taste was absolutely delicious…..but i had a problem with forming the patties. I had to drop the mixture into the frying pan-kinda like pancakes. It seemed my mixture was too runny. Any tips on what i did wrong?
Thanks-
Alex
Hmm – it does sound a bit runny. The patties should hold together in your hands so they can be set in the pan. Maybe next time try adding just half the beaten egg at first, to see how they hold together. Glad you liked them, though!
I liked the skeleton of the recipe. I used Chard rather than Spinach because I think Chard holds its structure better when cooking and adds better flavor. I added a little Panko to ensure the cakes stayed together while cooking and used feta rather than goat cheese. They turned out great! love the quinoa cakes!