Goat Cheese Stuffed Quinoa Nuggets

With the intention of hitting up the Union Square farmer’s market and tackling a long list of miscellaneous errands, Clark and I headed into the city last Saturday with a friend. Clark and I were about an hour late to get out the door because, of course, we were making a recipe. We had the brilliant idea of making quinoa nuggets a few weeks ago and it’s been all I could think about ever since.

At first, the idea was simply to create crispy, nugget-shaped quinoa bites. That probably would have been good enough. But as I’ve said before, we have a thing for goat cheese. When Clark suggested that we stuff the nuggets with it, I laughed at first. He’s always suggesting uses, both practical and absurd, for goat cheese. Then I stopped laughing and realized that he was a genius. GOAT CHEESE STUFFED QUINOA NUGGETS.

So we finally got around to making them last weekend and they are now a new favorite. We made a small batch and I ate two before we headed out the door. 6 hours later, I was still full. Not even sushi tempted me. These little nuggets powered me through an overcrowded farmer’s market, the flea market, Bed Bath & Beyond, Container Store, and Trader Joe’s. Forget protein bars. These quinoa nuggets are where it’s at.

If you’re not feeling the goat cheese, just skip it. We made a couple of nuggets without and they were plenty delicious. These are great for so many reasons. They are easy to make and very filling. Great for dinner, great the next day, great for packing in your lunch, great for kids, great for dipping.

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Goat Cheese Stuffed Quinoa Nuggets

Quinoa bites stuffed with goat cheese, greens, and herbs. They’re a protein-packed filling meal and they make great leftovers.

• Author: The Fitchen
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x
• Category: Appetizer

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 2 cups of cooked quinoa
• 2 eggs [whisked]
• 1 c. chopped greens [spinach or baby chard work well]
• 2 tsp. sea salt
• 2 tsp. fresh black pepper
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried thyme
• 2 Tbsp. brown rice flour
• 1/3 c. gluten-free breadcrumbs
• 3 cloves of garlic [minced]
• 2 oz. goat cheese

Instructions

1. Cook quinoa – you’ll need two cups for the recipe. After it is cooked, set it aside to cool in a large bowl.
2. Preheat oven to 350º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a small bowl, whisk eggs then add salt, pepper, and thyme. Add eggs, greens, and minced garlic to the bowl of quinoa and mix together.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together brown rice flour and breadcrumbs.
5. Form the quinoa mixture into balls, about 1/4 c. in size.
6. Stuff with small chunks of goat cheese, about the size of of a grape.
7. Rolls quinoa balls in the breadcrumb/rice flour mixture to lightly coat.
8. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown.

Nutrition

• Calories: 1801
• Sugar: 5g
• Sodium: 5359mg
• Fat: 45g
• Saturated Fat: 14g
• Unsaturated Fat: 26g
• Carbohydrates: 270g
• Fiber: 29g
• Protein: 79g
• Cholesterol: 398mg