Healthy Brown Rice Quinoa Blend
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This Brown Rice Quinoa Blend is a side dish cooked in organic chicken stock or your favorite vegetable broth. It provides about a quarter of your daily protein needs, is a great source of fiber, and makes a great filler for a variety of meals.
Use it as a side for meats or a delicious base for pour over meals, creamed soups, stir fries, and salads.
Watch our tutorial for making this hearty Brown Rice and Quinoa Blend
Is Brown Rice with Quinoa good for you?
Quinoa and brown rice make a great pair because the health benefits of these two grains are similar, and their flavors and textures compliment. Both quinoa and brown rice are gluten free making them a friendly grain for those with gluten sensitivities or looking to avoid it. They provide fiber, protein, and minerals which all help to support a healthy digestive system.
Can you cook Quinoa and Rice at the same time?
Quinoa is similar enough to rice that both can be cooked together, or in the same time frame alongside one another. Stovetop is the traditional method for cooking grains, and is what we use in this recipe. However, a pressure cooker is a fantastic way to cook grains as it is easily controlled, easy to clean up after, and cooks the grains perfectly without the risk of burning.
How do you cook Quinoa?
Any quinoa can be cooked just like rice. That’s why this blend is such a great recipe. Simply cook in whatever liquid of your choice either water, meat based stock, or vegetable broth.
Cooking red quinoa is about the same as cooking white quinoa, so you can use whichever you prefer when making a rice blend. Quinoa can have a bitter outer coating if it’s not pre washed, so be sure rinse the quinoa prior to cooking.
The blend we use is a Trader Joe Brown Rice Blend with daikon radish seeds and red quinoa.
The tricky part of this blend recipe is not the quinoa, it’s the rice. Short grain brown rice is going to cook differently than long grain brown rice.
Cook the recipe and test the rice before removing the pot from your stove. If it needs longer and the liquid is dried up add 1/2 Cup or so of water and 10 minutes more to the cooking time.
Brown Rice Quinoa Blend Recipe
We like Trader Joe’s brown rice blend because it uses Daikon radish seeds and other delicious ingredients.
NOTE: This particular rice blend is NOT gluten free so use a different type of rice if you’re a celiac.
Recipe Instructions
- Boil your liquid and add in the quinoa and rice bend
- Stir together
- Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 25 minutes. This is done when all the liquid is absorbed in the grains.
- Remove from heat and keep covered until ready to serve. Cool if you are adding this blend to a salad. This blend stores well in the fridge for up to a week if tightly covered.
Read our Rice Cooking guide For More on How to Cook Rice Varieties, rice cooking tips and how to build rice into easy weeknight dinners.
Brown Rice Quinoa Blend
This healthy Brown Rice Quinoa Blend is full of great texture and flavor. This complex, healthy carb is a good addition to hearty salads, soups and other dishes as a side.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Red Quinoa
- 1 Cup Brown Rice Blend, I'm using Trader Joes today but any brown rice blend will work. Or just plain brown rice.
- 4 Cups organic chicken broth, or vegetable broth
Instructions
- Boil Chicken broth and add in the quinoa and rice bend.
- Stir together lightly
- Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 25 minutes. This is done when all the liquid is absorbed in the grains. For a short grain brown rice you may need a little more liquid and cooking time (5 minutes)at the end.
- Check the grain tenderness before removing it from your stove. Don't let it scorch!
- Remove from heat and keep covered until ready to serve. Cool to room temperature or lower if you are adding this blend to a salad.
Notes
This Brown Rice Quinoa grain blend stores well in your fridge for up to a week if tightly covered.
The TYPE of rice you use will matter in this recipe. If using a short grain brown rice follow the instructions but expect the brown rice to be a bit firm. For a softer rice use a bit more liquid and extend the cooking time by five minutes.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
3/4 CupAmount Per Serving Calories 140Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 3mgSodium 730mgCarbohydrates 27gFiber 2gSugar 1gProtein 5g
You may also enjoy our Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe for a decidedly South of the Border Twist on Long white rice.
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I tried this recipe tonight to serve with Seafood Stuffed Salmon. I added sautéed onion, carrot, almonds & pines nuts. At the very end, I threw in some frozen green beans. It was amazing ?
Hi Marilee, What an incredible dinner. I’m happy our recipe was part of it. Thanks for your feedback and also the wonderful inspiration for a beautiful meal. Love your additions!
I made this recipe according to the directions and the rice was still hard. Not crunchy, but definitely not fully cooked.
Hi Selina, I’m sorry this recipe did not work well for your chosen ingredients. It could be your variety of brown rice was a bit different from mine. Maybe had a different moisture content. Feel free to adjust the recipe according to the needs of your rice. Thank you for your input on this recipe. Have a great weekend!
I have looked at the recipe and downsized the amount of rice and quinoa to chicken broth. I think that may help with this recipe. Thanks again for your input!
All you really have to do is cook (or half cook) the brown rice before adding everything together, Rice can sometimes be tricky, if using just a plain bag of rice then you always want to precook it before adding it to anything, it just never cooks right when you add it to something else and expect it to cook that way.
Anyway, great recipe Diane! Perfectly basic and a good foundation for other medleys thanks!
My additions- Garlic. Onion, cayenne and cumin (and salt and pepper) also add extra vegetables (corn or green beans work best) This is a great side dish that’s fairly high in calories and protein, great for muscle building.
Thank you K!
Just FYI, if you use the Trader Joe’s rice blend, this recipe isn’t gluten free. One ingredient in the Trader Joe’s blend is Barley, which people with Celiac Disease can’t have. However, if you were to use “pure” brown rice and “pure” Quinoa, it should be gluten free. 🙂 My husband has celiac disease so I’ve learned to watch for these types of details. Thanks for the recipe. I look forward to trying it. 🙂
Hi Charity, Thank you so much for adding your insight into this recipe. I had no idea celiacs could not have barley. I will keep that in mind in future. We appreciate so much your letting us know!
You’re welcome! Yes, people with Celiac Disease can’t have Wheat, Barley, Rye and most Oats. They can have oats if they are specifically labeled Gluten-Free oats. 🙂