Homemade chocolate quinoa crisps are a quick healthy snack made with 4 simple ingredients, including quinoa which is high in fiber and protein. No oil, gluten free, dairy free, high protein.
Crunchy chocolate quinoa crisps are chewy homemade cookies made in minutes and with only 4 ingredients. These are healthy no bake cookies that can be made with pantry ingredients at low cost. Quinoa is considered a superfood, sometimes called the healthiest food on the planet because it is a complete protein.
It's easy to make them ahead, store them in the freezer, and grab this healthy, cookie that works well for anyone who wants an easy nutritious cookies.
Why You'll Love Homemade Quinoa Cookies
- No baking needed
- High in protein with quinoa
- Only 4 ingredients
- No bake, no eggs, no additives or weird ingredients
- Use date paste or maple syrup
Tip: Using date paste prevents the quinoa crisps from turning icy in the freezer. Also dates don't spike blood sugar.
What is Puffed Quinoa? (or popped)
Puffed quinoa is also called popped quinoa, is basically raw quinoa that is dry heated or toasted. Raw quinoa, a healthy pseudo-grain, comes in a bag you can find in the rice aisle of a grocery story. You cannot buy puffed quinoa in the grocery store but quinoa is easy to puff or pop at home in minutes.
Tip: Don't buy quinoa puffs online, there is no need and toasting it yourself is very easy and inexpensive.
If you really want to buy it, you can buy sometimes find processed popped quinoa online. Those products are raw quinoa heated under high pressure until it expands slightly. However, homemade popped quinoa is easy to make and less expensive. Just toast raw quinoa for a few minutes in a dry frying pan - the result is a crunchy, nutty quinoa that works great in these chocolate quinoa crisp cookies.
Ingredients for Quinoa Crisps
- Uncooked Quinoa. Buy a bag of quinoa, and toast it in minutes in a dry frying pan, also called popped quinoa. Here's my tutorial on how to make puffed quinoa if you want more detail, or read the steps in the recipe card below.
- Dates. I blended 4 with 2-3 tablespoon of water into a paste. Or use maple syrup.
- Peanut butter. Or any nut butter. To keep it healthier, choose a nut butter with only nuts as the ingredient.
- Chocolate chips. Use a quality brand of chocolate chips or use a less expensive chocolate bar and break it up into pieces.
For USA Readers: Quinoa is imported from South America. In light of recent economic upheaval, if you are having trouble finding quinoa, you can replace quinoa with farro and amaranth, both are grains grown on USA farms.
Tip: Melted chocolate chips produce half the amount of melted chocolate. For instance, 1 cup of chocolate chips melts to ½ cup melted chocolate.
See the recipe card at the bottom for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Steps to Make Chocolate Quinoa Crisps
For more detail, visit the complete and printable recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps.
Prep: Microwave your peanut butter in the jar or measured out for 10 seconds and stir until smooth. Melt chocolate in the microwave for one minute.
Make Date Paste
Soak 4 dates in boiled water for 1-2 minutes, pit and blend with 2-3 tablespoon of water.
Make Quinoa Crisps
Step 1: Toast dry raw quinoa in a small pan over low heat for about 3 minutes or until it smells toasty or has browned in color slightly. Do not burn.
Step 2: Add toasted quinoa, date paste, peanut butter, melted chocolate in a bowl and stir.
Step 3: Stir into a batter.
Step 4: Scoop 2 tablespoon of the batter onto a parchment-paper lined pan or into molds. Flatten the scoops lining the pan into flat round cookies or level the scoops that are in a mold.
Step 5: Chill until solid, about 30 minutes. Spoon a small bit of melted chocolate on top of either the cookie crisps or molded crisps. Sprinkle top with more quinoa. Enjoy!
Storage
These chocolate quinoa crisps store well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, and up to 3 months in the freezer. Either way, be sure they are solid before storing.
Variations
Make these chocolate quinoa crisps in a mold.
FAQS
Yes, and I absolutely recommend it. It is easy and far less inexpensive to puff your own quinoa at home. Just buy a bag of uncooked quinoa from the rice aisle and toast it in a dry frying pan for a few minutes. It will come out crispy and nutty and cost very little to make.
Yes, you can use any nut butter or seed butter instead of peanut butter to make these chocolate quinoa crisps nut-free.
Chocolate Quinoa Crisps are considered a healthy snack because they are made with quinoa, which is high in fiber and protein, and premium chocolate. They are also gluten-free, nut-free, and made with other simple, healthy ingredients.
More Healthy Snack Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Chocolate Quinoa Crisps (no bake)
Equipment
- bowl, baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups quinoa or farro or amaranth
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- 1 cup chocolate chips makes ½ cup melted chocolate*
- 8 dates blend soaked dates with ⅓ cup water
Topping
- ¼ cup chocolate chips to glaze the top
- 1 tablespoon quinoa sprinkle the top
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Instructions
Prep
- Toast dry raw quinoa in a small pan over low heat for about 3 minutes or until it smells toasty or has browned in color slightly. Do not burn.1 ½ cups quinoa
- Microwave your peanut butter in the jar or measured out for 10 seconds and stir until smooth.¼ cup peanut butter
- Melt chocolate chips in the microwave for one minute.1 cup chocolate chips
- Soak dates in a pot of boiling water for 1-2 minutes, pit and blend with ⅓ cup of water for about 30 seconds, into a paste.8 dates
Make quinoa crisps
- Into a bowl, add the quinoa, peanut butter, melted chocolate and date paste. Stir into a batter.1 ½ cups quinoa, ¼ cup peanut butter, 1 cup chocolate chips, 8 dates
- Scoop 2 tablespoon of the batter onto a parchment-paper lined pan and form flat circle cookies or press batter into a mold.
- Chill until solid, about 30 minutes or less.
- Drizzle on a final chocolate layer. Sprinkle top with more toasted quinoa.¼ cup chocolate chips, 1 tablespoon quinoa
Dee Dine
High protein snack made with just 3 ingredients, a delicious high energy treat.