Cheesy pizza quinoa bites are a delicious and healthy vegetarian lunch, snack, or appetizer. A kid-friendly meal everyone will love!
This recipe is an update from 10/2013. It’s one of those recipes from my baby blogging days that I’ve reworked over the years and wanted to share with you some updated photos and recipe. Plus, it’s made with a lot of pantry staples/shelf-stable ingredients you may have in your cabinet right now!
Wanting to update this recipe may or may not have been the result of buying TWO BOXES with eight cans each of diced canned tomatoes a month ago at Costco. That was the only canned food they had left, so I was compelled to buy it since I didn’t have much-canned food in my house.
I’m happy I did buy those boxes, the canned diced tomatoes have been a delight in many unexpected ways, including these pizza bites! You could certainly make this recipe with fresh diced tomatoes, or skip them entirely. It’s a super customizable recipe for the win!
How to Make Quinoa Pizza Bites
The first step to making these quinoa bites is making your quinoa. One cup uncooked quinoa usually makes three cups cooked quinoa. So, you can either scale and make 1/2 cup or make the full 1 cup and double this recipe or freeze some quinoa for later.
To make your quinoa, you’ll want to follow the directions on the back of the bag. Pay special attention because some quinoa needs to be rinsed, however, if you buy your quinoa from Costco, theirs is pre-rinsed.
While your quinoa is cooking, saute up onion and garlic until it’s translucent and tender if you don’t have any fresh, sub 1 tsp of onion powder and garlic powder. If using canned diced tomatoes, you’ll want to rinse them first and then chop them a bit more, so you don’t have huge chunks in your bites.
They should be diced before you add them to the quinoa. Then throw the remaining ingredients together in a large bowl.
The basic formula is: 1.5 cup cooked quinoa + 1-1.5 diced mix ins/veggies/favorite pizza toppings + 2 eggs + 1 cup mozzarella + seasonings. Customize with what you have on hand and with your favorite pizza toppings!
Mix it all in a big bowl, just make sure you mix well for even distribution on flavor!
Then pack each greased mini muffin hole full of the mixture and bake! You will want to use a spoon to pack down the ingredients into the hole to help them stick together after baking.
We found they were easier to pop out of the baking sheet when they were cooled, but before putting them in the refrigerator. I stored some in the muffin tin and put them in the fridge, so I ould take photos later, I found them significantly harder to get out in one piece after I put them in the refrigerator in the tin, so remove them first, but AFTER they’ve been cooled!
That’s it! Also, yes, these are freezer friendly once cooked up to 3 months! Enjoy and tag me if you make it on Insta! @hungryhobbyRD Leave a comment with your “pizza topping modifications” if you make any, I know others would love to be inspired. Black olives are my favorite, but yours is probably different!
You may also like:
Cheesy Quinoa Pizza Bites
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 tsp avocado oil or EVOO
- 1/2 yellow onion diced
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup mozzarella
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1/2 cup sliced black olives
- 1/2 cup diced canned tomatoes rinsed and chopped again to make smaller pieces
- 1/2 cup marinara
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package directions. Usually, you may or may not have to rinse the quinoa, the Costco kind you do not need to rinse. Typically directions include bringing 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups of water to a boil and then simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until all the water is absorbed. 1 cup uncooked quinoa will yield 3 cups of cooked quinoa at a minimum.
- Saute onions and garlic in 1 tsp oil until translucent and tender, about 3 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix together all ingredients except pizza sauce.
- Grease a mini muffin tin with cooking spray or your preferred oil. Then, spoon, one heaping tablespoon of mixture into each cup. Push down with the back of a spoon so that the top of each muffin is flat.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then use a butter knife to run the knife around the edges and pop out the bites.
- Heat the marinara sauce for dipping and then enjoy!
Nutrition
For me pizza is all about black olives and cheese, but feel free to add your favorite toppings. These would be perfect to freeze for a quick after school snack as a healthy substitute for something like bagel bites. They are also a perfect appetizer to bring to your next football party!
Love healthy food in mini bite form? Check out these recipes below!
- Mini Polenta Pizzas
- Buffalo Cheddar Quinoa Bites
- Mini Corn Dog Bites
- Spicy Tuna Cakes
- 10 Game Day Appetizers
Yum! These look delicious and something fun to serve for appitizers!
I loved this! I had tried it a couple of years earlier at a friend’s and they were amazing. So I had tried it on my own with her recipe which was more or less the same and it turned out to be delicious. Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Enjoy!