Try saying that three times fast 🙂 Load up on antioxidants with these wholesome quinoa patties. They taste yummy all by themself or as an accompaniment to your salad, dressed with, say, lemon vinaigrette and served with black-pepper banana chips on the side… mmmm…
Grain free, plant-based & vegan, allium free, nut free, soy free, low FODMAP and nightshade free to boot! Yes, you can do this 🙂
Cut down on the amount of time you’re in the kitchen by using the Instant Pot for a portion of this recipe.
Note: To cut down on your overall time in the kitchen, the first step of preparing the cranberry quinoa can easily be done in an Instant Pot. See the Recipe Notes below for details.
Let’s begin!
Saute ginger in oil on medium-heat until golden brown.
Add the chopped cranberries, quinoa, water and salt to the ginger. Bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer for 15-20 minutes until the quinoa is cooked.
Remove the quinoa from heat and let cool for 15 minutes. Skipping this step will result in a mushy mess when you begin adding and mixing the remaining ingredients.
Set the chia seeds to soak in 6 tablespoons of warm or hot water.
Add the kale, the now-gelatinous chia seeds, celery salt, lemon juice and lemon zest to the quinoa. Mix with a spatula to combine.
Add the pumpkin puree 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture is easy to work into patties without issue.
Note: The fiber and viscosity of the pumpkin puree helps with additional binding within the patty. It has a neutral flavor that keeps the flavors of cranberry and kale front and center. If you don’t have any on hand, feel free to experiment and substitute with ingredients with a similar texture. Yogurt and perhaps even cream cheese could work. Be sure to add the substitute ingredient into the mixture 1/4 cup at a time so as to avoid creating a patty mixture that is too wet to bind.
You can also add any other herbs or spices that you like at this point like rosemary or even nutritional yeast. Again, I like the flavors of cranberry and kale so I tend to keep the ingredient list pretty simple when I make these.
Measure mixture into 8 patties (about 1/2 cup per patty) and set on a flat surface.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Carefully lay 3-4 patties in the skillet and cook until well-browned on one side, about 5 minutes.
Gently flip patties and continue to cook until golden/browned on the second side, about 5 minutes. Once browned as desired, gently remove the patties from heat and cook the next batch. These will continue to firm up a bit as they cool.
Note: If a little piece breaks off the patty during the cooking process, just push it back into place once you remove it from the pan. It will meld back together as it cools 🙂
Serve with your favorite toppings or sides and enjoy!
Cranberry and Kale Quinoa Patties
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp minced ginger
- 0.5 cup cranberries, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup uncooked, rinsed quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 2.5 tbsp chia seeds
- 6 tbsp water
- 1 to 1.25 cups chopped kale, tightly packed
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (or lime juice)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp lemon zest (or lime zest)
- 0.5 tsp celery salt
- 0.5 cup pumpkin puree
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Saute the minced ginger until golden brown, about 1 minute.
- Add the cranberries, quinoa, water and salt to the saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer until the quinoa is cooked, about 15-20 minutes. Note: This step can also be done in an Instant Pot under the pressure cook setting (1 minute on high pressure) to cut down on the amount of time you’re in the kitchen. Unselect the ‘keep warm’ setting.
- Remove the quinoa from heat and let cool for 15 minutes. This helps to keep the quinoa from becoming a mushy mess while you’re mixing in the other ingredients.
- In the meantime, set 2.5 tbsp of chia seeds to soak in 6 tablespoons of warm or hot water.
- Add the chopped kale, gelatinous chia seeds, celery salt, black pepper, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix with a spatula to combine the ingredients.
- Add the pumpkin puree 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture is moist enough to easily form into patties.
- Form the mixture into patties using about 1/2 cup of mixture per patty. This should result in 8 patties, total
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering.
- Carefully lay 3-4 patties in the skillet and cook until well-browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Gently flip the patties and continue to cook until sufficiently browned on the second side, another 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a plate and serve!
Notes
Actual nutrition facts will vary based on the exact ingredients and quantities used, as well as natural variations in raw ingredients.
