If you’ve endured an economy seat on that blue airline based out of Chicago recently, you know that the one redeeming feature of an otherwise cramped and joyless experience is that all-too-tiny miracle of a snack they drop into your lap right before the beverage cart rolls your way. Quinoa? Crispy quinoa? Covered in chocolate? One bite of those chocolate quinoa crisps is all it takes: you feel the same sugar-addled dopamine rush, say, rice krispies do; you also feel kinda…virtuous for ingesting it? At 35,000 feet and deep into flyover country, it can feel momentarily life changing–at least for three bites.
But there’s no need to be wistful, or to fear: it is almost stupidly easy to replicate the snack in your own kitchen. It really requires two ingredients (though we use a few more to soup it up); it demands only two minutes (at most!) of cooking time. Is it virtuous? Well, it’s got big protein and fiber for a simple chocolate snack; it requires less than ten minutes of work to put together and, as long as you have chocolate and quinoa on hand, can come together any time. Your child is going to wolf down three pieces before you have a chance to finish one; he/she will never ask what’s in it. That’s a virtue, no?
(Note: while below we provide specific measurements for the components of the chocolate quinoa crisps, we nearly always make this by sight/feel; it is almost impossible to mess up. See the directions for how we do it.)
Check out our other no-bake treats and toddler healthy snack ideas!
Chocolate Quinoa Crisps for Kids – A Fun & Healthy Snack
Description
A high-protein treat with serious crunch, these chocolate-coated crisps come together in minutes, with little effort and even less cooking. Make into fun shapes, or keep as bark--either way, your kid(s) will love 'em!
Ingredients
Instructions
Prep, Cook, and Assemble
-
Rinse the quinoa until the water is clear, roughly 15-20 seconds. Allow to dry. (Note: if you skip this step, it won’t affect the taste, not to worry
-
Fill the bottom of a pan/skillet with a single layer of quinoa seeds, making sure none are stacked on top of each other. Turn the heat to Medium.
-
Toast the quinoa seeds, shaking and stirring the pan to move; as soon as the seeds begin to pop and brown, or as soon the seeds look brown and toasted, remove from heat immediately. Set toasted seeds aside; repeat for remaining seeds as needed.
-
Fill a small bowl roughly a third to a half way up with chocolate chips; add in a generous splash of oil–olive, avocado, or coconut are best here–and shake to mix. Microwave chips for 60 seconds; stir to fully melt and mix chocolate.
-
Dump in about half of your chia seeds, followed by the chia seeds, a splash of vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt; mix to combine. For a crunchier crisp, add in another scoop of the quinoa and continue to mix until blended.
-
Scoop up chocolate-quinoa mix and place on a plate that’s been lined with parchment paper. To make bark, smush and spread the chocolate-quinoa mix across plate; If you want to make shapes, you can either a) smush and spread the mix as above, and then use your cookie cutter right on the spread, or b) grab chunks of the mixture, roll into small balls, then flatten to make round crisps or to press a cookie cutter into them to create desired shapes.
-
Freeze for 15-20 minutes.
Serve
-
Because it’s so rich but also thin and small, a couple of pieces of this will satisfy but not quite fill your child up; it may not, in other words, serve as a full snack onto itself. Take a cue from United, then, and leverage it as something to get you from one thing to the next: as a quick bite before an activity, or when the kids need something to eat but the next meal is at least an hour away; as a nice dessert bite when the family wants something sweet but you don’t want to give out sugar highs either. (Note: once frozen, this stores quite well in the fridge for several days, with no negative effect to texture; you can also keep it in the freezer for several months.)
Adapt
-
To make the chocolate quinoa crisps a bit more substantial, try partially freezing the chocolate-quinoa batter for roughly 10 minutes, then spreading nut butter on the bottom side before freezing for another 10-15 minutes; you could also stud the top of the mixture with nuts, seeds, dried fruit, or coconut before freezing.
Nutrition Facts
Servings 6
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories 80kcal
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 4g7%
- Potassium 100mg3%
- Total Carbohydrate 9g3%
- Dietary Fiber 3g12%
- Sugars 5g
- Protein 2g4%
- Iron 1.5 mg
- Folate 20 mcg
- Phosphorus 40 mg
- Magnesium 50 mg
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
