Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies

These delicious chocolate chip quinoa cookies are the perfect chewy texture made with wholesome ingredients. Easy, vegan and gluten free!

Cookies arranged on a baking sheet with the center cookie pulled apart evenly with melted chocolate pulling apart from the center.

I feel very lucky that the time I decided to play around with this chocolate chip quinoa cookie recipe, I got it right the first time! I tested it multiple times afterwards, and can’t tell you how tasty and easy they are to make. Just a few wholesome ingredients needed to make these dream cookies. All you need is a food processor and an oven and you are set!

Baking is a science

I joke around quite a bit that I am not a baker. The scientist in me should revel in the precise nature and science of baking, but I cringe sometimes because experimenting with baking is much more complicated than cooking. It’s less forgiving for sure. And the person in me that hates wasting ingredients would much rather not watch a recipe fail if she can help it. This is especially true with gluten free baking. I’ve made a similar recipe a number of times in the past, so it was easy to tweak it a little to accommodate the quinoa. The rest is history!

All quinoa cookie dough ingredients in the food processor ready to process. Includes quinoa, chia seeds, peanut butter, quinoa, baking powder, brown sugar and maple syrup.

Why add quinoa? 

When it comes to gluten free baking, you can’t always stick to one gluten free flour or grain to get the results you want. Many gluten free flours offer different textures/flavors to the resulting dough. For example, oats/oat flour can be dense and dry on it’s own in recipes and rice flour can be too light and offer little structure to a final product. For these cookies I opted for a mix of cooked quinoa and oats. The oats offer more structure to the cookie while the lightness of the quinoa lend some better chew and moisture to the final cookie. Plus you get a little boost of:

  • Protein
  • Fiber
  • Magnesium
  • Folate
  • Thiamine

Formed cookie dough in the food processor now topped with cookie mix in ingredients including chocolate chips, walnuts and raisins.

How to make chocolate chip quinoa cookies

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Add cooled quinoa, oats, peanut butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, baking powder, salt, coconut flakes and chia seeds to a food processor then process ingredients on high until a dough forms.
  3. Mix in chocolate chips, raisins, walnuts or any additional ingredients you prefer into the food processor.
  4. Pulse the ingredients 4-5 times in the food processor to mix everything together well.
  5. With slightly damp hands, take dough and divide into 9 even dough balls.
  6. Place cookie dough on a lined baking sheet and press down into the dough to flatten into a cookie shape.
  7. Take tray of cookies and place in the oven for 13-15 minutes.
  8. Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before eating.

Quinoa cookie dough rolled and flattened into cookie shapes on lined baking sheet.

Tips for making chocolate chip quinoa cookies

  • Love to make this recipe when I have extra quinoa on hand in the fridge. If you don’t have quinoa on hand, feel free to use equal amounts oats and adjust with an extra tbsp of peanut butter and maple syrup to keep the dough moist.
  • If you don’t have a food processor, replace the rolled oats with quick oats and mix all ingredients well to form dough.
  • Make sure to flatten your cookie into a disk shape. While they do spread a little, the cookies won’t form into a cookie shape unless you do press down on the dough.
  • You can freeze your batch of cookies in the freezer for later use. I like to freeze these and take one at a time to thaw for a fun treat later in the day.
  • To make this recipe nut free, just replace with tahini or sunflower seed butter.

Baked quinoa cookies straight out of the oven. Fluffier and spread out from initial dough.

More whole grain recipes

Holding up the final baked cookie above tray of baked cookies.

Print
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Cookies fully baked and cooling on a lined baking sheet.

Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies

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  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 9 cookies 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: American

Description

These delicious chocolate chip quinoa cookies are the perfect chewy texture made with wholesome ingredients. Easy, vegan and gluten free!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/2 cup cooked/leftover quinoa
  • 1 1/3 cup gluten free rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup runny peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp coconut flakes
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds or ground flax seeds
  • Mix Ins: chocolate chips (raisins, walnuts)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Add cooled quinoa, oats, peanut butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, baking powder, salt, coconut flakes and chia seeds to a food processor then process ingredients on high until a dough forms.
  3. Mix in chocolate chips, raisins, walnuts or any additional ingredients you prefer into the food processor.
  4. Pulse the ingredients 4-5 times in the food processor to mix everything together well.
  5. With slightly damp hands, take dough and divide into 9 even dough balls.
  6. Place cookie dough on a lined baking sheet and press down into the dough to flatten into a cookie shape.
  7. Take tray of cookies and place in the oven for 13-15 minutes.
  8. Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before eating.

Notes

  • To make nut free, replace peanut butter with tahini or sunflower seed butter.
  • Feel free to jumble up the number of mix in ingredients you like! Really love these cookies with a mix of chocolate chips, walnuts and raisins. But don’t limit yourself to the possibilities!

Did You Try This Recipe?
Then let me know what you thought! Share your creations by tagging me on Instagram with the hashtag #plantbasedrdeats

★ Catherine

These delicious chocolate chip quinoa cookies are the perfect chewy texture made with wholesome ingredients. Easy, vegan and gluten free!
These delicious chocolate chip quinoa cookies are the perfect chewy texture made with wholesome ingredients. Easy, vegan and gluten free!

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