At a glance

What stands out: Having cooked quinoa in the freezer is a food prepping trick that saves you time and enables you to make speedy lighter meals.

How long it takes: half hour to cook the quinoa, plus cooling time
Equipment you’ll need: large covered pan, freezer bags or containers
Servings: makes 9 cups (or as much as you want)

Why freeze quinoa?

Freezing quinoa is one of our favorite kitchen shortcuts. We don’t ever cook a partial bag of quinoa; we always make the entire package. It’s so much easier to do that work once rather than every time you need quinoa for a recipe.

It’s straightforward to do. We cook the entire bag, let it cool, and then put it in measured portions in zip-top bags. We flatten them out so they fit nicely in our freezer, label them with the date and quantity, and then freeze until we need them again. Quinoa thaws quickly, too.

You can freeze other cooked grains, too. Cook any grain you like, cool it completely, and freeze it in an airtight container or zip-top bag. It’s straightforward! This method works with brown rice, white rice, farro, millet, you name it.

How to Freeze Quinoa

Cook quinoa. Follow the package instructions. Keep in mind that it triples in size, so choose a big pot.
Cool completely. We usually put it in a large shallow bowl and refrigerate it uncovered so the steam can escape.
Portion into freezer bags. We like to freeze quinoa in 2 cup portions, but if you have a favorite recipe that takes three cups, or 1, or 10, freeze it accordingly.
Freeze. Flatten out the freezer bags and label with contents, quantity, and date. Freeze for up to 10 months. If you refrigerate it, cooked quinoa will only keep for 1 week.

Can You Freeze Uncooked Grains?

Whole grains tend to spoil faster so it’s a good idea to either refrigerate or freeze them for long term storage. If you buy a large quantity of brown rice, quinoa, farro, etc., freeze the uncooked grains to prolong their shelf life for up to a year.

How To Reheat Frozen Quinoa

Take one of the bags of quinoa out of the freezer and let it defrost either in the fridge overnight, or on the counter for a few hours. You can also warm it in the microwave for 45 seconds to a minute, even if it’s still a little frozen. Once it’s thawed, you can use it in any of number of recipes, or season it and eat it as a side dish.

Best Quinoa Recipes

Here are some of our faves, but you can see all our quinoa recipes here.

Vegan Tacos with Roasted Carrots, Mushrooms, and Quinoa (cannot even tell you how much we love these tacos!)
Instant Pot Chicken and Quinoa – this one is a great speedy dinner, dump everything in and let the Instant Pot work its magic!
Quinoa Pancakes – add extra protein and fiber to your pancakes with quinoa!
Apple Quinoa Pancakes
Vegetarian Quinoa Chili with Black Beans
Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Tomatoes
Breakfast Quinoa with Chia and Cinnamon
Vegan Bolognese (its crazy how meat-like this is!)

Post updated October, 2019.

Yield: 9
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total: 1 hour

Ingredients

3 cups uncooked quinoa
6 cups water
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, optional

Method

Rinse quinoa and cook as directed on package. Typically a 1:2 ratio of uncooked quinoa to water is required. We usually cook the whole package so we have plenty to freeze.
If there are no package directions, combine quinoa, water, and salt in a very large pot with a lid. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once it boils, reduce heat to medium low. Keep covered and simmer for 20 minutes or until water is absorbed.
Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and let cool completely (see note below).
Using a measuring cup, scoop 1 or 2 cup portions into freezer bags, seal, and label with measurement. Flatten and freeze for up to 10 months.

Notes

Cooling the quinoa: we usually put the quinoa in a large shallow bowl or pan, and refrigerate it, uncovered, until cool. If you package it while it’s still hot, condensation will form inside the bag and make the quinoa soggy.

Instant Pot quinoa: You can also make quinoa in your Instant Pot to freeze.

How to use frozen quinoa: Remove quinoa from the freezer and let it defrost either in the fridge overnight, or on the counter for an hour. You can also warm it in the microwave for 45 seconds to a minute, even if it’s still a little frozen. Once it’s thawed, you can use it in any of number of recipes, or season it and eat it as a side dish.