Quinoa Porridge | Plant-Based Iron

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Jasmine

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For our final plant-based iron recipe, we’re tackling breakfast. This is one meal I’d sort of accepted might not be an iron opportunity for me; I like my Greek yoghurt, I like my chia pudding and both of those recurring features contain calcium which block non-heme iron absorption. However, I do like a challenge, and I managed to come up with something easy, functional and tasty…

INGREDIENTS

Porridge base:

Whole rolled oats

Unfortified plant milk

Tricolour quinoa

Maple syrup

Toppings:

Blackstrap molasses

Pumpkin seeds (cashews or almonds also work)

Cashew butter (almond butter also works)

Strawberries

Dried apricots (mine are rehydrated) (or goji berries also work)

TIPS & NOTES

As I’ve mentioned a few times in this series; I recommend not making any substitutions outside of what I’ve mentioned above because I’ve chosen these ingredients to either have a good iron content (like the blackstrap molasses, dried apricots, cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds and quinoa) or boost iron absorption with Vitamin C (like the strawberries). We’re using unfortified plant milk (soy milk has a good protein content) because we don’t want any calcium in this porridge to block iron absorption. If you have cooked quinoa (not already seasoned with salt and pepper!), you can use around 220g of that instead of cooking it from scratch to save time.

Quinoa Porridge

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

A simple morning porridge that's plant-based, high-fibre and iron-friendly

No special equipment or advance prep needed

Ingredients

  • 70g of whole rolled / jumbo oats
  • 80g of dried tricolour quinoa
  • 20g of maple syrup
  • 8 strawberries (cut into quarters)
  • 10g of blackstrap molasses
  • 200g of water
  • 250g of unfortified plant milk
  • 15g of pumpkin seeds
  • 50g of dried apricots
  • 30g of cashew butter

Directions

  1. Cover and cook the quinoa in the water with the maple syrup – bring up to a boil then reduce to the simmer – it should take around 15 mins for all the water to be absorbed, at which point, add the milk and oats and continue to simmer for another 10 mins, stirring occasionally
  2. Meanwhile, lightly toast the pumpkin seeds over a low heat in a small frying pan for 5-7 mins (optional step but recommended)
  3. Serve the porridge with the molasses drizzled over, add the cashew butter and dried apricots and sprinkle on the strawberries and pumpkin seeds

Let me know if you try this iron-friendly porridge?

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