This 2-Ingredient Quinoa Crust is both a naturally gluten free pie crust and a naturally vegan pie crust. It serves amazing as quiche crust and if made flat even as quinoa pizza crust.
I am SO proud of this recipe! SO SO SO proud! I mean 2-Ingredient Quinoa Crust, the title says it all. It screams amazingness!!!
Ok, so, usually a gluten free pie crust has an ingredient list that makes you dizzy. In order to get the crust to resemble a regular wheat flour butter crust one has to work with several different gluten-free flours and/or all kinds of sticky stuff that isn’t egg or butter.
In case you haven’t noticed, all my gluten-free recipes are always recipes that do not try to imitate anything other than what they are. Gluten-free recipes should be naturally gluten-free in my opinion. Without trying to resemble anything other than what they are. That way they aren’t compared to anything else and just enjoyed without thinking something is missing.
Was this too confusing? I mean, I don’t like all those gluten-free “tastes like flour” sponge cakes that don’t taste like the real thing AT ALL and are almost always made of 10 million different flours to get a semi similar consistency to wheat flour.
Enough of the rants. Let’s get started!
A Quinoa Crust that Serves as Gluten Free Pie Crust and Quiche Crust And Pizza Crust
Yes, you can use this crust for savory quiches or sweet pies and even pizza crust. It’s super versatile. Quinoa has somewhat of a nutty flavor and tastes amazing both salty and sweet.
The first time I made it, I did have in mind that I wanted to make a vegan quiche. However, I didn’t want to experiment with brown rice flour, tapioca starch, egg replacer stuff, some sort of oil to replace butter and what not. I wanted something simple that tastes good and if possible boosts the quiche’s nutrition even further. The crust being gluten-free was simply a nice “side effect” :)
I figured, if the crust didn’t stick together as planned, and fell totally apart after baking, I could simply eat as a side. Right?
It did however hold its shape amazingly! Which is why I’m here today to share the recipe for the naturally gluten free crust itself. It deserves a whole blog post and recipe card.
I still have to experiment with it and use as gluten-free pie crust as in “sweet pie”. You can read in comments though that others have already had success with it. Add a little honey or maple syrup to the crust to make it sweet.
Naturally Vegan and Gluten Free Pie Crust or Quiche Crust
Quinoa is vegan, flax seed is vegan and water is vegan. Which makes this a naturally vegan pie crust or quiche crust in the most simple way that can be.
Ever heard of a 2-ingredient quinoa crust (3-ingredient if you count water) before? Ya, me neither. That’s why I had to invent it, hehe.
No egg needed to make it sticky, the quinoa itself mixed with the gooey sticky ground flax form the ‘dough’ into a beautiful crust. I mean look at this:
2-Ingredient Quinoa Crust Also Good as Quinoa Pizza Crust?
Absolutely! It didn’t occur to me until I made the crust alone without a quiche filling. But look at the picture. Think away the border and you’ve got a wonderful quinoa pizza crust.
I can totally imagine putting some delicious homemade tomato pizza sauce on this quinoa crust, top it with some delicious sliced fresh mozzarella and fire roasted veggies. *pure bliss*
I’ve never been a big pizza fan but I might just have converted into one with the pure thought of quinoa crust pizza.
Gluten Free Pie Crust Video
2-Ingredient Quinoa Crust
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa - (170g)
- 1.5 cups water - (350ml, or vegetable stock if making something salty)
- 2 Tbsp flax seeds
- 2 Tbsp water - (possibly more water)
Instructions
- Grind flax seeds in a small coffee grinder and mix flax meal with 2 Tbsp water in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Cook quinoa in water as you would rice. Add 1 cup quinoa and 1.5 cups water into pot, bring to the boil, stir well, cover and immediately reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until water is completely absorbed.
- Remove from heat and fluff with a spoon to prevent from sticking to bottom of pot and quickly cover again to keep in steam.
- Preheat oven to 400 F (200ºC).
- Let quinoa cool down enough to be able to work with it with your hands.
- Once quinoa is touchable, add flax meal mush to it and knead together with your hands until the flax seed is thoroughly mixed into the quinoa and everything forms kind of a dough.
- If the quinoa falls apart into its individual little seeds, add a little more water (1 Tbsp at a time) to make it stickier.
- The dough may kind of fall apart but in big chunks, not the individual seeds.
- Put dough in a lightly greased (especially the sides) 9" (24cm) separable tart pan and press into the pan with your fingers until bottom and sides are covered up to the edge.
- Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden.
- This crust serves for both sweet dessert tarts or pies or savory quiche-like tarts or pies.
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Marg says
I used your recipe, using an egg for keeping the quinoa together. It worked great.
One question, how much quinoa does your above recipe make? I had left over and used 2 cups loosely packed quinoa and egg in a 9 in pie pan. I was curious, though, how much quinoa you were working with.
I filled the crust w a beef mixture. I had leftover and used Bain-Marie style baking to reheat. The crust was perfect.
And mine was truly 2 ingredients!
Kay says
Hi.
I would love to make this for a pizza base. Most recipes make it with ground quinoa now my Q is what if I ground half the amount into flour and cook the other half in water then add everything together before putting it into the oven. Do you think this could work? :/
Thx
Lorena Grater says
Hm. I’m not sure because you wouldn’t be cooking/baking the raw quinoa flour quite long enough I’m afraid. You can always try with a small batch so you don’t waste too much in case it doesn’t work.
martha says
Instead of actually grinding flax seeds, i already have flaxseed meal and would like to use for this recipe. What is the measurement of the flax seeds once ground in the coffee grinder? – since i have flaxseed meal and can use that instead of grinding flaxseeds, correct?
Thank you
Lorena Grater says
2 Tbsp whole will make about 4 Tbsp freshly ground. Since yours has been sitting already and isn’t “pouffy” anymore I would guess 3 Tbsp will work fine.
Cheryl says
How is this over 700 calories for one cup of quinoa and water? What am I missing?
Lorena Grater says
It’s for the whole crust. You will only eat one or two pieces of it of course when you make a quiche. Quinoa is pretty high in calories actually :)
Marisa Cirasella says
I don’t have flax seed, can I use 1 egg instead?
Lorena Grater says
I’m not sure Marisa, I haven’t tried but I think it’s worth a try.
Sondra Singer says
I’ve made this twice. The first time, as written, the second time with an egg in addition to the rest. It definitely held together better with the egg. We couldn’t pick up the individual pieces the first time, it had to be eaten with a fork. It was good, just not as much like a pizza. This time (tonight), we added that egg, and the crust holds together beautifully. Since I can’t have typical grains, sugar, soy, and cooked tomato sauce doesn’t agree with me, I find I have to make almost everything from scratch. This new twist to the recipe makes it perfect. I cook it for about 15 minutes, then take it out, put on the toppings, and finish baking. If you bake it the entire time shown, it will likely burn once you put the toppings on and bake it again. Hope that helps.
Lorena Grater says
Thank you so much for this Sondra! This is super helpful.
Sally says
Have you tried pressing this into muffin tins, precooking and then filling with egg mixture and cooking again. This would make individual egg tarts/quiches. Do you think they will easily slide out of the tins or will they stick?
Lorena says
I haven’t tried Sally. I think they would stick honestly but you can always try by lining with parchment paper maybe?
afracooking says
Hello, this is exactly what I did, the muffin tin was made from silicon and I oiled it lightly. Worked perfectly. (It was a mini muffin tin but I doubt that would make a difference)
Caroline Horne says
Made the quiche today and loved it, thank you for such a easy but lovely pie crust. Xx
VIcky says
Hello,
I love quinoa but wonder if this would taste heavy and healthy to those just used to eating a white flour pie crust.
Thanks.
Vicky
Lorena says
I don’t think it’s heavy. Quite by the contrary, I find it easier to digest. If it taste healthy, well, I guess that’s difficult to define. I like white flour pie crust, too and it tastes great. Just different.
Stephanie S. says
I tried this tonight with pizza. I pre-baked for 11 minutes and then added toppings and cooked another 15 minutes at 400. My crust was too thick and I should have pre-baked it longer to dry it out more, so that is the first thing I will change. The quinoa under the toppings didn’t get very crunchy. I will probably do 20 minutes before toppings and then another 10-15 after, as it doesn’t really take that long to melt cheese and heat up pepperoni. The flavor was good though, so that helps. I think I may add the herbs into the quinoa instead of the pasta sauce and add a little salt in there as well so the exposed crust portions aren’t so flavorless. The point is though, it is completely doable, pretty darned easy, and my kids had a blast mixing the quinoa and flax and flattening it down. It may take some tweaking, but we will get there.
Lorena says
I’m so happy you liked it Stephanie and immediately thought of ways to adapt this to your liking. For pizza you would definitely have to use a bigger form. Here I’m using a lot of dough for the sides. Or you could use this amount for 2 pizzas or a large baking sheet pizza. Putting herbs into the dough sounds like a brilliant idea!!! 20 minutes prebaking is a good idea. I think it really needs at least 20 minutes.
Sarah says
Hi – this looks great, can you advise how long this would last for one made as I make healthy treats with dates and nuts and could use this as a base. I can keep the bliss balls for up to 2 weeks, refrigerated. Would this stay good or go soft??
Many thanks
Lorena says
I wouldn’t keep it for that long. Maybe a week. Same as rice or quinoa in a bowl. :)
Delynn says
Could you freeze it in a pie pan and pull out when needed?
Lorena says
I haven’t tried but I don’t see why not. I’ve successfully frozen quinoa before.
Mucia Burke says
Can this crust be made ahead of time?
Lorena says
I haven’t tried but I would think so because if I make a quiche with it and don’t finish it I store it in the fridge and the next day it’s still great.
afracooking says
Wow – so simple! So fabulous!! Made this in a silicon mini muffin tin and used it for mini quiche. The result was fabulous. The bottom was just the right texture whilst the top edges where wonderfully crunchy. Due to a last minute change of plan I actually made these two days ahead and stored them at room temperature. Worked fine!!! Perfect recipe that I will be using again. Thank you so much!
Heidi says
I am wondering if you would care to experiment with unsweetened coconut shreds instead of quinoa. My husband would really love a crust he could eat that is low oxalate. Quinoa would give him kidney stones. Flax and coconut would be the only combination that I think would work for him. Thanks.
Lorena says
Hi Heidi, coconut as a crust sounds absolutely amazing. Unfortunately my editorial calendar for the next 6 months is completely full and planned out so I’m really really sorry but I won’t be able to experiment on that in the near future :( I will write it down in my ideas list however, so I have it on hand when I sit down again to plan the future :D
Leslie says
Hi all! So, I tried making this tonight and it didn’t quite work out. When I poured my quiche mixture into the crust, most of it seemed to soak right through the quinoa. Any ideas on where I went wrong? Thanks!
Lorena says
Oh nooo, I’m so sorry this happened to you Leslie, did you prebake the crust for at least 10 minutes? I recommend prebaking to make sure it’s dry and doesn’t absorb all the liquid.
Renee says
Could you use chia seeds instead of flax?
Lorena says
You can definitely try but in my experience flax seeds are gooey-er (is that a word?) than chia seeds and thus a better glue.