Vegan Cheesy Broccoli Quinoa Bites with Sriracha Aioli
These vegan cheesy broccoli quinoa bites with sriracha aioli are hearty, flavorful, and totally snack-worthy. They make a crowd-pleasing appetizer and are also a hit with little ones, too (just skip the aioli if it's too spicy).
Servings: 30 bites
Ingredients
Cheesy Broccoli Quinoa Bites
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups filtered water, divided
- 2 cups frozen broccoli florets
- 3 tablespoons flaxseed meal
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup almond meal or almond flour*
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 ¼ to 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt, to taste
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Sriracha Aioli
- ⅓ cup vegan mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons Sriracha or chile garlic sauce or to taste
Instructions
For the Cheesy Broccoli Quinoa Bites
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a large baking pan with parchment paper.
- Thoroughly rinse the quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve or colander. Then, bring 1 ¾ cups of the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the quinoa, return to a boil, and cook over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, uncovered, or until the quinoa has absorbed most of the water, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, fluff with a fork, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Steam or cook the broccoli until tender. Strain off any excess water and finely chop. Set aside.
- While the quinoa and broccoli cook, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining ¼ cup filtered water, the flaxseed meal, and the olive oil. Let stand for 10 minutes to thicken.
- Transfer the cooked quinoa to the mixing bowl with the flaxseed mixture. Stir in the broccoli, almond meal, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, paprika, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper until incorporated.
- Use a 1 ½-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out and compact mounds of the quinoa mixture. You want to really compress and compact them into the scoop. Drop each mound onto the baking tray. You should have about 30 mounds.
- Bake the patties for 24 to 26 minutes, or until deep golden brown and crisp on the bottoms and golden on top.
For the Sriracha Aioli
- In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise and Sriracha until smooth. Chill until ready to serve.
To Serve
- Serve the bites warm from the oven alongside the aioli.
Notes
*No nuts? No Problem. To make this recipe nut-free, substitute raw sunflower meal for the almond meal. To make your own, simply add a cup or two of raw sunflower seeds to a food processor, and process until ground into a fine flour.