Yes!! the spinach obsession continues lol. I have a little 1st birthday celebration to go to tomorrow with my mummy friends I made through a baby and mom group for my youngest. So whipped these up along with a few other things to take with us. The last time I made some quinoa balls the babies loved them, so I am hoping they will like these too.
Feta, Red Pepper and Spinach Quinoa Balls
Makes approx 15 balls
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of uncooked quinoa, rinsed
- 60g of feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 red onion, halved and sliced
- 1 handful of baby spinach, chopped
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 heaped tablespoons of cream cheese
- Olive oil
- black pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 180c or 350f (gas mark 4)
Place red pepper and onion in a oven proof dish, spray with some olive oil and roast in the oven until softened.
In the meantime, add your quinoa to a saucepan. Cover with 1 cup of boiling hot water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer on low covered. As soon as water is absorbed, turn off heat, but leave covered. The steam will continue to cook the quinoa, resulting in lovely fluffy quinoa grains.
Once red pepper and onion is cooked, using a knife chop into small pieces (or if you have a mini food processor, you can put it into that and just to a couple of quick chops with the chopping blade).
Add this to the quinoa along with the spinach, feta and cream cheese and using a wooden spoon thoroughly combine ingredients.
Season with some black pepper and allow to cool.
Once cooled add your beaten egg and bind all the ingredients together thoroughly. Roll into 15 equal size balls and place in a greased oven proof dish.
Using your spray bottle (I used a misto, but if you haven’t got one of these sprayers, you can just brush over the top with a little olive oil), spray over the top with some olive oil and then place in the oven and bake until golden.
Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly and watch your little ones devour these yummy balls, that is of course if you don’t eat them all first. They do not last very long here.
These were so delicous – will definately be making this recipe!
I don’t have any feta. Can you suggest a substitution or should I just omit it?
Hi there, I would up the cream cheese to ensure they bind together. 🙂
Hi there, I would up the cream cheese a bit, to ensure they bind together.
House full of gluten free’ers so I am happy to find this recipe! I’m making these for a snacklet with our wine before dinner tonight. Thank you for posting it!
that is great to hear. I hope they went down well :). I made them for a friends get together with little ones and they were a huge hit.
Thank you so incredibly much
Thank you for all of these wonderful recipes. I have made several of them for my twins, one of whom is allergic to oats and rice, and they love them! I so appreciate all the hard work you do to share these recipes.
thanks for the lovely comment. I am glad to hear your twins are enjoying he recipes 🙂
These look amazing – is there anything I can sub for the cream cheese?
you could sub with some breadcrumbs, just needs something to help them bind together, the cream cheese does this, but breadcrumbs should too. 😉
I used Greek yogurt and they came out great 🙂
I just made these for a Family day party – big hit! I don’t have any children, but a picky fiance who is rarely open to quinoa. I didn’t feel like baking the pepper and onion so I diced them up and lightly sauteed them in olive oil. Just enough to make them soft, but not brown or crisp anywhere. I honestly didn’t notice the feta taste in them, the cream cheese overwhelms it, but definitely still super delicious! Could probably up the seasoning variations if you’re not making them for little taste buds.
a tip for everyone who does not like diary products – apple sauce, cooked pumpkin, tofu, potato starch, oatmeal and chia seeds can all be used for binding, in fact they make great egg substitutes, so if you want to use something instead of cream cheese these may work, too :o)
thank you for your great tips 🙂
Hello! I stumbled across this recipe when trying to find alternatives to rice and bread. This is a delicious recipe and has spread across my office like wildfire! Came in this morning and the fridge was full of lunch boxes of quinoa balls! Thanks again.
that is great to hear 🙂
these look great! about how long do they take to bake?
approx 30 mins 🙂
I have tried these twice…they have great flavor but I am having trouble getting mine to bind together even though I am following the recipe as it states. Any suggestions?
Just made these today and they take about 30 minutes in the oven at 350. they came out really well. nice and firm and they held together.
that is great to hear. Thanks for adding approx. time 🙂
Looks imazing! I love quinoa!
I loved it!
http://matmedmera.eu/vegetariska-quinoabollar-med-feta-och-spenat/
These fell apart for me. In fact, anything like this (e.g., fritters) that I have made from this blog all fall apart. For adult hands, these things are ok, because our grip is softer. But for a baby, it just smushes in hand immediately. Not sure what’s up on my end.
Can these be frozen? I made these for my daughter as something to have with her lunch buy only want to give a couple. Let me know if you can freeze these and then warm up after defrosting.
Thanks
Hi yes these should be fine to freeze 🙂