Blackberry quinoa breakfast bake

This blackberry quinoa breakfast bake is easy to make, full of fruit and very healthy too. Without dairy, eggs or wheat, it is a vegan, gluten-free and low histamine breakfast that is perfect for the weekend.

Quinoa is a fun alternative to oats for breakfast, and naturally gluten free. If you would like more quinoa-based recipe then you may like to see my blackberry quinoa porridge and blueberry quinoa breakfast bake. Both tasty and a perfect way to start the day!

For a more savoury dish, my sweet potato corn hash is delicious as a weekend breakfast or brunch!

Jump to:

• Why this recipe is so good
• Ingredients
• Variations to the recipe
• Step by step instructions
• The health benefits of quinoa
• Quinoa and quercetin
• More breakfast ideas to try:
• Recipe

Ingredients

The beauty of this breakfast recipe is that it is mostly made from pantry staples, and you can easily use frozen blackberries if you don’t have fresh to hand.

Quinoa – as above, a great nutrient-dense staple food that is gluten-free and a source of protein. The Terrasoul organic white quinoa is good.

Blackberries – use fresh if they are in season, or frozen if not. Both work well.

Coconut milk – makes it creamy and delicious. It’s the liquid in this dish that enables the quinoa to cook through.

Desiccated coconut – adds a little more coconut flavour, and goes so well with the blackberries. The Terrasoul finely shredded coconut flakes are good.

Flax egg – I use flax rather than an egg as it keeps it vegan for those who follow that form of diet, but also because flax has a lot of health benefits too. Just a note – flax isn’t rated on the SIGHI list for my low histamine friends.

Maple syrup and stevia – I used both in this recipe to make it a little more varied, but you can easily use one or the other. Stevia (and maple syrup) rates as 0 on the SIGHI list.

Toppings – you can of course have fun with toppings. It’s the best bit of porridge or bakes isn’t it! Fresh fruit, desiccated coconut and coconut cream are favourites of mine, but you can also add some pumpkin seeds or maybe pistachio nuts too.

Variations to the recipe

If you don't have stevia to hand, then you can use maple syrup instead.

Adding extra berries or doing half and half with blueberries and blackberries is always an option!

Use frozen berries if you don't have fresh to hand.

Make sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list and their quantities!

Step by step instructions

Making this recipe really couldn’t be more simple, and is essentially a two-stage process. Then you let the oven take over while you have a bath, watch the TV or read the newspaper on a weekend morning.

Step one

Switch the oven on to pre-heat and make a flax egg. Simply combine flaxmeal and water, give it a stir and then set aside for ten minutes to thicken. This is your egg substitute.

Step two

Combine all the ingredients in an ovenproof dish. You want something fairly shallow, so your mixture is around an inch thick. Stir very thoroughly so that the quinoa is interspersed in the coconut milk, as that is how it will cook and ‘burst open’ as my niece says. Once in the oven, give it a stir at least once (twice is better) so that it cooks evenly. Then serve and enjoy!

The health benefits of quinoa

Quinoa is a little powerhouse of a seed but can easily be used in place of ‘carbs’ such as oats and rice, in both sweet and savoury dishes. A good source of plant-based protein, it is also perfect if you are a low histamine vegan or aren’t able to tolerate gluten or oats.

Some of the benefits of quinoa, as set out by Healthline:

1. One of the few plant foods that contains sufficient amounts of all nine essential amino acids.

2. A good source of fiber, magnesium, B vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin E and various beneficial antioxidants.

3. It’s gluten-free and so perfect for those with gluten sensitivity or who are coeliac. It can easily be swapped in many dishes for foods such as cous cous, and you can get quinoa-mix pasta too.

Quinoa and quercetin

Healthline also notes that quinoa is high in quercetin. This is a flavanol also found in foods such as apples and cranberries. It is interesting for those on a low histamine diet due to having MCAS as there is some evidence that quercetin is ‘more effective than cromolyn in inhibiting release of pro-inflammatory cytokines from human mast cells’ (Weng et al. 2012).

However, as with all things in the treatment of medical conditions, it is important to consult your doctor about taking quercetin supplements or consuming high amounts of foods rich in this flavanol. Not everyone will be able to tolerate it, and this post does not constitute medical advice. Just an interesting aspect of quinoa!

More breakfast ideas to try:

Apple pie oatmeal

Ginger brazil nut granola

Apple and pumpkin seed granola

Blackberry and ginger chia pudding

Mango granola parfait

Low histamine nut and seed muesli

For ten exclusive breakfast ideas not on the blog, check out my low histamine breakfast recipes ebook!

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Recipe