Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
15
Last updated on Jul 17, 2023
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Serve quinoa for breakfast with this quinoa breakfast bowl. Loaded with fresh fruit, cacao nibs and a maple syrup drizzle, this bowl is the perfect start to your day. Vegan and gluten-free.

Oh my goodness, I CAN NOT wait to share my Tulum Travel Guide with you. I’m working on the full recap now, but in the meantime I have this cinnamon quinoa breakfast bowl recipe to share that was inspired by my trip.
Quinoa Breakfast Bowl Inspired by My Trip to Tulum
One morning Laurel and I had breakfast at Canopia, a cute little restaurant connected to Yoga Shala that served breakfast/brunch in the morning and Thai cuisine at night. We never made it back for Thai, but the breakfast was delicious.
Laurel had Huevos Motuleños and I had the cinnamon quinoa breakfast bowl. I almost went for eggs as well, but once I saw the description for the cinnamon quinoa bowl… it was a done a deal.
Lots of restaurants in Tulum had some sort of cinnamon quinoa breakfast bowl on the menu, but this one was called Early Bird so it was obvious that I had to get it.
So happy I did because it was amazing — warm cinnamon-spiked quinoa with tons of fresh tropical fruit, ginger, crunchy cacao nibs and a hint of sweetness. One bite and I knew I’d be recreating the bowl at home.
And it didn’t take long. Maria came over yesterday, we whipped up a couple bowls and I’m sharing the recipe with you today. I have quite a few recipes on deck to share, but for some reason I felt the need to share this one first so here you go!
For this version I skipped the fresh ginger and sweetened the quinoa with a little maple syrup. With all the fresh fruit I only really needed a drizzle of maple syrup (like 1 Tablespoons or so), but feel free add as much or as a little as you like. And the fruit is up to you as well. I kept with the Mexican theme and used tropical fruits like pineapple, mango and banana, as well as blueberries and three different types of melon. You can use whatever fruit you have on hand!
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup non-diary milk, I used unsweetened vanilla cashew milk
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 Tablespoons cacao nibs
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup, or to taste
- 2 cups chopped fresh fruit, bananas, pineapple, cantaloupe, blueberries, watermelon, honeydew and mango
Instructions
- Rinse and drain quinoa.
- Place water, almond milk and quinoa into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, add cinnamon, vanilla and sea salt. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed. Watch the pot carefully because it has a tendency to want to boil over. Remove from heat and let pot sit, covered for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove lid and fluff quinoa before portioning into two bowls. Top with cacao nibs, fresh fruit and a drizzle of maple syrup. You can also add additional milk if you want more moisture.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How do you justify 96 carbs in this recipe, let alone the sugars and fats?
I just made this for the first time and it was really good! I put strawberries and bananas in it with a touch more salt and milk once it was cooked. Very tasty!