Change up pizza night with poppable, gluten-free Mini Pizza Quinoa Bites! Packed with protein and pizza flavor, they're a fun snack or dinner option!
‘ve got an extremely difficult recipe for you today. Brace yourselves for lots of measuring, dishes, ingredients…NOT.
The recipe for Mini Pizza Quinoa Bites calls for tossing pizza-themed ingredients in bowl, scooping the mixture into mini muffin tins, then baking.
Oh, then reaping the CHEESY PIZZA REWARDS. I am so obsessed with these bites!
Mini Pizza Quinoa Bites are a riff on a couple of my favorite quinoa cups recipes, Mini Ham and Cheese Quinoa Cups and Mini BLT Quinoa Cups. As delicious as those are, though, I think the pizza version is my absolutely favorite.
All the fabulous pizza flavor, but lighter since we’re ditching the crust.
These mini pizza bites are filled with classic toppings like chopped pepperoni and sliced black olives, though you can add whatever you like but you could fill yours with whatever you like – peppers, cooked sausage, onions, etc. Serve with warmed pizza sauce and you’re set.
Change up pizza night tonight!
Like I said, step one: throw some stuff in a bowl.
You’ll need 2 cups cooked quinoa (about 1/2 cup dry quinoa) that’s been slightly cooled or chilled – aka you can make it ahead of time. Make sure you rinse the quinoa under cold running water before cooking to remove the bitter substance it’s coated in. 2 whole eggs PLUS 2 egg whites join the party, along with 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, and 2 cups pizza toppings.
Mix!
Spoon the mixture to the top of 24 mini muffin tin cups that have been sprayed VERY well with nonstick spray. The cheese in the mixture WILL stick if you don’t spray it well. Sorry for all the CAPS but this is IMPORTANT. Yikes.
Place the muffin tin on top of a foil-lined baking sheet then bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees, or until golden brown. Let the bites cool for 5 minutes before popping them out of the cups.
Serve with warm pizza sauce then pop away!
Seriously, seriously so yummy. I can’t wait for you to try these — enjoy!
Also check out my Mini Ham & Cheese Quinoa Cups, and Mini BLT Quinoa Cups!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked quinoa, cooled slightly or chilled (about 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa)
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 2 cups chopped pizza toppings, pepperoni, black olives, pineapple, ham, onions, sausage, peppers, etc.
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Pizza sauce, for dipping
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line a baking sheet with foil, then spray a 24-cup mini muffin tin VERY well with nonstick spray and set aside.
- Add all ingredients except pizza sauce to a large bowl then stir to combine. Fill mini muffin tin cups to the top with the mixture then place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from cups. Serve with warmed pizza sauce.
To freeze:
- Place baked cups on a baking sheet then freeze until solid and transfer to a freezer bag. Microwave for 20-40 seconds depending on how many you're reheating.
Notes
- For regular-sized muffin tins: Bake for 25-30 minutes (Note: I have not tried this myself, although several readers have left comments saying this works!)
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
These sound and look absolutely delicious! :)
Love the idea of quinoa cups! Brilliant healthier spin on pizza!
Oh my goodness, yum!!
I would dig these for breakfast!
These look amazing. I am going to make these for my next church small group gathering.
These look so delicious and cute! I love anything in mini form as I always feel like it makes it seem more ‘fun’ no idea why, maybe as I associate it with party food or something.
Mmm! These are so my thing. I love quinoa and pizza!! Great recipe and have an awesome weekend!
so funny every muffin has an olive earring.
These look amazing and so simple! My toddler is going to love making and eating these!!
With two little boys, I am always looking for tasty easy-to-eat finger foods. Pizza is a favorite at our house, so I could see these quinoa bites being a big hit!
It’s just me and my daughter tonight since the man of the house has a dinner meeting obligation (on V-day even, :( ) and papa murphy’s pizza was on the menu. However, I think I may save a few bucks and make these babies instead! With a dessert of chocolate molten lava cakes, of course! :)
Genius woman. Pure genius.
Any ideas for how to modify this recipe to take out the eggs? My kids would love these, but my oldest has a pretty severe egg allergy. Thanks!!
Hmmm…unfortunately I can’t think of anything off the top of my head! Anyone reading this that could help?
I would try flax eggs. 1 T. Ground flax and 3 T. Water. Mix together, let sit 10 min before adding to recipe. An rgg white is about half an egg, so one flax egg for the two egg whites.
Total for this recipe I’d use 3T ground flax and 9T (1/2 cup plus 1T) water.
I can’t wait to try this! This sounds like a good snack. I’m going to try it both ways….with eggs and flax seed eggs. I really like the flax seed egg idea.