Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Quinoa Bites
If you have never tried quinoa before, now is the time to try! These cheesy ham and broccoli quinoa bites are tasty and completely addictive.
I’m in love with quinoa lately, making these lovely patties over and over again and revisiting some of our favorite quinoa salads.
But these ham, cheese and broccoli bites? Um, I kind of, sort of ate them for five days in a row and forgot any other quinoa recipe existed.
In fact, I hid them in the back of the refrigerator behind the blue cheese (which my husband abhors) so I could sneak them at my leisure. I didn’t even feel bad about it either. Every taste was divine.
They are tasty. And completely addictive. And I don’t know about you, but there’s worse things to be craving than quinoa (don’t worry, my dark chocolate addiction is severely intact still).
My kids’ grubby and adorable little fingers snatched these up as quick as can be and they all requested them in their school lunch the next day.
Most of the time that would be a major win…children requesting healthy lunch fare. But in this case, I was hard pressed not to convince them to go with the ol’ standby (PB&J) so I could, well, you know, eat them myself.
I know. Mothers are supposed to be selfless.
Work in progress when it comes to cheesy quinoa bites. Go ahead. Make them and you’ll see what I mean.
What To Serve With This:
Tender Grilled Salmon or Maple Pecan Crusted Salmon
Vegetable Saute with Simple Cream Sauce or fresh, cut up veggies
Cranberry-Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip or Hot Chorizo and Cheese Dip with crackers or chips
One Year Ago: Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies {Egg-Free}
Two Years Ago: Hearty Beef Stew {Slow Cooker}
Three Years Ago: The Best Chicken Fajitas
Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Quinoa Bites
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked quinoa, chilled or at room temperature (I prefer to cook quinoa in low-sodium chicken broth for added flavor)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 8 ounces deli or leftover cooked ham, chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1-2 cups finely chopped steamed broccoli (see note)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, stir together all the ingredients except the cheese until combined. Stir in the cheese until well-distributed. Lightly grease a mini muffin cup tin. Scoop the quinoa mixture into the tin, filling the cups all the way to the top and lightly pressing to pack the mixture a bit. I found it helpful to use my cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoon size) to scoop the mixture into the tin.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden on top. Remove from the tin and repeat with the remaining mixture (you can scoop it into the warm tin and bake again). Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from Iowa Girl Eats
96 Comments on “Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Quinoa Bites”
These were tasty and made a lot- 24 mini muffin and 12 regular muffin size. I had better luck with them holding together in the standard muffin tin with liners. I’ll make this again!
Loved these! Perfect for the last bit of leftover Easter ham. A couple fell apart on me because I didn’t pack tightly enough, and next time I’ll bake them a couple minutes more because I liked the crispy outsides. Served them with scrambled eggs, raw veggies, and sourdough toast.
Took these to church for coffee fellowship and they were a hit…even the kids loved them!
I found if I let them cool.a bit before taking them out of the muffin tin and they were much easier to remove. Great,healthy snack!
Hey Mel! I just love all your recipes! I have a lot of leftover salty smoked ham I need to use, but we aren’t quinoa fans. Do you think it would work with rice?
I haven’t tried it, but I think rice would work out pretty well!
Hey mel! I’ve made these before and they were great! But they make a lot. Have you ever tried freezing them and if so successfully? Thank you for your time. I use and love so many of your recipes
Thanks, Amanda! and yes, these freeze really well.
We have made these for quite some time now, but thought i would add my notes. We love these. I made 12 regular muffins. I put the mixture in liners sprayed with Pam. Baked 32 minutes. After cooling for a few minutes, they came out very easily. I did not press the mixture into the liners tightly. We thought this was a great main dish and served asparagus along side.
I cooked my quinoa with half water and half beef broth. I used two cups of drained zucchini and some bacon instead of the broccoli and ham. I got 48 mini cups and had to bake them about 25 minutes before they were nice and crispy on the outside. Great recipe!
We make these ALL the time!!! Definitely one of our all time favs
These are absolutely amazing. I make them weekly, and my 3 year old loves to take them for lunch in his thermos. I have been omitting the cheese, because he doesn’t like cheese, and adding more broccoli, and they come out just as tasty.
Oh how I wish I hadn’t found these. I’m not a fan of quinoa, but my husband loves it and thought I’d make these as a treat for him. My mistake was in trying one. Now I know why you hide them. Well done! Just FYI for anyone interested…I’m a diabetic so I always figure out the nutritional info. This made 40 bites in a mini muffin pan (each cups holds 2Tbs) and for each ‘bite’, it is 58 calories, 3 fat, 3.6 carbs and 3.9 protein.
Thanks for saving me the time of calculating nutrition! That’s a pretty good profile. I am pre-diabetic and watch carbs too.
My husband is the one who doesn’t like quinoa, so I will try this sure winner!
These are so good! The only thing is that when I make them in regular size cupcake tins, sometimes they don’t stick together and fall apart when I remove them from the pan. I’m assuming the mini cupcake size ones hold together better.
Add another egg, that will make them hold together better.
Hey! Recently found your site and it’s been a welcomed change to my household’s student budget foods! All your recipes seem to be made out of ingredients that people actually have in their fridge. Cookbook recipes normally include super weird ingredients, like lemon flavoured vinegar or something equally ununsable.. Yours are magnificently down to earth 🙂 Thank you!
One suggestion: could you make up some picnic dishes (that don’t require cutlery to eat)?? It’s summer here in Finland and we like to make the most of it by eating outside as much as possible, but I’m already out of ideas 😀
Regards from the Artic Circle!
I love these! So good. I didn’t have ham, so I used pancetta instead and it worked really well too.
Another great recipe! And my 15 month old LOVED them, which made me very happy since he is getting good protein from the quinoa and eating broccoli. Love your recipes.
I made these for the first time this week and was a little skeptical. I didn’t think that they could stand as a main dish so I also made skillet macaroni and cheese (I know it’s a bit weird of a combination). My husband was so excited when he heard I was making mac and cheese, but took one look at the Quinoa bites before I baked them and didn’t want anything else to do with them.
When we actually started eating dinner, we both went for the quinoa bites and forgot about the mac and cheese. They smell great and taste yummy. But, I don’t think they’re a dinner dish. They are great for breakfast. Ham, eggs, and cheese. They smell like breakfast. I even substituted cauliflower in for the broccoli just because I was out of broccoli. Cauliflower acts a lot like potatoes, which goes great with breakfast too. My recommendation is use cauliflower instead of broccoli and make these for breakfast!
Made these last night…and have been popping the leftover ones in my mouth all day to keep me going…pretty tasty…a hit in my home 🙂 thanks!
PS I substituted chopped up ham steak instead of deli ham…still delicious!
Do you think these would work without the cheese? I don’t eat dairy. Just wondering if the texture would be the same.
Lori Sams – Cheese helps the quinoa stick together but it’s worth a try without. Good luck!
I used this recipe and made it in a casserole dish instead of a mini muffin pan. It was still completely delicious, and that cut down on a lot of my prep time. I didn’t make any modifications other than the baking dish, and everyone in my family loved it!
Hi Mel- Making these for my daughters birthday party Saturday, for a morning brunch. I wanted to know if you had ever made your quinoa and froze it to use later? I’ve made these already and if I was making them for my family I’d just give it a go, but since I’m making them for a crowd I don’t want to screw it up! So I have quinoa from the freezer that is already prepared. Do you have any feedback for using frozen?? As in don’t do it! or yes it’s ok?!
Amanda – I haven’t frozen quinoa before so I can’t give a definitive answer but if it were me, I’d totally use it – thaw it in the refrigerator overnight or until completely defrosted and if by some chance there is excess liquid (may not be), drain before using. Good luck!
Was searching for a quinoa recipe I could make for lunches at work and found this.. making both these bites and the black bean and corn quinoa salad tonight.. thanks for the ideas!
Made tonight to go with dinner. I really liked them as did the guests I served them to.
I’m making this with turkey and dumping it into a casserole dish! So much easier!
These were really good! I have been scared of quinoa after trying to make it once and it turning out not great at all. I’ve been looking for a healthy alternative to my mom’s broccoli cheese casserole, and this hit all the flavor notes! I made them in a standard size muffin tin, and I thought they came out ever so slightly dry. Next time I am going to add about 1/2 cup chicken broth and maybe 1-2 tablespoons of sour cream to the mixture before baking it to help it stick together and hopefully be moist and creamy inside.
I made these for my family and they inhaled them! They were absolutely delicious, thank you for an amazing recipe 🙂
Is it imperative that teh quinoa rest to room temperature?
Candace – it’s best not to use hot or overly warm quinoa because it makes the mixture a bit harder to work with.
These are delicious. I made mine w 2 medium grated zucchini instead of broccoli, 1.5 c cheddar and 2 egg whites. You could even bake in a casserole dish as a side! I’m looking forward to trying variations – great for my kid’s lunch boxes, too! Thanks for sharing.
I made these tonight and cooked the quinoa in chicken broth. Made half with ham and half with leftover pulled pork from the smoker. The kids (3, 5, 14) ate them up and there were no leftovers. A little bummed, I wanted to share them with friends at work. Served with cottage cheese and salad and clementines. Thanks! I made your summer garden soup last night and brought the leftovers to work today. Everyone loved it and asked for the recipe.
Made these for dinner and they were delish! I used a regular sized muffin pan and cooked for about 30 mins in oven. They are definitely easier to pop out when they are Luke warm. I served with mashed potatoes, and a nice light arugula salad. Can’t wait to take my leftovers to work! Your recipes are awesome 🙂
Hi Melanie,
Can I just say I love these quinoa bites. I’m kind of addicted to adding knew flavors and textures to them. My latest favorite is a southwestern twist with an avocado dressing on top. SO delicious! Here is a link if you want another version of these awesome bites. Thanks for the recipe!
http://dealstomeals.blogspot.com/2013/09/southwestern-quinoa-bites.html
We love ours with a big salad! I also like to add a few tablespoons of Dijon mustard, onion powder, and granulated garlic to the recipe.
When making quinoa, I always give them a quick toast in a dry skillet, then rinse them before cooking. It gives it such a nice flavor.
Mel, these are awesome, my family loves them! Thanks for sharing
Do you serve anything with the bites, like a meat, vegetable, toast, etc.? It doesn’t seem like just the bites would be enough for a full meal.
Hi Hilarie – yep, I serve them usually with fresh fruit, cottage cheese and even sometimes these golden skillet potatoes. You could serve them with any side dish that you can whip up – fresh fruits and vegetables are a great go-to.
I, too, subbed. I didn’t have the exact ingredients. I added green onions because I love them. These were so delicious! Added plus, I didn’t have to fry them like you have to do with Quinoa Patties! Don’t get me wrong, I adore the patties but they can be a hassle to make. These are perfect! I just took another batch out of the oven so I have to get back to eating. Toodles!
Great recipe! I adapted it completely though, well subbed. I used 1 1/2 cups shredded bbq chicken, 2 cups of corn on the cobs(well just the kernels that I sliced off) and about 1/2 cups of cilantro chopped. Oh and I used 2 cups of cheddar & Monterey jack cheese. I needed to “mask” the 4th of July leftovers from those who refuse to eat reheated meat. They never even knew!
Just made these using leftover quinoa, left out the ham since I didn’t have any on hand, and used a mix of sharp cheddar and Colby-jack for the cheeses. Fabulous! Mine didn’t brown, despite cooking an extra 8 minutes, but that’s probably just my funky oven. I sprayed my nonstick mini muffin pan and they popped out with just a quick butter-knife pry around the edge. They were delicious fresh from the oven and reheated quickly in the microwave they were just as good. I froze a handful too and am sure they’ll be great.
I’m super lazy about washing muffin pans, so next time I think I’ll just make these in a baking dish (9×9 or so), bake a bit longer and cut into little squares. And I can imagine lots of delicious variations: sausage and kale, spinach and feta… mmmmm. Thanks for another great recipe!