Crispy Quinoa Buffalo Bites

I love appetizers, and would gladly opt for a cocktail style party over a sit down dinner anytime. My ‘go to’ recipe has always been this broccoli bite recipe from Stacey Snacks. They are so easy to make, just 5 ingredients, and they come fantastic every time–fan favorite.

This week we had plans to meet up with some friends at the beach to chill out, watch the sunset, eat and drink. We all decided we’d bring a healthy dish to share.

No, it wasn’t the broccoli bites!

I love to try new things and one of my favorite ingredients lately is quinoa. The health benefits of this gluten free superfood are just too great to ignore, and it really is a versatile ingredient as well. I usually make a large veggie quinoa salad  to eat throughout the week, but was looking to expand my quinoa horizons.

So sticking with the broccoli bite theme as an easy app for our beach party, I wanted to make a quinoa bite to amp up the healthiness. I found inspiration here and here, and then of course did my own thing anyway.

Recipe:

Quinoa Bites

1 cup cooked quinoa (I used white)

2 eggs

1 tbs garlic powder

1 tbs paprika

1 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)

salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Form into balls and place on parchment covered baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, turn, and bake for another 10 minutes. They should crisp up nicely.

Buffalo Dipping Sauce

1 cup plain greek yogurt

Buffalo sauce to taste

Slowly add your favorite buffalo sauce to greek yogurt, tasting occasionally until the desired flavor is reached.

Notes

If your guests all agree, add a tbs or two of the buffalo sauce to the quinoa bite mixture to give them a pop. I did not, because we have kiddies involved and I didn’t want to scare them away with any strong tastes!

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This is a very versatile recipe as the quinoa bites can easily be paired with so many sauces–I was just feeling buffalo sauce for some reason!

What’s your favorite appetizer to bring to a party?

How do you use your quinoa?

This post is linked up with Annmarie for Foodie Friday!

Also linked up with Deborah and Tina for Meatless Monday!

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