Quinoa has 368 kcal and 14.1 g protein per 100 g cooked. It provides all 9 essential amino acids, making it one of the few plant-based complete proteins. Dry quinoa is ~368 kcal per 100 g and triples in weight when cooked. Rinse before cooking to remove bitter saponin coating.
How should I track Quinoa, uncooked?
Quinoa, uncooked is high in magnesium. The key to tracking Quinoa, uncooked is knowing whether you are logging dry or cooked weight. Grains absorb 2–3 times their weight in water during cooking, so 80 g of dry rice becomes about 200 g cooked. Mixing up dry and cooked values can throw your calorie count off by 200–300%. A meta-analysis (Reynolds et al., Lancet 2019) linked higher whole grain intake to reduced mortality — but only accurate tracking captures the real intake. Weigh on a kitchen scale before cooking and use the matching nutrition values.