Buffalo Quinoa Bites

If you're craving some buffalo sauce for an appetizer but want to be on the healthier side, these buffalo quinoa bites that are loaded with quinoa, cannellini beans, cheese and bread crumbs are perfect.

Who doesn't love appetizers? A lot of times when Lauren and I go out to dinner, we end up ordering appetizers or a few small plates to share so we can try different things. The problem is, lots of times appetizers aren't the best for you. Well at least the appetizers I like aren't the best. That was until I cam across some buffalo quinoa bites from Half Baked Harvest.

I always have a huge bag of quinoa to use when we make make-ahead salads for lunch but I never thought to use it to make a crispy ball that is dipped in buffalo sauce. Silly me honestly, as I've used it for veggie burgers which in a way is the same thing.

Now if you're looking around at different quinoa bite recipes, most just have you pan-fry them. Again though, the point of these quinoa bites is eating something that tastes great but is also healthy. So I decided to bake them and they're just as crispy as if you pan-fried them and fewer calories to boot. So if you're looking for a healthy appetizer that's easy to put together, give these a try.

Jump to:

• Recipe Ingredients
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• Do I Have to Use Cannellini Beans?
• Are these Quinoa Bites Gluten-Free?
• Can I Use Store-Bought Buffalo Sauce?
• Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
• Similar Recipes
• Buffalo Quinoa Bites

Recipe Ingredients

• Unsalted butter
• Olive oil
• Hot sauce
• Quinoa
• Cannellini beans
• Panko bread crumbs
• Sharp cheddar cheese
• Egg
• Spices - salt, garlic powder, black pepper
• Ranch or blue cheese dressing

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Make buffalo sauce by combining melted butter, olive oil and hot sauce in medium bowl, whisking to combine.
2. Preheat the oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, combine the quinoa, beans, bread crumbs, cheese, egg, salt, pepper and 4 tablespoon of the buffalo sauce.
3. Use and ice cream scoop or spoon to scoop out 1-2 tablespoon of the quinoa mixture to form into balls. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
4. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Gently toss the quinoa bites in the buffalo sauce and serve with some blue cheese or ranch dressing.

Do I Have to Use Cannellini Beans?

No but I'd try to stick to a white bean as it's a similar profile so navy beans, great northern beans, butter beans and garbanzo beans make for a good substitute.

Are these Quinoa Bites Gluten-Free?

While the quinoa is gluten-free, the bread crumbs aren't. However most grocery stores sell gluten-free bread crumbs these days.

Can I Use Store-Bought Buffalo Sauce?

Yes! If your already have some store-bought buffalo sauce, by all means just use that instead of making your own.

Pro Tips/Recipe Notes

• You control the spice level of the buffalo sauce based off how much butter/oil you mix with the hot sauce. If you want it hotter, use less butter/oil and if you want it cooler use more.
• You can replace the cannellini beans with any other white bean if you don't have them on hand.
• Use an ice cream scoop to get consistently sized buffalo quinoa bites.
• After baking the quinoa bites, be careful with tossing them in the buffalo sauce or you will break them up.

Similar Recipes

• Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash
• Buffalo Chicken Pizza
• Buffalo Falafel
• Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Salad

If you’ve tried these buffalo quinoa bites or any other recipe on Chisel & Fork, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube to see more tasty meals and anything else I'm up to.