Do You Need To Rinse Quinoa Before Cooking?

On package directions for cooking quinoa, it usually says to rinse quinoa before cooking.  So do you need to rinse quinoa before cooking?  I say no.  I never rinse quinoa before cooking and it tastes just fine.

I used to rinse quinoa when I first started cooking it, and then one time I didn’t rinse it and didn’t notice any difference in taste or texture.  After that, I never rinsed it again.  Rinsing quinoa is just a useless extra step that wastes time.  Plus picking out the quinoa grains that are stuck in the strainer is no fun!  As someone who likes to simplify things whenever I can, I got rid of this extra step of rinsing quinoa for good.

I also did some research about rinsing quinoa just to see what other people think, and found an interesting fact: packaged quinoa doesn’t need to be rinsed, but bulk quinoa does.  The reason for rinsing is that quinoa is coated with some natural plant chemicals that make it bitter when they are not rinsed off.  So rinsing quinoa should get rid of the bitterness, plus wash away the dirt.  Packaged quinoa is already pre-rinsed, so there is no need to rinse it.

Since I always buy packaged quinoa, NOT rinsing is right for me.  However, if you buy your quinoa from a bulk bin, rinse it.