Superfood Chocolate Quinoa Bark.
You know what I have found surprising?
That throughout this entire month of January I was able to stick with my goal of showing you all healthy, colorful recipes, AND that these healthy recipes have also been some of my FAVORITE recipes to date. I guess this isn’t actually all that surprising, since I truly love healthy foods. But since I cook for the people around me, I also end up cooking a lot of meats, grains and um CHEESE…but I really don’t mind, especially the grains and cheese, and duh, obviously the chocolate too!
So we’ve made it to the last week in January, and you guys… I don’t plan on stopping the healthy eats here. I’ve always tried to have a good balance of healthy to decadent foods here on the blog… and don’t worry, decadent will be back… next week, with lots of fun Super Bowl eats. I can’t lie, I’m pretty excited to show you all those recipes too!!
Anyway, let me tell you about this superfood bark. I don’t have a whole lot of rambling time today since Asher is literally demanding my attention. Clearly I am having a hard time balancing the whole sister watching and work doing thing. The struggle is REAL guys.
SIDE NOTE: I totally got to pull out Asher’s tooth the other night. That was a first for me. I think I have pulled a few of my own baby teeth, but that was a long while ago. The girl was PUMPED (this is only her second tooth that has fallen out), and I’m so excited for the tooth fairy to come! I have to say, I was pretty excited to get to BE the tooth fairy too. BUT… then she fell asleep, and I went into work mode and forgot all about the stupid tooth. OH NO! The poor girl woke up to nothing under her pillow and I felt so bad. I made up some excuse that the tooth fairy takes Saturday night off and that he would come on Sunday. And then I went out and bought a new sparkly nail polish and put that + a dollar under her pillow to make up for it. Thankfully that worked and she was very pleased come Monday morning. Few.
Ok,so back to this superfood chocolate quinoa bark!
The bark is KILLER in so many ways. For one, it’s full of all the things that are best for our bodies… quinoa, seeds, nuts, maple syrup (or honey), coconut oil, coffee (if you are into it, which I so am, I love the flavor it adds), and super dark chocolate. Second, it’s SO incredibly quick and easy to make. You just add all the ingredients to a pot and set it over the stove until they are melted together. Then stir in all the dry ingredients until combined. Spread everything out into an even layer on a baking sheet and bake until crisp. Top with chocolate and then chill to allow the chocolate to set.
Done and DONE.
I got a little fancy and added some cacao nibs + dried rose hips to the top of the chocolate, but you could add flaky sea salt, another drizzle of chocolate or whatever sounds good to you. Totally adaptable to your tastes, or whatever you might have on hand.
And it’s as simple as that. For those of you wondering about using raw quinoa, I know if sounds weird, but I promise it works for this recipe. The quinoa gets toasted and caramelized in the oven. The end result is perfectly crunchy and sweet quinoa. Basically, we’re treating the quinoa just like the seed that it is (yes, quinoa is technically a seed and not a grain) and toasting it like you would any other seed.
Just try it, you guys will love this healthy dessert! It’s perfect for when a sweet craving hits but you don’t want like… a giant piece of chocolate cake… OK so you probably really do want a giant piece of chocolate cake, BUT you don’t really want to go there. This is the treat to satisfy those cravings and leave you feeling amazing from the inside out.
Completely corny, but it’s actually so true!! Example: my mother is currently on this kick of no added sugars. She’s convinced that cutting way back on sugar will keep her moving till she’s at least 100 (she’s insane like that). Well, maybe not? Anyway, she CANNOT live without chocolate, she just physically cannot do it, so she has been loving this bark (and all the other chocolate treats I’ve shared this month… especially the one coming up on Friday!). This bark is her GO-TO after lunch treat, and I’m right there with her.
It is kind of addictive.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Superfood Chocolate Quinoa Bark.
By halfbakedharvest
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: bark, chocolate, quinoa
The bark is KILLER in so many ways. For one, it's full of all the things that are best for our bodies... quinoa, seeds, nuts, maple syrup (or honey), coconut oil, coffee (if you are into it, which I so am, I love the flavor it adds), and super dark chocolate.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup (either works great I like the maple flavor I think best)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules (optional but I LOVE the flavor)
- good pinch of flaky sea salt
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa rinsed + dried
- 1/2 cup raw almonds roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup raw cashews roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup mixed raw seeds (I used hemp seeds flax seeds, chia seeds + sesame seeds)
- 12 ounces vegan or dark chocolate chopped (I like to use 92% dark chocolate)
- Cacao nibs + dried roses for topping (optional)
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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In a large microwave safe bowl, melt together the honey or maple and coconut oil on power level high, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth (this took about 1 minute for me). Whisk in the vanilla, coffee granules and salt.
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Add the quinoa, almonds, cashews and mixed seeds. Stir until all the dry ingredients are evenly coated in the wet ingredients. Spread the mixture out in an even, thin layer on the prepared baking sheet.
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Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the the bark is golden in color and crisp. You'll know the bark is done when the cashews and quinoa look caramelized and are a deep golden brown in color.
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While the bark is baking, melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave, heating on 30 second intervals and stirring after each interval until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Spread the melted chocolate over the bark in an even layer. Sprinkle with cacao nibs.
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Place the pan in the fridge to set, about 30 minutes (or the freezer for 15). Remove and break into pieces. Store in a sealed container in the fridge.
I mean, clearly.
pretty sure the tooth fairy paid me some delayed visits and i never got nail polish as interest! (; anyways, this bark sounds like such a good snack- crunch and protein to give it some heft, but with chocolate too because chocolate is happiness.
Hmmm a chocolate bark that is good for you? Come to mama!
Such beautiful pics, makes me wanna go and make me some bark right now!
Oh no. Not the “no added sugars” thing. My dad is currently on that. Not a good time. BUT this might help!
Thanks Tieghan 🙂
This is inspired Tieghan! Can’t wait to try it…
I love all your recipes this month too!! Maybe you should make a year out of it 🙂
I was laughing when I was reading your Asher tooth story, totally forgot to put a dollar for our first tooth 🙂 Ha-ha, but now you will never forget even with your own child. And now you know how it feels to have your own child, they never leave you alone 🙂
Loving this chocolate bark, and with all the seeds.. I need to go and find really dark chocolate!
Oh wow, Tieghan…this is so my thing ! I love it. Your pics are amazing as always…. I do have one problem though… I have a feeling I am going to devour all of the bark by myself ! 🙂
PS. I made your Slow Cooker Butter Chicken last night….what a winner 🙂 Thanks so much for always having the best recipes ever !
I’ve been loving your healthy recipes and am really excited to get making some of them – this bark included!
It looks so good! I love how you’re devoting the month to healthy food! Can’t wait to try!
(btw, quick grammar note as I am a teacher– you want to use “addictive” where you’ve been using “addicting”. )
I had a toasted quinoa chocolate bar over Christmas and LOVED it! The texture was amazing (plus, excuse to eat more chocolate?). This looks so good!!! Love the coffee addition too.
Any good ideas on how to dry to quinoa after the rinse? Is a low oven a no-no?
HI! I just let it drain for 5 minutes and that is normally dry enough for my purposes. A low oven temp (150 degrees F or lower) would also work though! Let me know if you have more questions, thanks!
This looks amazing. What temp are you supposed to bake at? Can’t seem to find it…
So sorry! It is 350 degrees F.
infreakingcredible….. i make the quinoa brittle all the time, but this…. wow. gorgeous idea!!
I wonder if chopped dried cranberries would be good sprinkled on the top of the chocolate to add a little tart/sweetness?
I think that would be a great addition! 🙂
in love with this…..IN LOVE!
This sounds delicious. I’ll definitely be trying to make this!
S .x http://ramblingsofayoungprgirl.blogspot.com
Great recipe for my birthday! Thank you!
This looks so beautiful! I love a good dark chocolate treat, so this is perfect!!
Bake at what temp? Thanks!
So sorry! It is 350 degrees F.
Healthy or not… I think this looks positively addictive.
I’d love to bake this asap- but I can’t seem to find the baking temperature..could you help me out? Thanks!
it is 350 degrees F. Sorry!
I had to make this tonight, and I am in trouble…I can’t stop eating this deliciousness. I also wondered what temp to bake this at, but I set the oven to 350 and went from there. 25 minutes…probably could’ve gone a bit longer.
I just wanted to say how much I LOVE your photography! Your photos have been mentioned several times in a Styling & Props forum over at FBP. We all keep using your pictures as example! They’re really beautiful!
AWE! Thank you so much, Caitlin! That means a lot and I am THRILLED to be use as an example, how cool! Hope you are having a great week!
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it. If I want to add coconut, do you think I should try mixing it in before baking or just sprinkle it on top? Thanks for the advice 🙂
HI! I think either will work great! If you want it toasted, mix it in before baking. If you like it raw, sprinkle it raw on top. Let me know if you have other questions. THANKS!
I can’t live without chocolate either and I love this healthy way to get my daily fix! 🙂
Chocolate for the win! 🙂
So, I saw this recipe while at work yesterday and couldn’t resist making it last night. To be honest, I was a little skeptical while it was in the oven, because the edges seemed to brown much more than the middle. Boy oh boy was I proven wrong. This stuff is pure gold!!! My husband and I couldn’t stop snacking on it post-dinner and had to eventually force ourselves to put it away. Thanks for the awesome recipe 🙂
SO happy you love the bark! THANKS!
Wow! I actually have all the ingredients in my pantry. Making this today.
The tooth fairy story cracks me up. I used to forget all the time, so I would tell my kids that since we live way out in the boonies it takes the tooth fairy longer to find us!
Or I wouldn’t be able to find the darn tooth under their pillow so I ‘d just put the silver dollar under there…then my kids would wonder why she didn’t take the tooth. I don’t make a very good Easter Bunny either. Thanks for the Super Food snack!
haha! Thank you so much, Tiffany!!
Just wondering what temp you set your oven to for the caramelization step? Read and re-read…didn’t see an oven temp mentioned.
Hey Cindy, it is 350 degrees. Maybe you just scrolled by it, but it is in the first step. Sorry it it was hard to find. Hope you love this!
Oh my goodness! Looks so good!
Thanks Jena! Hopping you are having a great week!
Just made this bark….OUTSTANDING !! Don’t pass it up! Will be in my Valentine Day gift bags!!
On my, I mean, OH MY! This is too good to put to words. Tieghan you have made a recipe I can tell my two grandsons are “chocolate seeds” and they will ask for seconds, or “make us another batch”. I do not normally post messages but I had to ‘stop by’ and tell you, this is way beyond fantastic. I would write more but the pan of Quinoa bark needs to be, ummm, stored, ummm, away. Yea, that’s it! I have to take care of the left overs! Thank you for sharing! I mean it, thank you!!!
SO happy you love this bark! THANKS!
You say in instructions to put mixture in prepared sheet but you don’t say how to prepare it. I noticed after I made these that you lined your baking sheet with parchment. I just sprayed my sheet with Pam. They were a little hard to get out but delicious!
oops so sorry! I added the step to the directions. So happy you love these!
This is like…. a really TASTY healthy version of a crunch bar! I used half maple syrup and half honey, I added the coffee of course… and ooooh my gosh, it is so good! I am definitely making this again. Yummmm, one of my favorite recipes. Coconut is also a really good addition. I found your blog the other day when I googled quinoa burger recipes and yours popped up. Since then I have gone through a lot of your recipes. They look scrumptious!
SO happy you loved it! THANKS!
This recipe is amazing and so addicting! I love the dark chocolate!
I had a question though… The wax paper stuck to the entire bottom… regardless I still are it!! How do I prevent this from sticking?
HI!! Sorry the paper stuck, mine does to. You just have to carefully peel the paper away from the bark. You could try spraying the paper with cooking spray and that might help too. Let me know if you have any other questions.
THANK YOU!
Oh Yeah!, Looking for healthier snacks for kids (eh hem,…& me) & this was great! Made last week. Used parchment paper no problem. Once chocolate cooled & set, just pulled whole thing out of pan put on cutting board & chopped away/broke apart in triangle-ish chunks. Used sesame seeds & sunflower seeds for the seed ingredients, that was the only thing different from yours. But great thing about this, can throw in whatever you like.
great recipe!
Chocolate fix = Done.
THANK YOU! So happy you love this recipe! 🙂
I just had to follow up with great news of how successful this recipe is!!!
OMGosh! I begged/flogged my ailing oven to please work just one more time for this snack. I made it the way you did….but sprouted the quinoa first and dried it in the dehydrator. The only chocolate I had was Ghiradelli bakers but then I found some dark chocolate covered toffee, bashed it about a bit; adding it to the melted chocolate right at the very end. I sprinkled vanilla bean salt across the top for the finishing touch. Now its all gone….making more sooooooon!
hehe! SO thrilled you love this bark! Hope you had a great weekend!
I’ve made this twice in the past week…it’s that good! I even subbed the almonds/cashews for different nuts and it still came out great. I sprinkled some sea salt on top too and it’s addicting! Thanks for an awesome and creative recipe!
SO happy you love this recipe, thank you!
I made this today and I’m obsessed!!!!! It’s SO GOOD. I love finding healthier desserts and this one is my favorite yet. I added sea salt as a topping which kicked it out of the park for me. so good. thank you!!
This is so wonderful! I love it. It’s so addicting. Non stick foil worked great!
THANK YOU!
I made these and they came out great. I gave them to my 1.5 year old son and the next morning his diaper was full of Quinoa seeds. I looked up nutrition facts about Quinoa which said thatcan certainly benefit from all of the nutrients, provided that the seeds are cracked or partially ground!! Quinoa seeds have a shell and if they are not softened or cracked- you do not enjoy the great nutrients.
I have just finished making this bark and honestly cannot stop eating it long enough for the chocolate to fully harden. I Love it! I used 72% dark chocolate instead of the 92%…. sweet tooth . Plus added the cacao nibs on top along with sea salt.I cannot wait for my hubby to taste it. I think this will be my breakfast snack for the next few days! Thanks for a great recipe, I will be making it for my mom next time she visits.
( I have 3 kiddos and the tooth fairy forgot to bring money once to ALL of them.. oops.)
This is such a gorgeous post! I can only just imagine how addictive this bark is, I love the idea of using toasted quinoa.
It is pretty addictive.. but a good addictive !! 🙂 Thanks Louise
Do you have to soak the chia seeds before using them?
Hey Lauren,
You do not need to soak the chia seeds before using. Hope you love this!
This looks and sounds amazing, yum!
xx Kelly
Sparkles and Shoes
Thank you so much, Kelly!
Would it be possible to use cooked quinoa for this recipe? I accidentally made way too much quinoa for dinner last night, and I’m trying to use it up!
Hey Amelia! Honestly I have never tried that. I am sure it will work fine, but it will just not be as crunchy, still good I would think though. Let me know how it goes, thank you!
Looks really good. What size baking pan do you use? Thanks.
Hi Norma! I used a baking sheet pan with sides. I believe it measures 18×13 inches, but any sheet pan with sides will work. Let me know if you have questions. Thank you!!
Where is the nutrition information about this recipe? I couldn’t find it.
Hi Heidi! I actually do not calculate the nutritional information of my dishes, but if you would like to see the calories, fat, etc., I recommend putting the ingredients into a online calculator and dividing it by the serving size! I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions! (:
I would like to make these and take them on vacation–do you think you could freeze them? Thanks, Kristine
HI! Yes, I think you can freeze these and then pack them up for vacation. I am sure that will be great! Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
The recipe says to keep the bark in the fridge. Curious if it’s because some of the ingredients might perishable or is it because of texture? I’m considering making this to mail in a care package but wasn’t sure how it will hold up. Looks delicious, thanks!
Hey Julia! It’s just how we prefer it. You can ship this! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
This is really good, and really easy to make. I decided to leave off the cocoa nibs, and sprinkled some flaked sea salt on top and it was great.
That is so amazing to hear! Thank you so much for trying this one Shannon! xTieghan
Do you frost both sides of the bark with chocolate or just the top? The photos look like there’s chocolate on both sides, but maybe that’s due to the toasting. Just wondering.
Hey Lynn,
I only did one side with chocolate:) I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan