how to cook buckwheat groats

Buckwheat porridge, buckwheat "kasha" or just cooked buckwheat groats is a healthy and very nutritious garnish. You have no excuse for not using it for your dinner and even breakfast, as it is one of those meals, which can offset your diet plan. Here your will learn how to cook un-soaked buckwheat on the stove, why you can presoak buckwheat before cooking and what is the easiest way you can cook buckwheat in.

You may be interested in how you can measure buckwheat without scales.

How long do you cook buckwheat?

You do not need to overcook buckwheat porridge, as it is more healthsome in slightly undercooked way. Therefore, you see that knowing the time that will take you for making perfect buckwheat kasha is of vital importance. The first thing to be done is to determine boiling time for this groats:

How long to cook buckwheat in a pot on the stove? Cook buckwheat for about 12 to 20 minutes in a boiling water on the stove. We are talking about un-soaked buckwheat groats here.
How long do you cook buckwheat in sachets? It will take you 10 to 15 minutes to boil un-soaked buckwheat groats in sachets to full readiness.
How long do you cook presoaked buckwheat groats in a boiling water? Boil presoaked buckwheat for 5 minutes in a saucepan.

This information was listed above for those who wanted to check only cooking time for buckwheat; if you want a detailed guide how you can cook this delicious groats, please keep reading.

How to cook fluffy buckwheat groats in a pot on the stove?

How_long_to_cook_buckwheat

There are several ways to cook buckwheat on the stove; but we will go with the simplest method and at the same time most delicious one.

Boiled Buckwheat Recipe

Ingredients for the recipe: 1 cup buckwheat, 2 cups water for boiling, 1/2 tsp salt. Type: Side dish Cuisine: International Calories: 110 kcal Yield: 4 servings Prep Time: 5 min Cook Time: 20 min Ready in 25 min

Measure out necessary amount of buckwheat (information on buckwheat portions per person is down below) and look through for any remaining husk, stem etc.
Rinse buckwheat really thoroughly under running water. A great way to do it is to take a mesh strainer, put buckwheat in and rinse it through, as a final step let it drain.
The rule of thumb is you take 1 cup of buckwheat and cook it 2 cups of water. However, you only do this if you want your buckwheat porridge fully cooked. For us, the ideal way will be to take 1¾ cups of water for 1 cup of buckwheat. Put a medium sized saucepan or a pot on the high heat and bring water to boil.

Here is a tip for you: if you want to make your buckwheat extra delicious, try to cook it with any broth (veggie, chicken stock will be excellent) instead of just water.

To make your porridge more flavored and fluffy you can toast rinsed and drained buckwheat on a dry skillet for 3-4 minutes.
Add salt (at proportion 1 cup of buckwheat to ½ tsp of salt) and 1 tbsp of butter and then add toasted buckwheat groats.
When water reboils, turn down the heat on the stove, let your buckwheat simmer on a low heat under a closed lid for 12-20 minutes. Time depends on the way you want your buckwheat, you can always try it if you want. Try not to stir buckwheat porridge while it is cooking.
When all the liquid absorbs, take the pot from the stove, add additional 1 tbsp of butter, and let it stand for 5 minutes to absorb it as well.

If you follow our method you will get a great meal for dinner or even breakfast (just add some fruits, maple syrup or coconut milk), cooled buckwheat is even a great addition to salads.

Here are some questions with answers that may come up while cooking buckwheat:

Do you cook buckwheat in a boiling or in a cold water? You can cook it both ways, but when you add buckwheat into boiling water, two processes start at the same time: steaming of buckwheat and at the same time boiling.

How much does buckwheat groats yield? Buckwheat is one of those products that while cooking absorbs moisture, so 1 cup of buckwheat yields 2-2.5 cups cooked.

Do you need to rinse buckwheat before cooking? We strongly advice you not to skip this step. Always rinse through buckwheat before cooking.

Do you need to rinse cooked buckwheat? You do not need to rinse already boiled buckwheat groats.

Do you need to toast/roast buckwheat before cooking? It is not mandatory; you can skip it.

Is buckwheat gluten free? Yes, do not be fooled by the part "wheat", it is 100% gluten free, as it is a seed and it is not related to grains.

What is recommended portion size of buckwheat per person? Recommended portion of buckwheat is 60 grams per person; it is around 1/3 Metric cup of buckwheat. If you need to measure necessary amount of buckwheat grains, here is a helpful article: How to measure buckwheat without scales?

Do you need to soak buckwheat? This is up to you. Only advice we have for you is to be careful with soaking buckwheat in water for the whole night as it can go sour. Soak it for no more than for 6 hours.

When do you add salt while cooking buckwheat? We usually add salt after water in a pot boils.

How do you cook buckwheat in sachets?

You are saved if you found in your stores buckwheat packed in satchels, as it will make cooking buckwheat very easy. Before packaging buckwheat groats underwent additional processing and cleaning. Here is step-by-step guideline how you cook buckwheat in sachets in a pot on the stove:

Put a pot with 1.5 liters of water on the stove (there is a proportion 1 sachet to 1.5 liters of water) and let it boil.
After water boils, add salt, butter to your taste and then add sachet of buckwheat.
After water reboils, low the heat on your stove and cook buckwheat for 15 minutes
When the time passes, take really carefully sachet with a fork out of the pot, put it on the plate and cut it open. You can have additional tablespoon of butter with it.

Using such sachets is the easiest way you can cook your buckwheat porridge. Enjoy your meal!

If you found our article helpful, please share with your friends!