I gravitate towards the savory breakfast, even to the point of eating leftover dinner in place of waffles, pancakes, or sweet porridges. However, sometimes my sweet tooth gets the best of me. Luckily, I can make a mean bowl of breakfast porridge and amaranth is one of the ways to my sweet-breakfast heart.

Amaranth Porridge

I absolutely adore amaranth for both the grain and in floral arrangements. When growing, it’s colorful and definitely and eye-catching addition. Yet, the grain, in terms of cooking, doesn’t quite get the same love.

Amaranth takes a little know-how. It’s similar to quinoa in that it’s actually a pseudo-grain or better known as a seed. It does not, however, cook up like quinoa. Amaranth, if cooked like any other grain, becomes a bit gummy.

Amaranth has a higher level of amylopectin, a main component of starch. This component creates a slightly more gelatinous texture to the cooked grain; think sushi rice versus long-grain rice. The creamy feel of cooked amaranth lends itself well to porridges and polentas. There are ways to use amaranth in more traditional grain ways, it just takes an extra step.

The topping

I try and stick with only fruits and vegetables I can source locally but I occasionally love a good banana dish. It also helps that we almost always have bananas around thanks to a child who had a mild obsession with them for some time.

Of course, if you wanted to stick to something you could buy at the farmers market, try peaches, apples, or pears. I like all of these options for cooking in the butter/sugar mixture. You could also just load this amaranth porridge with fresh berries and call it good.

Making it vegan

This one is easy. I actually prefer this porridge with non-dairy milk such as almond or oat. Same goes for the cream on top. As for the butter, you could use coconut oil or my friend Emma recently introduced me to Miyoko’s vegan butter. It’s actually really good and a solid 1:1 for dairy butter.

[tasty-recipe id=”37982″]

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