Millet Recipes,
Easy and Delicious

Millet recipes are easy! Millet cooks in about 25 minutes, and it goes well with sauces, herbs, nuts and seeds. Millet can serve as a base for stir fry vegetables, make creamy soups, or create a pilaf or polenta.

Millet is a non-gluten grain, high in protein (for a grain), B vitamins like niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, and iron, magnesium and potassium.

There is only one issue with millet: it is high on the glycemic index. That means it will raise your blood sugar quickly.

I notice that after a vegetarian meal with millet, I am in the kitchen an hour later, looking for a snack, and my husband is right behind me! Since protein slows down the blood sugar response, I started adding a slice of turkey or fish to my millet meals and now I felt more satisfied with the meal. I tried adding in beans for the protein, but it wasn't enough to keep me full. So, listen to your body and see how millet feels for you.

There are 2 ways to cook millet recipes. One is the pilaf, more like rice, and the other is a creamy polenta style. 1 cup of millet to 2 cups of water will create the pilaf style. 1 cup of millet to 3 cups of water creates a polenta style dish. You can put creamy polenta in a casserole dish and it will set up as it cools. You can then slice it and add a sauce or lightly fry it.

Soak and wash your millet

For all millet recipes, I recommend washing it well. Add water to a bowl of millet and swirl it around, and pour off the water into a fine mesh strainer. You can cook it now, you you can soak it overnight. The overnight soak removes the phytates that may block mineral absorption.

The amount of millet will expand from 1 cup to 4 cups as you cook it.

Millet Recipes

Savory Millet Recipe

2 tsp olive oil

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1-2 diced carrot

1/4 cup onions, diced

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 cup millet

2 cups water

Heat olive oil in a pot and add onions, saute 2 minutes, then add carrots, seeds and rosemary. Saute a bit, then add millet and saute until millet smells toasted. Add water. Bring all to a boil then lower flame and add a lid. Let simmer 25 minutes. turn off heat and let stand 5 minutes. serve.

Millet-Cauliflower Mash

1 cup millet, washed

2 cups cauliflower, cut in small pieces

3 cups water, vegie or chicken stock

2 bay leaves

2 tsp thyme

1/2 - 1 tsp sea salt

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp flax oil or olive oil

Put millet and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Then add in cauliflower, bay, thyme, garlic and sea salt. Lower flame, cook 25 minutes. Turn off heat and let stand for 5 mintes. When done, add 2 Tbsp flax or olive oil and mash it up with a potato masher.

Mexican Millet Recipe

1 cup millet

2 cups water

1/2 avocado

1 tbsp dried cumin

fresh cilantro

1 cup corn, cooked

1/2 cup black beans, cooked (you can substitute other beans like red or pinto beans)

sea salt and pepper to taste

1-2 Tbsp Lemon juice, fresh

6-8 black olives, sliced

Add water and millet in a pot with cumin. bring to a boil. lower to simmer, cover the pot and let simmer 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes. When done, transfer millet to a big serving dish and let it cool a bit as you chop the avocadointo bite size pieces. Wash and dice cilantro leaves and stems. (I learned from cook Daisy Fuentes that in Puerto Rico they use the stems of cilantro in cooking, so now I do, too)

Add in corn, beans, black olives avocado, sea salt and lemon juice. Ready to serve.

Farmers Market Salad

In the summer, look for red ripe tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh herbs such as basil, dill, mint or parsley and make a grain and herb salad. Good for a picnic!

2-3 cups left over millet (you can use leftover savory millet from the above recipe, or make fresh millet: cook 1 cup millet in 2 cups water as in above recipes.

1 1/2 cups fresh basil, loosely packed

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cucumber, cut lengthwise and then diced

1-2 really ripe tomatoes, chopped

2 Tbsp minced onion

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

pinch cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Put the millet in a big salad bowl, chop basil and add to the millet. add in garlic, onion, cucumber, chopped tomatoes, then mix in olive oil, salt, lemon and pepper.

May you have fun experimenting with these millet recipes!

Food for thought:

"One who eats whole foods will be strong and healthy"--Okinawan Proverb

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