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Buckwheat is a superfood that you may not know about. It’s definitely under-appreciated and under-utilized in the US, but everyone should know how healthy and scrumptious it is! I love it more than rice or quinoa. It’s also completely gluten free!
It’s name is a little deceiving because it’s called buckwheat but there is no relation to wheat – none whatsoever! It’s also just as simple to make as white rice. My son loves buckwheat with this mushroom gravy on it and I love it plain with butter (pickle on the side of course).
We’ll be rolling out some really yummy buckwheat recipes like this buckwheat with mushrooms so be sure to pin this one for later! Also, read on to learn why buckwheat is so good for you! 🙂
Ingredients for Basic Buckwheat:
1 cup toasted buckwheat groats
1 3/4 cups filtered water
1-2 Tbsp butter, to taste (I used unsalted butter)
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste (I used sea salt)
Note:
I love this buckwheat sold at the Russian store because it usually comes pre-toasted and is golden brown in color. If the buckwheat you buy is not toasted, you can quickly toast it on a dry skillet over medium heat 4-5 min until it is golden brown in color then remove from heat and proceed with the recipe.
How to Cook Buckwheat (Stove-top Method):
1. Rinse and drain buckwheat well.
2. In a medium sauce pan, combine buckwheat groats with 1 3/4 cups water, 1 Tbsp butter and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a simmer then cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer on low for 18-20 minutes. Just like with rice, you should hear hissing while it’s cooking and it will get quiet when it’s done. Stir in additional 1 Tbsp butter if desired.
How to Cook Buckwheat (Rice Cooker Method):
Transfer all ingredients to the rice cooker and set on the white rice setting. When it’s done, add an extra Tablespoon of butter if desired and stir in 1-2 tsp water to moisten up the kernels if they seem a little dry. Serve hot.
Buckwheat Nutrition info:
Buckwheat is a great source of Potassium, Fiber, Protein, Iron, and Vitamin B6. It is also a good source of manganese, magnesium, copper, and zinc, which are great for the immune system. Yeah it’s definitely good for you and much healthier than white rice. 🙂
How to Cook Buckwheat Kasha
Ingredients
- 1 cup toasted buckwheat groats
- 1 3/4 cups filtered water
- 1-2 Tbsp unsalted butter, to taste (I used unsalted butter)
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste (I used sea salt)
Instructions
Stove-top Method:
- Rinse and drain buckwheat well.
- In a medium sauce pan, combine buckwheat with 1 3/4 cups water, 1 Tbsp butter and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a simmer then cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer on low for 18-20 min. Just like with rice, you should hear hissing while cooking and it will get quiet when done. Stir in additional 1 Tbsp butter if desired.
Rice Cooker Method:
- Transfer all ingredients to the rice cooker and set on the white rice setting. When done, add an extra Tbsp of butter if desired and stir in 1-2 tsp water to moisten up the kernels if they seem dry. Serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition Info: Buckwheat is a great source of Potassium, Fiber, Protein, Iron, Vitamin B6 and Magnesium. It is also a good source of manganese, magnesium, copper, and zinc, which are great for the immune system. Yeah it's definitely good for you.
Do you get creative with buckwheat (grechka)? I’d love to hear how you prepare and serve it. Are you a gravy lover too? Let me know in a comment below. I’m always looking for new ways to cook this stuff up.
I love buckwheat with boiled milk in the morning especially with almond milk and honey! Yummy
Mmmm honey and almond milk sound great!
I love buckwheat! Thanks for bringing the spotlight to it!
It’s such a wonderful and healthy food and I don’t think it gets nearly the attention that it deserves.
As all proper Ukrainians, I love buckwheat! Recently I purchased buckwheat (not from the Russian store, as usual and a big mistake). As I cooked, the grains turned to mush even before the water would boil. I tried again. Same thing! And again…
Reading your post I realized that they must not have been roasted. Thank you for that tid-bit, I will try roasting them and see what happens.
If it’s really mushy, you might add a little less water too, but yes toasting the kernels definitely helps 🙂
This is one of the greatest meal. But we put butter is already ready. Anyway buckwheat is one of most useful meat for your body and soul. And today buckwheat is one of the product which is GMO free. You can mix buckwheat kasha with everything you want ex. meat, tomato sauce, kidney beans, even gherkins. I like kasha with onion and garlic, fry a bit 2-3 minutes and then add to kasha and the of course butter a bit. Also buckwheat has a lot of folium acid, if you want to have children eat with your husband eat buckwheat kasha and be always strong 🙂
I agree there are so many health benefits for the entire family. Thank you so much for sharing how you like to prepare it 🙂
I love buckwheat. Unfortunately my husband doesn’t, so I don’t get to eat it very often. I do remember eating it like cereal as a child – with just milk over it (of course after it was cooked). I preferred it warm, but my brother liked it with cold milk.
Maybe you could sneak some barley into his diet, like with the chicken and buckwheat kotleti that I posted today? 🙂 https://natashaskitchen.com/2015/03/03/chicken-and-buckwheat-patties-kotleti/
I just made grechka in my pressure cooker yesterday, and I love how it holds it shape very well and cooked through, when I did it on stove top I didn’t like how it all falls apart. I did use less water though 1:1 ratio and just a tiny bit more water maybe 1\8 c extra, topped with butter during cooking, high pressure for 4 mins, then 10min Natural pressure release. Great results!
My rice cooker is similar in that the kernels turn out more formed and firm than on the stove. I haven’t tried making this in a pressure cooker. Thank you so much for sharing your tips with me for how you made it! I’m sure someone else will have questions about making it in a pressure cooker :).
Обожаю гречку! But my husband not so much. So I just mix some buckwheat with jasmine rice so both of us can enjoy. 🙂
I totally love the idea of mixing buckwheat with rice. That is brilliant!
My mom makes buckwheat kind of like plov. I used to hate the taste and smell of buckwheat until she made it like that. I might have to ask her how she makes it and share it with you.
That would be wonderful!! That is brilliant to make it like plov, especially if it made a buckwheat fan out of you 🙂
i love Buckwheat too, enjoy it plain or with beans, spices, salsa, and sour cream, soooo good. Thanks for showing me how to toast it.
Hi Sheri! Thanks for sharing how you like buckwheat. All of that sounds so good and now I’m hungry all over again 😉
I am in love with buckwheat. I am holding you responsible Natasha – I can’t get enough of it. And thanks to all your lovely respondents I know now about buckwheat for breakfast.
Good thing its good for you, Ian! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed this recipe.
My husband loves to cook steak and have buckwheat on the side. That’s usually what he cooks for both of us when IM Working late. Buckwheat with gravy sounds delicious, what kind do you do?
Steak and buckwheat sounds sooooo good! I’m so glad you asked about the gravy! I just posted my easy mushroom gravy today :). Here’s the recipe: https://natashaskitchen.com/2015/02/18/easy-mushroom-gravy-recipe/
I always used to go back to your original buckwheat post and omitted the mushrooms (when I wanted plain buckwheat), and now I have a new post to go to. 🙂 I need to make buckwheat more often-I really do love it!
I remember eating warm buckwheat with milk when I was younger…kind of like oatmeal?
I’ve had several people say they enjoy it with milk. I haven’t tried that, but it does sound like a nice and healthy breakfast! 🙂
I love love buckwheat!! I like to eat it in many ways! I like it with milk, just cook buckwheat how you usually do it and then when I heat it up the next day I add milk just like cereal. I also cook soup with buckwheat (similar to rice soup) and I love to eat it with warm fresh bread with butter, Yumm!
Mmm sounds so homey 🙂
We love grechka at our house. I usually make it with mushrooms, or buckwheat soup, and I’ve also tried stuffing a bird and baking it in oven. All very good if you’re a fan of grechka. Now, I know some people cook it in milk but I did not like that at all. I guess it depends on what you’re used to.
I haven’t tried cooking it in milk but I sure love all of your suggestions! Thank you so much for sharing! How do you make the soup? We’re big fans of buckwheat in our family.
I believe olgasflavorfactory has the soup recipe. She uses beef, I usually do it with whatever I have, chicken or Turkey.
Thank you so much for sharing that! 🙂
Buckwheat is the best like cereal, I just make sure that I don’t cook it with butter. THE best breakfast food for me! Love it! 8)
So you just cook it in water? Do you add milk or just enjoy it plain?
Thank you for posting this recipe. I actually bought some buck wheat from Russian store cause my hubby is a fan of it. And I haven’t made any. For I wasn’t sure how. I don’t like buckwheat in general and the smell too. But with gravy I can comprimise. Now how to get my kids to try it too.
My son eats it with gravy over the top :). Have you tried giving it to them with gravy? I’ve also snuck it into meat patties (katleti) and my son ate them up!
I love buckwheat! I was so excited when I found it here in the US.
I cook it with chicken drumsticks a lot. I pour biking hot water over buckwheat and cover for 5min, then transfer it to a baking dish, place chicken drumsticks on top. Then place some pieces of butter on top of everything and season to taste with pepper, Veggetta seasoning, and some herbs. Cover with foil and cook @350 for about an hour. Take away the foil 5mun before taking out of the oven.
I love how buckwheat gets cooked in the chicken juices… So yummy 🙂
That’s brilliant and I absolutely love your idea! How much buckwheat to water do you use? I’m so excited to give it a try!
I use 2 cups of water per each 1 cup of buckwheat.
Thank you so much Nadya!! 🙂
Hi Natasha, Thank you so much for this recipe. I was waiting for it :-). I can see the the whole Mendeleev Table is in a grain of buckwheat. Great food! may I ask, how should I adapt it for oven cooking? Thank you,Adi
I don’t currently have any oven-baked buckwheat recipes but I do love the idea of making a casserole buckwheat recipe. Thanks for the idea! I’ll add it to my list of things to experiment with 🙂
Thank you so much Natasha
I stuff duckling with buckweat, i mix buckweat with spices i like , diced onions, grated carrots and stuff the duck with it. Then i bake it in the oven. Buckweat comes out soooo flavorful and delicious,. Iprior to stuffing the duck i cover it generously with mayo,&blk pepper inside and outside, that way the meat is flavorful also
That is a great idea! I love that you are using buckwheat as stuffing and I’m sure it tastes amazing!
Mix about two cups (cooked and cooled) with an egg, press into a pie plate and bake 20 minutes. It’s a fantastic crust for a quiche. I do it with millet all the time.
That’s brilliant! I love it! Thank you for sharing your creative idea! 🙂
I love how you posted this! Putting grains like this into dishes is SO EASY and yet it packs the meal with so much good nutrition. Love this!
Thank you Shelby :). That’s so true! We use buckwheat quite a bit in our house and like to get creative with it :).
My family loves kasha. I have also cooked it in broth for extra flavor and have topped it with either sautéed onions or mushrooms. A dollop of sour cream on the side is also yummy.
I love the idea of cooking it in broth and adding onions with mushrooms. We love the mushroom version too (I have a recipe posted in the first paragraph of this post). I also love it plain. Buckwheat is just great all around! 🙂
I love buckwheat! I made some just yesterday. Thanks for the recipe.
Me too!! I crave it every time I look at the pictures. I’m a major fan 🙂