Cooking millet in the Thermomix® has one key step that rice does not need: the hot rinse. Skip it and you end up with a bitter side dish, no matter how precise your ratio and timing are.
We have been cooking millet for years as a gluten-free base. Sometimes as a side dish instead of rice, sometimes as a breakfast porridge with apple and cinnamon, sometimes as a salad base with tomato and feta. The basic recipe in the mixing bowl is always the same: 300 g millet, 1,000 g water, 15 minutes at 100°C on reverse direction and gentle stir setting. And before all that, the hot rinse.
Cooking Millet in the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 2 ✓
- 300 g millet
- 1000 g water
Instructions 0 / 3
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1
Rinse the millet.
Rinse the millet in a fine sieve under hot water until the water runs clear.
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2
Cook the millet.
Add the millet to the mixing bowl, pour in the water and cook for 15 min / 100°C / reverse direction / gentle stir setting.
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3
Serve the millet.
You can now use the cooked millet however you like, just as you would use rice.
Tip: We rinse the millet to wash off bitter compounds. You can add 1 tsp of salt to the cooking water.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why millet is rinsed with hot water before cooking
The outer surface of each millet grain carries a thin layer of saponins and tannins. Raw, this layer tastes noticeably bitter, almost soapy. Rice does not have this in the same form, which is why the direct cooking method works there. With millet, the bitter compounds run into the cooking water without rinsing and stay in the grain.
We place the 300 g of millet in a fine sieve and rinse it under hot water until the liquid running off is clear. Hot water dissolves the bitter compounds more effectively than cold, and that is the whole trick. In the Thermomix®, you can also do this directly in the simmering basket: place the basket in the empty mixing bowl, pour hot water from the kettle over it, swirl once, and leave to drain. Three rounds are usually enough.
Ratio 1 to 2.5: why it differs from rice
Millet absorbs more liquid than rice. For every 1 cup of millet we use 2.5 cups of water or stock. In weight, that gives us our 300 g millet to 1,000 g water. If you use a 1 to 2 ratio as with basmati rice, you get grainy, slightly sandy millet. If you go 1 to 3 or more, you end up with millet porridge. The sweet spot for fluffy millet as a side dish sits in between.
15 minutes at 100°C on reverse direction, gentle stir setting. Reverse direction is important, otherwise the blade breaks the soft grains into a mush. The gentle stir setting keeps the millet moving and stops it from settling on the base. Once the time is up, we leave the bowl with the lid on for a short while so the residual moisture absorbs evenly. If you use stock instead of water, do not add extra salt.
Where millet turns bitter or falls apart
Bitter aftertaste despite rinsing. This is almost always down to rinsing for too short a time or using cold water. We rinse for at least 30 seconds with hot water and check the run-off. Keep rinsing until it runs clear. With organic millet the saponin layer is often thicker, so we factor in a fourth round.
Millet breaks down to a mush. Cooking on normal direction or turning the speed up will break the grains apart. Leaving the millet to sit too long in a warm bowl also causes it to keep swelling and go soggy. Once the 15 minutes are up, we take the millet out of the bowl within 5 minutes at most.
Sweet with apple and cinnamon, savoury with mushrooms
Sweet millet breakfast. Replace the water with 800 g of milk, and add one grated apple and half a teaspoon of cinnamon to the mixing bowl. The millet takes on flavour and sweetness directly from the milk and needs no extra sugar.
Millet and mushroom pan. Replace the water with vegetable stock. After cooking, fold in 200 g of fried mushrooms, a handful of parsley, and a splash of lemon. We often eat this as a quick lunch on its own.
Millet salad with tomato and feta. Leave the cooked millet to cool, then toss with diced tomatoes, cucumber, feta, fresh mint, and an olive oil and lemon dressing. This is our summer variation, and it tastes noticeably better after a day in the fridge.
Millet as a rice side dish, quinoa cousin, and gluten-free base
Millet plays in the same league as quinoa with the Thermomix® and bulgur with the Thermomix®. Quinoa and millet are both gluten-free and provide plenty of iron. Bulgur is not gluten-free, but has a similar texture as a side dish. Anyone who knows the classic rice basic recipe can swap in millet on an almost one-to-one basis once the hot rinse is second nature.
For gluten-free meals, we like to combine the millet with our buckwheat from the Thermomix® or build it into our gluten-free recipes. Served on a plate with roasted vegetables and a herb quark, millet becomes the main event, not just a side.
Iron, magnesium, and an alkaline effect
Millet is one of the few grains with an alkaline effect and is also completely gluten-free. Per serving (300 g cooked) we get around 284 calories, 8 g protein, 55 g carbohydrates, and 3 g fat. The iron content is high for a plant-based food, and the magnesium and silica levels are equally impressive. This makes millet particularly interesting for vegetarians, vegans, and anyone looking to meet their iron needs from plant sources.
We add vitamin C alongside it, for example through the lemon in the mushroom variation or the tomato in the salad. This noticeably improves iron absorption from the millet and is our standard approach with plant-based iron sources.
3 days in the fridge, frozen for 2 months
Cooked millet keeps for 3 days in the fridge in a sealed container. Add a small splash of water or stock when reheating, otherwise it dries out. Toasted in a frying pan with a little oil, it even develops a crispy outside and tastes almost better than on the first day.
Freezing works well for up to 2 months. We portion it into 200 g bags in advance, so only the amount we need has to thaw. Defrost overnight in the fridge or heat directly in a frying pan with a little liquid.
Why our recipe looks different from Cookidoo and other sources
Goes well with: Vegetable curry and avocado.
The official Cookidoo basic recipe uses 600 to 800 g water for 300 to 400 g millet, roughly a 1 to 2 ratio, and does not mention pre-rinsing at all. Other sources often feature a classic version with 100 g millet to 200 g milk plus 100 g water, rinsed cold, then 25 minutes at 90°C on reverse direction, speed 1. We deliberately take a different approach: 1 to 2.5, with 300 g millet to 1,000 g water, plus a hot rinse instead of a cold one, and 15 minutes at 100°C. The higher water ratio compensates for the shorter, hotter cooking time and gives fluffy millet as a side dish rather than firm, slightly sandy grains. The hot rinse removes the saponins from the outer layer far more thoroughly than cold water, and that is the difference between a neutral flavour and a bitter one.
Once you are comfortable with millet, our quinoa basic recipe, the bulgur recipe, and our gluten-free recipes are the natural next steps. Rice still has a place at our table, and we use the rice basic recipe alongside millet.
