How To Eat Sunflower Seeds? 5 Ways And More To Try!

When it comes to trending nutrition videos on social media profiles like Instagram and Facebook – chia and flaxseeds take the lead. The distant cousin – sunflower seeds, hardly get a mention. In fact, most people would not even know of its existence, forget knowing how to eat sunflower seeds. Surprisingly, despite its range of nutritional values, which includes fat, protein, carbs, and fiber, it has almost remained shrouded in darkness for years together.

It’s time to open the can of secrets now! This article will not only highlight the different ways in which you can consume these seeds but also hand out the nutritional chart to you, along with some yummy recipes. Stay tuned to figure out more –

How to eat sunflower seeds in different ways?

If you have been getting the raw sunflower seeds that are sold loose, you need to crack open the shell – usually with your teeth and separate the seed from it. Spit out the shell and chew up the seed. This is the basic way of eating these seeds.

If not, you can quite, in the style of chia seeds, sprinkle a handful on your salad, oatmeal, or baked goods. These seeds taste amazing as accompaniments.

Don’t worry! The aforementioned modes are not the only ways to eat these seeds. There are plenty of other ways as well. Let’s show you how to eat sunflower seeds in those ways –

1. The flavored or the roasted way of eating it

Take a pinch of cinnamon powder, brown salt, or even Himalayan pink salt, and roast the seeds slightly with their shells on before consuming. It is one of the most-opted ways to consume it.

2. As a topping on pasta, or even curries

If you wish to add it like condiments to the curries, then you may either roast them or let them be and sprinkle them over the curry, pasta, or any other dish you may have cooked.

3. Have it in the powdery form

Do you want to see how to eat sunflower seeds as a mixed ingredient? For that, you will have to grind these seeds with their shells on. On completing the same, you can blend it with any of the flour that you are using. So the next time you decide to cook up some baked muffins or cakes – use this flour instead of the general one you use.

4. You may enjoy the buttery form as well

Bored of the usual ways? Want something innovative? Sunflower seed butter is a great variety. Curate the butter by blending sunflower seeds with sugar and sea salt. Then, you may use it as a spread on your biscuits to bread.

5. Eggs and sunflower seeds are a great combo

To create a crunchy and flavorful scrambled egg (or even an omelet) – add a dash of parmesan cheese and sprinkle some sunflower seeds as you prepare your egg.

A recipe you cannot miss out on trying –

Creating mixed-seed bread loaf (gluten-free)

Ingredients – 

   . Gluten-free flour – 1 lb

   . Eggs (preferably brown) – 3

   . Apple cider vinegar/ salt/ yeast – 1 teaspoon each

   . Powdered seeds (sunflower seeds/ pumpkin seeds/ sesame seeds) – 5 tablespoons

   . Vegetable oil – 6 tablespoons (1 extra for greasing the tray)

   . Caster sugar – 2 tablespoons

   . Milk (full-fat) – 10 fl oz

How to make it? 

1. You will have to start by greasing a loaf tin and keeping it aside.
2. Then, you will have to pour the flour into the processor and add the salt, yeast, and sugar to it. Ensure that the processor has a balloon whisk attachment.
3. Take another bowl and blend 2 of the eggs, vinegar, and milk. Once this blending has been created, you will have to add that to the food processor along with 4 tablespoons of the mixed seeds. Switch on the mixer.
4. Put this mixture onto the layered tin, and you can then cover it with oiled paper and let it sit for fermenting. The time required for proper fermenting is 1 hour. In the meantime, you will have to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Bake this concoction for 40 minutes. Just ensure that you cover the tin with a foil after the first 10 minutes.
6. Since the baking time is 40 minutes, technically, you have another 30 minutes at hand. During this time, beat an egg and prep the yolk batter. When you see 10 minutes left for the baking process to get over, brush the created loaf with this egg wash and sprinkle the leftover mixed seeds onto it. Please put it back for the remaining 10 minutes.

After the baking process is over, leave it aside for cooling. Then, you may slice it and enjoy it with cranberry/apple/or any flavored jam.

Keep this in mind before you eat

As you have seen for yourself, there are a variety of ways in which you can eat these seeds; it’s time for readers to know that – when you are talking about how to eat sunflower seeds, you must also note the exact quantity. For the uninformed, too much of it can cause toxicity despite all its beneficial claims. Also, if you do not eat it the correct way, the harm done is more vis-a-vis the positives associated with it.

1. According to a formal notification from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – you must only have 1.5 ounces of these seeds per day. Supposedly, as per US metrics, it is 3 tablespoons maximum.

2. If you have any inherent issues, such as diabetes, genetic disorder, or even hormonal imbalance – you must consult your medical professional before consuming the same.

3. Never consume sunflower seeds solo. Always balance it with – a regular intake of walnuts, peanuts, almonds, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, or pumpkin seeds.

What is its nutritional profile?

Before you switch tabs to shop for the ingredients to make the above-mentioned recipes, it is time that you quickly check its nutritional profile –

1 cup of sunflower seeds have –

• Fiber – 3.9 grams
• Carbohydrate – 7 grams
• Protein – 5.8 grams
• Calories – 207K
• Fat – 19 grams

As you can see for yourself, how enriched this product is; therefore, experts advise that – you must adopt a portion control technique. Given that it is high in fat content, the chances of your gaining weight is maximum. Therefore, please be cautious of the same.

You may have these side effects

Before you leave, let’s inform you of some of the downsides that this product has. If you do not consume the limited amount, then you may face – sudden allergic reactions, constipation issues (eating too much of the hull is not recommended), and can lead to a condition called rectal seed bezoar that requires surgery (if not detected at an initial stage), and extra cadmium and sodium concentration in the body (not recommended).

Conclusion

Sunflower seeds, as you must have seen, come with a range of benefits. However, it is only when you know how to eat sunflower seeds in the correct manner that you will derive the maximum benefits from them same. So, pick out any of the techniques mentioned above and eat the seeds correctly to derive maximum results. If you liked this article and want some more know-how guides like these, keep following this website.