Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Chia Seeds along with all the Chia Seeds containing recipes presented on this site, with 1 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Chia Seeds recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Chia Seeds as a major wild food ingredient.



Chia seeds are the dried fruit (seeds) of the plant, Salvia hispanica, a flowering plant and a member of the Lamiaceae (mint) family which are native to southern Mexico and Guatemala. For a mint, the chia plant is tall, growing some 1m high and is rather bushy in appearance. The chia plant is an annual. The leaves are opposite and 4–8cm long and 4cm broad. The flowers are small and typically purple or white. They are borne in numerous clusters on a flower spike located at the end of each stem. When fertilized, the flowers develop into seeds that are small ovals with a diameter of about 1mm. The seeds are typically mottle-coloured with brown, grey, black and white backgrounds.

Chia has been traditionally consumed in Mexico for centuries and archaeological evidence suggests that is was one of the plants cultivated by the Aztec civilization in pre-Columbian times. Linguistically, the word 'chia' is derived from the Aztec, Nahuatl, language word chian (literally meaning 'oily').

Chia plants are grown for their seeds and economic historians have suggested that it was as important as maize as a food crop for the Aztecs. It is still grown as a food source in Mexico and Guatemala today, where both whole seeds and ground seeds are used. The seeds, like the plant are referred to as chia (they are also known as chian or chien).

In the 1990s, the University of Arizona were searching for useful native plants to bolster food production and it was they who 'rediscovered' chia and began to popularize it as a potential commercial food source. Today, chia is grown commercially in its native Mexico, and in Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador, Australia, and Guatemala. In 2008, Australia was the world's largest producer of chia.

Chia seeds are often consumed raw and they are described either as being 'bland' or as having a 'pleasant, slightly nutty flavour'. Perception of the flavour profile seems to vary from person to person. The seeds are very high in oil (almost 30% by weight) and they are particularly rich in the essential fatty acids, omega-3 fatty acid and α-linolenic acid (which makes up 54% of the total oil content). They are also an excellent source of protein and dietary fibre. Indeed, a 100g portion of chia seeds contains the following nutritional components:

Protein: 20.7g

Fat: 32.8g

Carbohydrate: 41.8g (of which fibre is 41.2g)

Calcium: 714mg

Iron: 16.4mg

Niacin (Vitamin B3): 613mg

Thiamine (Vitamin B1): 0.18mg

Riboflavin (Vitamin B2): 0.04mg


To put his into perspective, the fibre content is 120% of the minimum daily requirement for humans.

As a food, chia seeds can be used either ground or whole. Ground chia can be mixed with flour and maize meal to form breads, tortillas, cakes and biscuits. In traditional usage, ground chia seeds are mixed with water or milk to make gruels and porridges. It is also traditional to add whole chia seeds to fruit juices to make a beverage known in Mexico as chia fresca. Nutritionally, chia seeds make an excellent additive to couscous, rice or bulgur wheat as the combination of seed and grain provides humans with all the necessary amino acids for health.

When soaked in water, chia seeds become gelatinous in nature and can be used as the base for porridges. They can also be added to stews as a thickening agent. This thick and glutinous form of chia is sometimes known as 'chia gel' and it an be used to help thicken yoghurts, jams, jellies, preserves and salad dressings. The chia gel is also excellent for thickening soups, and stews in place of cornflour (cornstarch) or roux. The seeds can also be sprouted and used like alfalfa or wheatgrass.

For vegans, or those who want to replace eggs, you can often use 1 tbsp of chia seeds soaked in 4 tbsp water for 1 hour as a direct egg replacement in many recipes (particularly baking recipes).

Some sports nutritionists have described a tablespoonful of chia seeds as possessing the same nutritional content as 'a smoothie made from salmon, spinach and human growth hormone' and it is one of the supplements of choice for distance runners.

Other health benefits ascribed to chia seeds include: reducing joint and skin inflammation, stabilizing blood sugar levels, building muscles mass, reducing cholesterol and reducing the risk of coronary heart disease. However, these are all based on anecdotal evidence and insufficient work has been done to give the claims any scientific credence.