5 Ways You Must Add Sunflower Seeds To Your Diet

Sunflower seeds are loaded with vitamins and minerals. They support your heart health, help to manage diabetes, and regulate blood pressure. Here is how you can add them to your diet. 

how to add sunflower seeds to salads smoothies

You must have seen advertisements on television telling you the benefits of cooking in sunflower oil. Well, it’s not just oil but seeds are also equally beneficial for your health. They are excellent for snacking and add essential nutrients to the body.

According to many studies, sunflower seeds are associated with reducing inflammation in the body. They are rich in vitamin E and flavonoids too. Moreover, adding these seeds to your diet can help you improve the taste and nutritional quotient of the dish.

These seeds are associated with boosting the immune system, taking care of your heart, and regulating blood pressure. They also contain manganese, zinc, copper, potassium, and iron among other minerals. Therefore, Khushboo Jain Tibrewala, nutritionist, diabetes educator, and founder of The Health Pantry, suggested five ways to add sunflower seeds to your diet.

Add Sunflower Seeds To Smoothies

add sunflower seeds to smoothies

You can add powdered sunflower seeds to smoothies and shakes. You can also garnish your beverages with these nutrition-packed seeds. They will help to keep your tummy full and get control of your cravings.

Use Sunflower Seeds Like Bread Crumbs With Meat

The expert suggested coarsely grounding sunflower seeds in a blender and keeping them aside. When you are planning to deep fry paneer, tofu, vegetables, chicken, lamb, pork, fish, and other kinds of meat, you can use the powder as a replacement for bread crumbs.

After dipping your choice of meat and vegetables in egg wash or a vegan slurry, you should coat it with sunflower seeds powder. All everything to dry up for 10-15 minutes in the freezer and deep fry in hot oil. It will elevate the texture and make the dish crispy without compromising nutrition.

Add Sunflower Seeds To Stir-fries And Salads

add sunflower seeds to salad

The nutritionist suggested adding sunflower seeds to stir-fries or salads. You can roast them in the oven or over a heated pan and keep them aside. You can also turn them into large chunks by blending them for not more than 5 seconds.

Once your bowl of stir-fries or salad is prepared to be served, sprinkle the seeds on the top to garnish, add a crispy flavour, and elevate the nutritional quotient.

Eat Sunflower Seeds As Movie-Time Snacks

Nutritionist Khushboo Jain Tibrewala suggested eating raw black sunflower seeds as a movie-time snack. You can crack the seeds open with your teeth and eat what is available inside. It has a great taste and nutritional value. You can also avoid eating junk food while enjoying your favourite film.

Use Sunflower Seeds In Burger Tikkis

add sunflower seeds to burger

When you make burger patties, you need a coating of bread crumbs or cornflakes to keep the texture crispy. As mentioned above, you can use coarse powder of sunflower seeds, allow patties to hold the structure in the refrigerator, and deep fry in oil.

You can also use them in other kinds of tikkis. You can add sunflower to the mixture of aloo, paneer, or vegetable tikkis so that everything can come together and not fall apart when you shallow fry them.

Image Courtesy: Freepik

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