Healthy Grain Salad Recipes

Chicken breasts on the grill have a smoky flavor that's enhanced with an easy spice rub. We chose flat-leaf parsley in this salad because it has a stronger herbal taste than its sometimes-bitter curly counterpart.

Protein-packed quinoa pairs with creamy avocado in this refreshing grain salad. It's the perfect make-ahead side dish to bring on a picnic or take to a potluck. Or pack it for lunch or enjoy it as a light dinner.

After a good charring in the skillet, kale stems add a tender-crisp bite and touch of smokiness to this healthy vegetarian kale salad. Feel free to use this healthy recipe as a guide; swap out the farro for any whole grain or the squash for any roasting vegetable, such as cauliflower.

Quick, simple and packed with satisfying protein and fiber, this salad makes a perfect lunch or easy one-dish dinner.

This super-satisfying salad gets a whole-grain boost from cooked quinoa and crumbled whole-grain crackers.

This hearty vegan salad is loaded with plant-based power ingredients: chickpeas, quinoa and hummus. We love the crunch of the sunflower seeds and the unexpected flavor of roasted peppers.

Enjoy a superfood lunch with this light and fresh soybean-and-quinoa salad.

Leftover cooked chicken? This healthy grain-salad recipe is the perfect way to use it up. We like the color of red quinoa, but yellow works well too.

Wheat berries give this healthy grain-salad recipe a toothsome bite. The chopped kale can be swapped for any dark leafy green, such as spinach or chard, if desired.

Sesame oil and nori (dried seaweed) give this healthy grain-salad recipe Asian flair. Serve as a vegetarian main dish or as a side for grilled shrimp or baked chicken.

In this gluten-free grain-salad recipe we use sorghum, a hearty small yellow grain that has a chewy texture. Here it's tossed with a cider vinaigrette, shrimp and vegetables. Serve as a main dish or as a side for grilled chicken or steak.

Quinoa, a super food from South America, is packed with protein and fiber. Toasting it gives it a slightly nutty taste, a complement to the walnuts and a foil to the lemony tarragon dressing. Try this salad over greens of any sort: fresh arugula, Boston lettuce leaves or wilted spinach.

Nobody will miss the meat in this colorful, zesty vegetarian taco salad. The rice and bean mixture can be made ahead and the salad quickly assembled at mealtime. Recipe by Nancy Baggett for EatingWell.

Bursting with colorful veggies, this healthy grain bowl recipe is topped with an easy miso dressing. If you have quinoa already cooked, skip Step 1 and use 2 cups in Step 4.

Here's a great example of how to cook a healthy dish in minutes--simply cook the bacon in the same pan as the barley to enrich the flavor, add some purchased cooked shrimp, a few aromatic vegetables, and you've got dinner (or a hearty potluck dish) in no time flat.

With tons of fresh herbs, arugula, olives and farro, this healthy chicken salad recipe makes a wonderful potluck platter or healthy dinner. We love the nutty flavor and quick cooking time of farro but other whole grains, such as freekeh, bulgur or couscous, are also good choices.

Dried cherries add color and sweet and tart flavor, while mint and parsley give this healthy grain salad recipe fresh notes. If fresh sweet cherries are available, you could add those instead. Serve this chicken salad recipe with tzatziki sauce and mixed greens on the side.

We took the tangy fresh flavors of tabbouleh and paired them with smoky tofu and quinoa to create a main-dish salad that's perfect served on a bed of greens. This salad is jam-packed with heart-healthy ingredients--whole grains (quinoa), legumes (soy-based tofu) and plenty of vegetables.

The vibrant colors of this salad--orange, red, black and green--signal that it's loaded with phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals. And since it features both quinoa--a “complete” protein with all the essential amino acids--and black beans, it's a vegetarian protein powerhouse. Serve on a bed of Boston lettuce or in a pita pocket.

This quick, healthy dinner salad recipe is ready in 40 minutes thanks to preshredded carrots and coleslaw mix. If you have leftover quinoa, skip Step 1 and use 2 cups in the salad. If you want a bigger flavor kick in the dressing, up the wasabi powder to 1 tablespoon.