Healthy Grain Side Dish Recipes

In this recipe, millet is cooked to a polenta-like consistency with shredded vegetables, lemon zest and grated cheese, shaped into patties and browned in a skillet. The result is a unique pancake that's a little crunchy on the outside and creamy inside. Try them as a side dish with chicken or fish for dinner or over mixed greens for lunch.

This whole-grain wild rice and quinoa salad recipe is perfect for toting to summer potlucks. It features sweet cherries, crunchy celery, nutty aged goat cheese and toasted pecans. If you can find red quinoa, it's particularly pretty.

Restaurant-style Mexican rice (sometimes called Spanish rice) gets a healthy, low-carb makeover in this recipe that swaps white rice for riced cauliflower. Cooked with other flavorful ingredients like tomatoes, jalapeño and cilantro, this makes the perfect, festive side for taco night.

At 6 grams per 1-cup serving, barley is high in fiber compared to many other whole grains. And it has high levels of prebiotic fiber, making it great for promoting healthy gut bacteria. Like oats, barley contains beta-glucans, a type of soluble fiber that's been shown to improve blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Use up leftover rice and make it into something delicious with this healthy Indian recipe. Because cooked rice refrigerated overnight dries out a little, it's better suited to absorb all the flavors in this dish without getting sticky or mushy. In a pinch, use frozen or shelf-stable precooked basmati rice, available in many stores. Urad dal and roasted chana dal add texture and authenticity to the rice--look for both types of dal in Indian markets or online.

Tossed with a minty vinaigrette, this healthy farro and cherry salad recipe can be served as a light lunch or as a side dish along with grilled chicken, duck or pork. Look for farro--a high-fiber whole grain that is an ancestor of modern wheat--with other whole grains in well-stocked supermarkets and natural-foods stores.

This easy polenta takes only a few minutes of stirring before it's left to cook on its own to creamy perfection. If you have leftovers, chill them overnight in a greased pan, slice into slabs, brush with canola oil and broil until both sides begin to crisp. Serve as a side dish at supper or for breakfast with maple syrup or honey.

In Minnesota, chicken, mushrooms and wild rice are often bound together in a casserole with cream of mushroom soup. We forgo the sodium-rich canned soup and make a light, creamy sauce that gets depth of flavor from dry sherry and Parmesan cheese. If you already have cooked chicken, use 4 cups and skip Step 2.

Couscous, which is actually a type of tiny pasta, makes an almost-instant side dish. Happily, the whole-wheat variety is just as fast to prepare as regular couscous. Lemon zest is a delicious accent to nutty Parmesan in this Italian-inspired couscous.

The pleasantly sweet-and-sour pomegranate molasses in the tangy vinaigrette here is made by reducing pomegranate juice into a syrup. Look for it at well-stocked grocery stores and Middle Eastern markets.

Dashi gives this vegetable rice recipe its savory depth. Rinsing the rice may seem like an extraneous step but it removes some of the surface starch for fluffier rice. And soaking the rice in seasoned dashi before cooking infuses the dish with more flavor.

Look for red lentils and quinoa at a large supermarket or a store that carries a wide selection of legumes and grains. Pairing them with flaxseeds boosts the nutrition of this pilaf.

This Ethiopian buttery grain porridge recipe is often served for breakfast, but you can also top it with other dishes like messer wot (spiced lentils) or gomen (Ethiopian-spiced collards) for lunch or dinner and eat it in place of the traditional flatbread, injera.

Creamy ricotta and lemon zest lend bright flavor to this healthy cheese toast recipe, for a perfect soup pairing or easy snack.

Perfect with soup or as an easy snack, this healthy cheese toast recipe pairs reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel), smoked salmon and dill on top of crusty bread.

In this traditional Chinese pancake recipe, chives are added for a pretty green hue and savory flavor. Serve as an appetizer with a soy dipping sauce or use like a tortilla for chicken or pork that's been marinated in ginger and soy sauce. The amount of water needed for the dough will vary depending on the type of flour and the humidity.

Using a slow cooker makes it easy to cook up almost any whole-grain porridge while you sleep. Short-grain brown rice slow-cooks to a soft and sticky texture reminiscent of rice pudding. Brown rice stands up to the long cooking time better than white, plus this whole grain contains some magnesium, phosphorus, thiamine and niacin (which get stripped from white rice).

This slow-cooker porridge recipe features quinoa. Quinoa is a gluten-free pseudocereal (it's a seed!) that is a nutritional powerhouse and a complete protein. It contains a wide array of vitamins and minerals, including phosphorus, manganese, zinc and iron, many of which Americans don't get enough of.

These traditional Lebanese lamb-and-rice stuffed grape leaves are fragrant with mint, marjoram, cinnamon, cumin and allspice. Serve with lemon wedges and plain yogurt for dipping.

Quinoa is a whole grain and contains all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. With its high fiber and antioxidant content it's easy to see why everyone is talking about quinoa these days! Try it with garden vegetables in this delicious, quick-and-easy dish.

Turn everyday brown rice into delicious brown rice pilaf with the addition of currants and sliced almonds.

Think hummus meets tabbouleh in these vegetarian stuffed grape leaves, bursting with chickpeas, parsley and bulgur tied together with a lemony, garlicky sauce. The grape leaves will seem soft when just finished cooking, but will firm up as they cool. We prefer these at room temperature or cold--perfect for bringing to work for lunch.

Originally from Mesopotamia, farro is a type of wheat with a wonderful nutty flavor and toothsome texture. It's packed with plant-based protein, niacin, magnesium and zinc. Ancient wheat strains have also been found to have higher levels of antioxidants and carotenoids, important for eye health.

These grilled miso rice balls are crispy, sprinkled with sesame seeds and best served hot.