Healthy Grain Salad Recipes

Find healthy, delicious grain salad recipes, from the food and nutrition experts at EatingWell.

Staff Picks

Slow-Cooker Quinoa Salad with Arugula & Feta

6
Chock-full of quinoa, chickpeas and vegetables, this salad is a meal in itself. The roasted red peppers, lemon, olives and feta add texture and flavor. If you want to provide a meat option, serve with grilled chicken.
By Cooking Light

Quinoa Chickpea Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Dressing

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.
By Katie Webster

Spiced Grilled Chicken with Cauliflower "Rice" Tabbouleh

3
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.
By Carolyn Malcoun

Roasted Veggie & Quinoa Salad

4
Quick, simple and packed with satisfying protein and fiber, this salad makes a perfect lunch or easy one-dish dinner.
By Victoria Seaver, M.S., R.D.

Chopped Rainbow Salad Bowls with Peanut Sauce

5
Make good use of crunchy and colorful seasonal produce in these meal-prep-friendly vegetable bowls. With just 30 minutes of prep, you get four healthy lunches that are ready to grab-and-go. We use bulgur, which cooks faster and is higher in fiber than brown rice, but you could swap in quinoa (or any hearty whole grain). Feel free to add chopped cooked chicken, shrimp or tofu for extra protein.
By Carolyn A Hodges, RD

Quinoa Salad with Feta, Olives & Tomatoes

2
This quinoa salad, which takes loose inspiration from a Greek salad, is flavorful and filling. Broiling the olives along with the other vegetables softens their flavor and adds a smoky background note. A garnish of basil brightens the dish.
By Liv Dansky

Quinoa Avocado Salad

3
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.
By Hilary Meyer

Red Quinoa Salad with Golden Beets & Pistachios

Bright golden beets contrast with the red quinoa for a colorful salad full of texture and flavor. Chopped pistachios add crunch while feta brings saltiness to this stunning salad.
By Carolyn Casner

Winter Greens Bowl

This one-pan meal packs in lots of plant-based protein and flavor thanks to beans and quinoa, while a creamy lemon-garlic dressing completes the dish. 
By Mila Clarke

Quinoa Avocado Salad with Buttermilk Dressing

2
Persimmons add sweetness to this tossed green salad that sports a healthy salad dressing. A sprinkling of crispy fried quinoa adds unexpected crunch, putting the salad over the top in the best way.
By Erling Wu-Bower

Winter Kale & Quinoa Salad with Avocado

Precooked quinoa helps keep this healthy salad recipe quick and simple. Loaded with black beans, kale, and avocado, this recipe is as filling as it is nutritious. You can also make the sweet potatoes and dressing ahead.
By Lori Zanini RD, CDE

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

2
This Mediterranean quinoa salad is chock-full of fresh veggies that marinate in a bright, fresh dressing. It's an easy vegetarian dinner recipe that can also be made ahead as a healthy lunch option.
By Robin Bashinsky
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Inspiration and Ideas

Middle Eastern Salad Bowls with Farro & Chicken
We're pairing two shortcut products you can likely find at your local specialty grocery store--Middle Eastern bean salad and microwaveable farro--to add protein, fiber and satisfying texture to these high-protein lunch bowls. To cut down on prep time, we're also using preseasoned grilled chicken breasts from the refrigerated section, bottled balsamic vinaigrette and a few other ready-to-use ingredients to make these quick and easy meal-prep lunches.
Beet & Shrimp Winter Salad
1
This healthy dinner salad recipe gets its staying power from protein-packed shrimp and fiber-rich barley. With a simple red-wine vinaigrette, this quick salad makes just one serving but is easy to double or triple. Look for precooked beets with other prepared vegetables in the produce department.
Farro Salad with Grilled Chicken
3
Quinoa & Smoked Tofu Salad
9

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.

All Healthy Grain Salad Recipes

Orange-Mint Freekeh Salad with Lima Beans

This salad is loaded with colorful produce: fresh mint, snap peas, radishes and oranges.
By Laura Kanya

Beet, Mandarin & Farro Salad

1
This farro salad recipe from chef Jose "JoJo" Ruiz features Mediterranean-inspired flavors like citrus, feta and parsley.
By Chef Jose “JoJo” Ruiz

Wheat Berry, Chickpea & Feta Salad

Wheat berries have amazing texture—they practically pop in your mouth like caviar—and each 1/2-cup serving of cooked wheat berries has more than 4 grams of fiber. Since they take up to an hour to get tender, make them in a large batch and freeze whatever you don't use right away in individual servings. (You can do the same thing with any whole grain!) That way, you can easily stir them into soup, season them with citrus and herbs for a pilaf or make them the base of a satisfying grain salad.
By Breana Lai Killeen, M.P.H., RD

Mediterranean Edamame Toss

5
Enjoy a superfood lunch with this light and fresh soybean-and-quinoa salad.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

Wild Rice Salad with Arugula Pesto

Here, fresh arugula is whirred into a peppery pesto for dressing this wild rice salad featuring cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta and toasted pine nuts.
By Pooja Makhijani

Quinoa Salad with Seared Tuna

Quinoa is one of our favorite whole-grains because it is gluten-free, loaded with protein and contains all of the essential amino acids. In this recipe, we've paired the quinoa with quickly seared tuna steaks for a delicious main-dish salad that's ready in under an hour.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

Tofu, Snow Pea & Carrot Wild Rice Salad

1
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.
By Carolyn Malcoun

Apple, Pork & Wild Rice Salad

This easy apple and pork salad uses up the leftovers from two separate recipes--Maple-Mustard Pork and Wild Rice Pilaf--for a fast and easy lunch or dinner. Since it's served cold, it's especially good for packing up for work lunches. The simple cider vinegar and honey dressing would be nice on any grain salad.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

Roasted Chicken & Vegetable Quinoa Salad

Mushrooms, carrots and onions are roasted with garlic and fennel seeds in this roast chicken and quinoa salad. Preparing the quinoa with a little less water than is typical makes it cook more quickly and keeps it fluffier‚ perfect for soaking up the sherry-vinegar dressing in this salad. Serve with garlic-rubbed toast.
By Lia Huber
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