26 Nutty, Tasty, and Filling Recipes With Whole Grains

Our favorite ways to cook with barley, quinoa, rye, and other whole grains.

Whole grains have been lauded by nutritionists and health nuts for decades now, and, more recently, a whole series of "ancient grains" have moved in and out of the spotlight. Quinoa, barley, and buckwheat, followed by kamut, spelt, teff, farro, and plenty others, have all taken turns as the super-grain-you've-never-heard-of du jour (or, at least, never-really-thought-about), the one that will supposedly work wonders on your health.

While we can't attest to the magical powers of any one grain, we do know this: Whole grains are terrifically tasty, filling, and versatile as well as being good for you on the whole, no matter which one is trending now. They're a natural base for salads, a texture enhancer in soups, and delicious cooked up into a side dish (when properly seasoned and complemented with other ingredients, of course). And, while it might not confer the exact same health benefits, flour made from whole grains—whether it's the buckwheat in Japanese soba or the rye bread with molasses and caraway—is often all you need to start adding new flavors and textures to your cooking and baking repertoire.

If you're interested in learning more about the proper selection, treatment, and storage of grains, both the familiar and unfamiliar, check out this handy guide to whole grains. But if you'd rather just get to cooking, read on for 26 recipes to get you started on incorporating more of these tasty little nutrient packages into your meals.

Wheat

Whole-Grain Spelt Salad With Leeks and Marinated Mushrooms

The category of wheat is vast and includes many of the popular ancient grains sought out today, but nutty, fibrous spelt is one of our favorites. Here, we use it as a salad base, combining it with quickly cooked mushrooms and leeks. After cooking, we marinate the vegetables in apple cider vinegar for a little tartness to play against the earthy grain, and add a sprinkling of espelette powder for a mild fruity flavor and pretty color.

List Link:Get the recipe for Whole-Grain Spelt Salad With Leeks and Marinated Mushrooms

Bulgur Salad With Apricots, Radicchio, Herbs, and Walnuts

Bulgur, a Middle Eastern grain made from parboiled and dried wheat kernels, is a fast-cooking crowd-pleaser. Here, we toss it with the contrasting flavors of sweet dried apricots, bitter radicchio, and chopped mint and parsley for freshness. A half-cup of chopped walnuts adds some pleasant crunch.

List Link:Get the recipe for Bulgur Salad With Apricots, Radicchio, Herbs, and Walnuts

Toasted Bulgur Salad With Smoked Trout, Radishes, and Green Apple

To enhance the flavor of bulgur, try toasting it before cooking—it maximizes the nuttiness of the grain while adding only a few minutes to your total prep time. This salad complements the bulgur with a strikingly diverse lineup of assertive ingredients: smoked trout, radish, red onion, and Granny Smith apple. But the real eyepopper in this dish is the candied lemon, made by steeping lemon suprèmes in simple syrup to mellow their acidity without leaving them overly sweet.

List Link:Get the recipe for Toasted Bulgur Salad With Smoked Trout, Radishes, and Green Apple

Warm Couscous Salad With Salmon and Mustard-Dill Dressing

We particularly like the pearled or Israeli version of semolina-based couscous for its larger, chewier grains. Here, we marry its Middle Eastern roots with a Scandinavian theme, tossing the couscous with flaked salmon, dill, and mustard. A handful or two of spinach leaves wilts up nicely in the salad, adding nutrients and flavor.

List Link:Get the recipe for Warm Couscous Salad With Salmon and Mustard-Dill Dressing

Stir-Fried Farro With Garlicky Kale and Poached Egg

This is the kind of breakfast we should all be eating before we head to work. A tangy, vinegar-tossed mixture of farro and garlicky kale is the perfect base for poached or fried eggs.

List Link:Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Farro With Garlicky Kale and Poached Egg

Farro Salad With Blue Cheese, Pine Nuts, and Tomatoes

To make this flavorful salad, farro is simmered with a combination of onion, garlic, and carrot, before the grains are combined with tomatoes, cucumbers, and plenty of herbs. A red wine vinaigrette, a handful of pine nuts, and a crumbling of blue cheese bring this fresh and filling salad together.

List Link:Get the recipe for Farro Salad With Blue Cheese, Pine Nuts, and Tomatoes

Warm Farro Salad With Asparagus, Peas, and Feta

This one-pot farro salad is best served warm. The perfectly chewy grains are paired with tender spring peas, asparagus, hearty kale, and crunchy almonds. The mixture is tossed in a tangy lemon-mustard vinaigrette and finished with a generous amount of briny feta cheese.

List Link:Get the recipe for Warm Farro Salad With Asparagus, Peas, and Feta

Barley

Skillet Barley With Kale and Eggs

The majority of us are familiar with barley's malty flavor through beer and its meaty texture through soup, but this grain can do much more. Cook it as you would risotto, and it takes on a texture somewhere between that of pasta and Israeli couscous. For this all-in-one-skillet dinner, we wilt some kale into the cooked barley, crack a few eggs over the top, then bake it all until the eggs set. Drizzle a little olive oil over it to keep the top from drying out.

List Link:Get the recipe for Skillet Barley With Kale and Eggs

Homemade Vegan Burgers

While store-bought frozen veggie burgers do vary in quality, none comes close to the kind you can make from scratch at home. To nail the texture—soft and tender, but with little bites of crunch and chew—and mix of savory flavors, our recipe uses a variety of vegetables (leeks, garlic, and mushrooms), chickpeas, cashews, pine nuts, barley, and bread crumbs, with roasted eggplant and Marmite to add extra savoriness. Make a big batch to freeze, and enjoy them all winter long.

List Link:Get the recipe for Homemade Vegan Burgers

Hearty Escarole, Barley, and Parmesan Soup

Sturdy winter greens and barley do a great job of lending texture and substance to vegetarian dishes. In this soup, we use mildly astringent escarole sautéed with aromatics to temper the bitterness. Tomato paste, soy sauce, and a Parmesan rind in the soup base provide plenty of savory flavor.

List Link:Get the recipe for Hearty Escarole, Barley, and Parmesan Soup

Pressure Cooker Beef Barley Soup

Beef barley soup is a classic—and really, truly perfect—winter soup. But the classic version takes quite some time to cook. In this pressure cooker version, a deeply flavorful and comforting beef barley soup comes together in about an hour, from start to finish.

List Link:Get the recipe for Pressure Cooker Beef Barley Soup

Beef Barley Soup

If time isn't an issue, give this more traditional beef barley soup recipe a go. Our version is loaded with chunks of tender beef, plump grains of barley and lots of aromatic vegetables.

List Link:Get the recipe for Beef Barley Soup

Quinoa

Make-Ahead Quinoa Salad With Cucumber, Tomato, and Herbs

Easy to cook, healthy (if that's important to you), and gluten-free (see above), quinoa makes a perfect base for all sorts of dishes. This refreshing, tabbouleh-inspired salad uses ingredients generally associated with summer—cucumber, parsley, mint, and fresh tomatoes—but due to the wonder of grape tomatoes, you can make it right now without sacrificing flavor.

List Link:Get the recipe for Make-Ahead Quinoa Salad With Cucumber, Tomato, and Herbs

Quinoa Salad With Dried Tart Cherries, Mint, and Feta in Lemon-Sumac Vinaigrette

This quinoa salad is bursting with flavorful ingredients—tart cherries, salty feta, and fresh mint and parsley, all tossed together in a bright, lemony sumac vinaigrette. (Sumac is easy to find online if it's not available in stores near you.) Dress the salad right before serving for the best texture.

List Link:Get the recipe for Quinoa Salad With Dried Tart Cherries, Mint, and Feta in Lemon-Sumac Vinaigrette

Vegan Quinoa, Broccoli, and Kale Curry

The ingredient list for this one-pot dish may read like a menu for rabbits, but a generous dose of curry powder, toasted to enhance its flavor, saves it from bland doom. Quinoa pairs with kale and sweet caramelized broccoli and cauliflower for a fresh-tasting dish that's great for those times when you need a little nutrient replenishment.

List Link:Get the recipe for Vegan Quinoa, Broccoli, and Kale Curry

Vegan Curry Butternut Squash Soup With Kale

When you want to turn a soup from a starter or side into a satisfying meal, adding quinoa is a no-brainer. This colorful vegan soup is made with quinoa, butternut squash, onion, carrot, bell pepper, and kale, seasoned with curry powder and red pepper flakes. For a little freshness and crunch, we garnish each bowl with pepitas and cilantro.

List Link:Get the recipe for Vegan Curry Butternut Squash Soup With Kale

Rye

Rye Bread with Molasses and Caraway

When you hear the word "rye," the first things that come into your mind are probably bread and whiskey. While we don't have any distilling recipes for you, we do have a winning rye loaf, dense and chewy and studded with caraway seeds.

List Link:Get the recipe for Rye Bread with Molasses and Caraway

Carrot and Rye Berry Salad With Celery, Cilantro, and Marcona Almonds

If you've never tried cooking with rye berries before, you're in for a treat: They're chewy, earthy, sweet, and wonderful as a salad base. This vegan dish combines them with carrots, onions, cilantro, celery, and toasted Marcona almonds, plus an easy vinaigrette. For the best flavor and texture, cook the carrots whole instead of chopping them beforehand.

List Link:Get the recipe for Carrot and Rye Berry Salad With Celery, Cilantro, and Marcona Almonds

Warm Whole-Grain Salad With Fennel, Arugula, Prosciutto, and Pecorino

One major perk of using whole grains is that they're highly interchangeable—keep a couple of your favorites on hand and you can make just about any grain recipe you'd like by swapping them in. Made with sweet roasted fennel and peppery arugula, this well-rounded salad would work well with spelt or farro, but our preference is for rye berries. A good amount of salty prosciutto and Pecorino balances out the vegetables and grains.

List Link:Get the recipe for Warm Whole-Grain Salad With Fennel, Arugula, Prosciutto, and Pecorino

Buckwheat

Buckwheat Blini

The distinctly nutty flavor of buckwheat sets these blini apart from ones made entirely with all-purpose flour. Stiffly beaten egg whites give the little pancakes an airy lift. The blini offer up their buckwheat-heavy flavor without overwhelming the taste of salty caviar you'll inevitably be piling onto each pancake.

List Link:Get the recipe for Buckwheat Blini

Savory Buckwheat Crepes

The rich, earthy flavor of the buckwheat in these crepes pairs perfectly with all sorts of nonsweet fillings, like eggs, cheese, and salty-sweet ham.

List Link:Get the recipe for Savory Buckwheat Crepes

Roasted-Buckwheat Custards (Soba-Cha Puddings)

If you're in search of a dessert that takes advantage of buckwheat's unique flavor, this roasted-buckwheat custard is for you. Japanese roasted-buckwheat tea is responsible for giving these custards their almost-savory and toasted taste, that pairs so well with the lightly sweet dairy.

List Link:Get the recipe for Roasted-Buckwheat Custards (Soba-Cha Puddings)

Wild Rice

Wild Rice Salad With Cranberries and Pecans

With its chewy texture and deep, vegetal flavor, wild rice—technically not a rice at all, but the seeds harvested from a species of grass—is one of the most distinctive grains around. Made with sweet-tart dried cranberries, toasted pecans, scallions, and an orange vinaigrette, this salad is loaded with fall and winter flavors and works wonderfully as a side dish for roast chicken.

List Link:Get the recipe for Wild Rice Salad With Cranberries and Pecans

Baked Acorn Squash With Wild Rice, Pecan, and Cranberry Stuffing

This dish is more than filling enough to be a meal, but its pretty presentation makes it a great side, too—though you'll want to split each piece in two before serving, in that case. We stuff halved acorn squash with a mixture of wild and white rice, onion, garlic, pecans, cranberries, and ricotta cheese. Drizzle each squash half with olive oil, stick them into a 375°F (190°C) oven, and you'll have dinner ready and waiting in 40 minutes.

List Link:Get the recipe for Baked Acorn Squash With Wild Rice, Pecan, and Cranberry Stuffing

Wild Rice Salad With Mushrooms, Celery Root, and Pine Nuts

Earthy wild rice gets an equally earthy treatment in this salad, where it's paired with mushrooms, celery root, and toasted pine nuts. If you want to bump up the rice's savory flavor, you can opt to cook the grains in stock and umami-packed dried mushrooms.

List Link:Get the recipe for Wild Rice Salad With Mushrooms, Celery Root, and Pine Nuts

Wild Rice Salad With Dried Cranberries, Pickled Apples, and Pecans

The wild rice in this salad is combined with a bright mixture of sweet dried cranberries and tangy pickled apples. Toasted pecans offer a balancing richness, and sautéed onion and celery bring aromatic depth.

List Link:Get the recipe for Wild Rice Salad With Dried Cranberries, Pickled Apples, and Pecans