Instant Pot Wheat Berry Salad

The instant pot is key to this wheat berry salad, and makes meal prep easy.

Lunch isn’t my strong suit. I tend to skip it, or graze my way through the afternoon, at best. It’s easy to do because I’m often at home developing recipes and there’s always taste testing to do. But lunch is an important meal…without it my energy flags by mid afternoon and I start making bad snacking choices. A good lunch makes me more productive during the day, and helps prevent over eating at dinner. Enter this Instant Pot wheat berry salad!

What are wheat berries?

• Wheat berries is just another name for whole grains of wheat. If you grind them up they’ll become wheat flour. If you cook them as is, they’re nutty and chewy and can be used in hot or cold recipes just like you would use rice, barley, quinoa, oats, rye, or other whole grain.
• You can make stuffings and even porridge with wheat berries, but my favorite way to use them is in hearty grain salads like my Wheat Berry Salad with Beets and Feta. These will be some of the most satisfying salads you’ll ever encounter.

Are wheat berries high in carbs?

• Wheat berries are high in carbohydrates, but the good kind. Because the kernel is intact, they are a true whole, unprocessed grain; they contain the bran, germ, and endosperm of the wheat which is where all the nutrition is.
• No empty calories here, wheat berries are packed with fiber, protein and vitamins.
• Whole grains burn slower, don’t cause sharp rises in blood sugar, and will keep you feeling fuller longer. This is why I tend to think in terms of  slow carb, rather than low carb 🙂
• Wheat berries are surprisingly low in calories, too, that’s because much of their bulk is fiber that doesn’t get digested.

cooking wheat berries on the stove vs in the Instant Pot

The two batches came out almost identical in terms of quality and texture, but if you have an Instant Pot, it’s a quicker way to cook them, (almost half the time) and completely hands free. The stove top method is also very easy, just a bit longer. In both cases one cup dried berries will yield 3 1/2 to 4 cups cooked.

How to cook wheat berries in the Instant Pot

• Put one cup of raw berries into the pot. Add 3 cups water and a pinch of salt.
• Close and lock the lid and set the vent to seal.
• Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. When the machine finishes cooking and beeps, release the pressure valve.
• Drain excess liquid from the wheat berries.

How to cook wheat berries on the stove top

• Put a cup of what berries into a large saucepan with 6 cups of water and a pinch of salt.
• Bring to a boil and boil for about 60-65 minutes until the berries are tender but still chewy. Add more water if needed during cooking.
• Drain excess water.

Instant Pot wheat berry salad is colorful, healthy, nutty, and CHEWY!

In fact if you’re not used to whole grains and raw crunchy veggies your mouth will get quite a workout. The kernels are chewy because the whole grain, casing and all, is intact, the way grains are supposed to be. This is one salad that won’t leave you hungry.

ingredients in wheat berry salad

• wheat berries
• carrots
• cucumber
• red cabbage
• dried cranberries
• Granny Smith apple
• cherry tomatoes
• red onion
• toasted pecans
• cheddar cheese

And don’t worry, I wouldn’t leave you without a great dressing for this salad. I used walnut oil and cider vinegar for a delicious autumnal vibe. A touch of grainy mustard and honey encourages it to emulsify with a few pulses of my immersion blender.

This healthy and colorful wheat berry salad makes a great packed lunch!

Like other grain salads, this one keeps well for days in the fridge. The grains of wheat soak up the dressing and it gets more flavorful as it sits. I like to pre-pack it in glass jars to grab and go whether you head out to work every day, or just to your home office.

Eco-friendly glass jars from Weck are a good 8-ounce size for this salad.

My bamboo re-usuable forks are nicer to tote than silverware. They can be washed and used over and over again.

If you love the idea of grain salads like I do, be sure to check out my Rye and Carrot Salad, it’s made with rye berries and it’s one of my favorites! Tabbouleh is another classic whole grain salad that we love, and if you want something for the fall and holiday season, definitely try my Wild Rice Salad with Cranberries and Nuts. Wild rice isn’t technically a grain, it’s a seed, but it functions the same way as these wheat berries do, and makes a wonderful salad.

I recommend: 6 Quart Instant Pot 

I recommend the 6 Quart size, it’s the sweet spot, not too big or too small. It’s got all the bells and whistles, I love it!

I can’t say enough great things about my Instant Pot. It has totally revolutionized dinnertime at our house. I’m giving fair warning to my readers: I’ll be doing quite a few IP recipes going forward, and if you don’t have one you won’t be able to keep up. If you know anybody with a busy life who loves to cook, this makes a fantastic gift, too.

Wheat Berry Salad

4.67 from 3 votes

My wheat berry salad is a healthy whole grain salad loaded with flavor!

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Prep Time:15 minutes minutes

Total Time:15 minutes minutes

Servings: 6

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Equipment

• Instant Pot optional

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

• 3 1/2 cups cooked wheat berries, (see notes below for cooking directions)
• 1/4 cup finely diced red onion
• 1/4 cup diced cucumber
• 1/4 cup diced carrot
• 1/3 cup chopped or shredded red cabbage
• 1/3 cup cheddar cheese, diced (you could also use feta)
• 1/4 cup toasted pecans, chopped
• about 10 cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
• 1/2 Granny Smith apple, diced (don't peel)
• salt and fresh cracked black pepper

dressing

• 1/3 cup walnut oil
• 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, or more to taste
• 1 heaping tsp grainy mustard
• 1 heaping tsp honey
• pinch of salt

Instructions

• Put all the salad ingredients together in a bowl.
• Toss with enough dressing to thoroughly moisten, but don’t over do, you may not want all of it.
• Cover and chill the salad for at least a couple of hours before serving, it will get better as it sits. You may want to add more dressing before serving.
• I don’t add too much salt to my recipes but be sure to taste this and add it as you prefer.

Notes

To cook wheat berries on the stove put 1 cup raw berries in a large saucepan with a pinch of salt and 6 cups water.  Bring to a boil and cook for about 50-60 minutes or until the berries are tender but still chewy.  Drain.

To cook wheat berries in the Instant Pot put the berries in the pot with a pinch of salt and 3 cups of water.  Lock the lid and set the vent to seal.  Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes, then release the pressure valve.  Drain off excess liquid.

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Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Author: Sue Moran

Keyword: grain bowl, grains, healthy, salad, vegetarian, whole grain

Nutrition

Calories: 381 kcal · Carbohydrates: 48 g · Protein: 10 g · Fat: 18 g · Saturated Fat: 3 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 9 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 5 g · Cholesterol: 6 mg · Sodium: 59 mg · Potassium: 153 mg · Fiber: 9 g · Sugar: 4 g · Vitamin A: 1163 IU · Vitamin C: 11 mg · Calcium: 85 mg · Iron: 2 mg

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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