I first made this wheat berry salad to brighten up a long winter, but with the flavors of fresh cranberries and maple syrup it makes a great side dish for the holiday season or any time of year!
I consider citrus season a bright spot in a long winter. When everything is brown and wilted, citrus shows up with its bright oranges and yellows.
It’s the one time of year when I gladly say – send my fruit on over from Florida and California. Because let’s be honest. No orange, lemon or grapefruit trees are going to be popping up anytime soon in Kentucky.
Well, except for my dwarf Meyer Lemon trees in the back room. I have full confidence that I may get a lemon from them one day, but they have a long way to go.
An added bonus to citrus season is that if you are lucky, you still have some holiday ingredients hanging around such as fresh cranberries. I was in the mood for a cold grain salad this week, and the combination of tart, fresh cranberries and the sweet juice of an orange seemed the perfect match. The kale and maple syrup were added for good measure.
Wheat Berry Salad with Fresh Cranberries and Orange Maple Dressing
2015-08-05 22:06:28
Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole, fresh cranberries
- 3 cups cooked wheat berries
- 3 green onions, whites and greens sliced
- 1 large leaf of kale, stem removed and very thinly sliced
- Juice of half an orange
- 1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon fine ground sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the cranberries in a small food processor. Pulse until chopped into small pieces; about the size of the wheat berries. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
- Add the wheat berries, green onion and kale to the bowl. Toss the ingredients to combine.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice, maple syrup, olive oil, cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour dressing over the wheat berry salad. Toss to coat. Serve at room temperature or cold.
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I just so happen to have every single ingredient in my kitchen at the moment, so I am definitely going to make this salad!
I made a wheat berry salad with dates a few days ago (will be posted next week) and was reminded of how much I love the little chewy grains.
Looking forward to making yours!
That’s a healthy and delicious salad! The dressing sounds fantastic too.
Gorgeous! I love the dressing and might make that for my lunch salad today!
This looks like a fantastic combination. I love wheat berry salads but haven’t had one in so long. I think I need to cook up some wheat berries – I love everything about them I don’t know why I don’t have them more often!
I’m SO excited to see that this uses fresh cranberries! I do, in fact, still have some around. And wheatberries happen to be my favorite whole grain! Mega score.
I love the color combination of this salad on top of the ingredients used.
The salad looks rather warm to me, maybe I have related your last bread baked in the pottery bowl : ).
Lori, your salad looks so pretty and so tasty…like the idea of cranberries and kale…
Hope you are having a wonderful week and Feliz Ano Novo 🙂
Lauren – A wheat berry salad with dates sounds great. I’ll check out the recipe!
Angie – Thanks, we’ve been enjoying it.
Andrea – The dressing turned out great. Good for a green salad too.
Heidi – I’m the same way with some of my favorites. I forget about them!
Joanne – I don’t use cranberries in their fresh form nearly enough.
Quay Po – It does make for some inviting colors.
TasteHongKong – Good memory! Ha, ha! Yes, same bowl. I thought I’d give it a new use.
Juliana – Feliz Ano Novo!
this looks so healthful and delicious, i wish i have a bowl in front of me right now!!! fresh cranberries are sooo rare here 🙁
happy belated NY lori! hope you have a great start to the year 🙂 ive been MIA lately but glad to be back in the blogging world and seeing so many of your great recipes lately – esp the shredded meat and green tea bubble milk (used to be a fav of mine!)
Yum love these kinds of salads! Looks so fresh and filling 🙂