Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad

Craving a salad with cool, creamy, goat’s cheese with crunchy greens, juicy blackberries and a tangy vinaigrette? This Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad is a simple salad that you’ll love from the first bite!

Jump to:

• Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• Ingredients You’ll Need
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• How to Select Blackberries
• Tips and Possible Substitutions
• Serving Ideas
• Frequently Asked Questions
• More Recipes
• Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Tired of plain green salad? This is one of my favorite simple salads and fresh blackberries (or any fresh berries for that matter) are the star of the show…the big, juicy, ripe kind.

This favorite salad recipe starts with crunchy toasted hazelnuts, spring greens and soft goat cheese. Visit your Farmer’s Market in berry season and buy what’s fresh!

Here’s some good reasons to make this salad recipe:

• Dotted with creamy, tangy goat cheese (aka Chevre), it’s bursting with fresh blackberries and that is precisely what makes it so special. It’s tastes clean and refreshing, and it’s a pretty salad too.
• This makes a nice lunch, and if you’re looking for creative side dishes, try this with grilled chicken or fish, or even Summer Pasta.  (Start off with a great appetizer too, like this easy Lemon Artichoke Dip).
• This salad has a light and lemony olive oil vinaigrette, that’s bright and flavorful and perfect for drizzling alongside.
• Love salads? Next time try this super healthy Superfood Salad, and this Celery Salad with Hazelnuts is unexpectedly good. A great Chicken Salad recipe is always good to have on hand too, especially if there’s a rotisserie chicken in the fridge.

This salad is also great with saucy main dishes like this Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage.

Ingredients You’ll Need

For the full ingredient list and instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

• Fresh Berries: One and a half cups blackberries. Plump, juicy & sweet.
• Goat Cheese (aka Chevre): Soft, creamy & crumbled on top.
• Grains: Almost any leftover cooked grains will work, wheat berries are my favorite for this recipe.
• Lemon: We’ll need lemon juice for a tangy vinaigrette.
• Butter Lettuce: Tender, delicate & crunchy all at the same time. Add some spinach leaves if you have them too.
• Hazelnuts: Salted and toasted is best here.
• Radish: Thinly sliced…peppery and so pretty!
• Italian Parsley and Mint: Both of these fresh herbs add a punch to the salad and are easy to find in grocery stores.
• Seasonings: A few grinds of black pepper and some flaky sea salt for finishing.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Cook the Wheatberries: Rinse the dried wheat berries in cold water, then simmer over medium-high heat for 20-30 minutes until the grains are chewy but tender.
2. Make the Vinaigrette:  Use a simple canning jar with a lid or small bowl, add the ingredients, twist on the lid and shake to combine.
3. Assemble the Salad:  Lay the Butter lettuce on a platter or in a large serving bowl, then divide the grains on top of the lettuce.  Add the blackberries, hazelnuts, radish, parsley, mint and goat cheese. Or, put all the ingredients in a large bowl for tossing.
4. Season:  Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
5. Serve: Pass the Lemon Vinaigrette alongside for drizzling.

How to Select Blackberries

• Look for berries that are firm, fat, round, and juicy. Shiny, even.
• A proper blackberry is SO plump and sweet and amazingly wonderful you won’t care if the seeds stick to your teeth.
• Check for ripeness by their deep black color and plump, full feel. Taste one first if possible.
• Buy in season and make sure no berries are smashed in the container. They’ll mold faster if any one of them is crushed.
• For more info on how to choose and store fresh berries, here’s a little “Berries 101” if you’re interested.

Tips and Possible Substitutions

• Use other fruits like raspberries, strawberries, boysenberries or even fresh figs would be great in this salad, as would thinly sliced red onions.
• Use leftover or frozen grains if you have them to save time. Buy cooked, frozen grains at the grocery store. (It doesn’t take long to cook the wheat berries yourself.)  Make extra for this super delish Roasted Grape Hazelnut Breakfast Bowl.
• Try rice, farro, bulgar or spelt berries, even couscous works! For gluten free, try brown rice, buckwheat, quinoa or millet.
• I love the soft crunch of butter lettuce, but other small, leafy greens like arugula, spinach, red leaf lettuce or even romaine would taste great too.
• Hazelnuts–toasted, salted and roughly chopped, add a certain sweetness and can stand up to the other flavors in this recipe, but toasted pecans would be delicious too.
• For crumbled hazelnuts, chop roughly with a sharp knife to break them down a bit.  Or, put a clean kitchen towel over the top and lightly pound them with a kitchen mallet or the bottom of a sturdy glass jar (like a Ball canning jar.)  Uneven sizes and crumbles are perfect.

Serving Ideas

• Could you serve a sliced, warm chicken breast with this salad?  The answer is YES.  Try grilled salmon, prawns or tofu if you’d like.
• Rather than serving on a large platter, try plating each portion individually.
• Don’t assemble this salad more than a few minutes ahead of serving, and keep the components chilled in the fridge until you’re ready start plating.
• Some dessert ideas for this recipe are Muffin Tin Caramel Apple Pies, Melon with Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce, Roasted Nectarines with Caramel Sauce.
• You could also finish it off with Strawberry Cheesecake in a Jar.  Or, if you’re into more blackberries, try a Fresh Blackberry Galette.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Recipes

• Roasted Pear Salad: Warm and absolutely delicious.
• Roasted Vegetables with Vinaigrette: So easy, so incredibly good.
• Decorated Chocolate Covered Strawberries A fun and easy dessert.
• Strawberry Asparagus Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette Everyone needs a good lemon vinaigrette recipe.
• Celery Salad with Hazelnuts Another warm weather favorite, refreshing too.
• Simple Chickpea Salad This is surprisingly great as a side for almost anything.
• Modern Carrot Salad Another simple, healthy and flavorful side dish to try.

If you’ve tried Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad or any recipe of Studio Delicious, please leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

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SOURCE: This recipe was originally posted August 2019 and was updated with new photos and instructions June 2021