Here’s a favorite salad recipe that’s cool, creamy and crunchy all at the same time! Blackberry Salad with Toasted Hazelnuts uses a scattering of cooked grains, crumbled goat cheese, thin sliced radishes and plump, fresh blackberries, plus a drizzle of juicy lemon vinaigrette. Satisfying and amazingly delicious!

Blackberries are the star of the show here…the big, juicy, ripe kind.

This salad calls for Butter Lettuce (my very favorite- beautiful, tender and delicious) followed by toasted hazelnuts plus a whole bunch of other luscious ingredients:

Soft and creamy goat cheese
Thinly sliced radishes for a peppery little kick
Wheatberries or other leftover grains make this a chewy, substantial salad
Fresh herbs – Italian parsley and fragrant mint are the perfect combination
A bright and flavorful citrus vinaigrette rounds it all out, for drizzling alongside, the same one I use in this delicious Superfood Salad.

This a great salad to make for lunch or a light dinner by itself, or as a side to grilled chicken or fish. Start with my Lemon Artichoke Dip to start it all off.

Ingredients You’ll Need for This Recipe

Note: This is a partial list of ingredients…for the full ingredient list, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Cooked Grains: Almost any leftover cooked grains will work, wheatberries are my favorite for this recipe.
Butter Lettuce: So tender, so crunchy. Delicate, but substantial enough to stand up to the rest of the ingredients.
Hazelnuts: Buy them already salted and toasted to save time.
Radish: Thinly sliced and so pretty!
Italian Parsley and Mint: Both of these herbs add a fresh punch to the salad and are easy to find in the grocery store.
Goat Cheese: Just a crumble for a creamy texture that’s delicious with the chewy wheatberries.
Lemon Juice and Seasonings: Use pantry staples like freshly ground pepper and flaky sea salt, plus rice vinegar and fresh lemon juice for an easy vinaigrette.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Cook the Wheatberries: Use leftover grains if you have them…rice, farro, bulgar or spelt berries, even couscous works! To cook your own, rinse the dried wheatberries and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the grains are chewy but tender.
Make the Vinaigrette: Use a simple canning jar with a lid..just add olive oil, lemon juice, rice vinegar and honey. Screw on the lid and shake, that’s it!
Assemble the Salad: Lay the Butter lettuce on the plate, then divide the grains on top of the lettuce. Add the blackberries, hazelnuts, radish, parsley, mint and goat cheese.
Season: Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Serve: Pass the Lemon Vinaigrette alongside for drizzling.

How to Select Perfect Blackberries

At the Farmer’s Market there were baskets of fresh blackberries sitting on a rickety table with a crumpled yellow tablecloth next to a small, hand-lettered sign that said “picked today.” SOLD. The fresher, the better.
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 if possible!
Buy in season and make sure no berries are smashed in the container. They’ll mold faster if any are crushed.

Tips and Substitutions

After all that fuss about how great blackberries are, you could totally use raspberries, strawberries or even fresh figs in this salad instead.
Don’t have time to cook grains for this salad? Use leftover brown rice or other grains you may have on hand. Most any grain will work!
I love the soft crunch of butter lettuce, but other small, leafy spring greens will 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.
Cook the wheatberries yourself and also make this amazing Roasted Grape Hazelnut Breakfast Bowl.

Serving Ideas for This Recipe

Could you serve a sliced, warm chicken breast with this salad? The answer is YES.
Plate each portion individually! It’s a nice option that can be done a little ahead….just serve the vinaigrette on the side.
Don’t assemble this salad more than 30 minutes ahead of serving or it will start to look sad. Just keep the components cool in the fridge until your ready start plating.
This salad also looks great on a big, white platter with some pretty serving-ware.
Some dessert ideas for this recipe are Muffin Tin Caramel Apple Pies, Melon with Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce, Roasted Nectarines with Caramel Sauce
Or, finish it off with Strawberry Cheesecake in a Jar. So good!

More Salad Recipes to Try:

Decorated Chocolate Covered Strawberries Great for dessert with this recipe!

Strawberry Asparagus Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Celery Salad with Hazelnuts

Simple Chickpea Salad

Modern Carrot Salad

If you’ve tried Blackberry Salad with Roasted Hazelnuts or any recipe of Studio Delicious, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

SOURCE: Studio Delicious, Inspired by The Love and Lemons Cookbook. This recipe was originally posted August 2019 and was updated with new photos and text September 2020.

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