Name: Blackberry Salad with Toasted Hazelnuts
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups Grains, cooked; 4 cups Lettuce, Butter lettuce preferred; 1/2 cup Hazelnuts, dry roasted, roughly chopped; 1 1/2 cups Blackberries, organic; 1/4 cup Radishes, very thinly sliced; 1/4 cup Italian Parsley, roughly chopped; 1/4 cup Mint leaves, fresh; 1/2 cup Goat Cheese, crumbled; 1/4 tsp Flaky sea salt and ground pepper; FOR THE VINAIGRETTE; 1/4 cup Olive Oil, extra virgin; 1 tablespoon Lemon juice, fresh squeezed; 1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar; 1 tablespoon Honey; Flake Sea Salt and lemon pepper; COOKED WHEATBERRIES; 1 cup Wheatberries, dried; 3 cups Water

Ingredients You’ll Need for This Recipe

Ingredients for blackberry salad with text overlay on a blue fabric mat

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

Blackberry Salad with Toasted Hazelnuts on a blue platter

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

Ingredients for Blackberry Salad on a blue table. Grains, blackberries, hazelnuts, goat cheese, lemon, mint and radish in small bowls.

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

close up of balckberry salad with grains and hazlenuts and goat cheese and radish on a blue plate and table

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

Long blue platter of salad made of goat cheese, blackberries, hazelnuts, radish and mint on a blue table

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:

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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