Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad
Craving a cool & creamy salad? This Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad is a simple, delicious salad bursting with fresh ingredients and flavor.
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 or side dish.
This salad has a light and lemony olive oil vinaigrette, that's bright and flavorful and perfect for drizzling alongside.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Season: Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Serve: Pass the Lemon Vinaigrette alongside for drizzling.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad
Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad is deliciously satisfying & cool, creamy, crunchy & easy!
Course: Salad
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients
▢ 1 ½ cups Cooked Wheat berries
▢ 1 teaspoon Salt
▢ 4 cups Butter Lettuce
▢ ½ cup Hazelnuts, dry roasted, roughly chopped
▢ 1 ½ cups Blackberries
▢ ¼ cup Radishes, thinly sliced
▢ ¼ cup Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, roughly chopped
▢ ¼ cup Mint Leaves, fresh
▢ ½ cup Goat Cheese, crumbled
▢ ¼ tsp Flaky sea salt and ground pepper
▢ FOR THE VINAIGRETTE
▢ ¼ cup Olive Oil, extra virgin
▢ 1 tablespoon Lemon juice, fresh squeezed
▢ 1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar
▢ 1 tablespoon Honey
▢ Flake Sea Salt and lemon pepper
▢ TO MAKE COOKED WHEAT BERRIES
▢ 1 cup Wheat berries, rinsed in cold water & dried
▢ 3 cups Water
Instructions
COOK THE WHEAT BERRIES
Place rinsed and dried wheat berries in a medium saucepan with the 3 cups of water with a teaspoon salt. Bring water to the boil, cover and reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until water is absorbed, 20-30 minutes. Add a little more water if needed until the grains are tender and chewy. Remove from heat and set aside to cool before assembling the salad.
Can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator.
MAKE THE VINAIGRETTE
Put the olive oil, lemon juice, rice vinegar and honey in a small jar with a lid (like a Ball canning jar) and shake until combined.
Alternatively, you can place the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk with a fork until combined.
ASSEMBLE THE SALAD
Lay the butter lettuce on the platter or plates, then divide the grains on the plates.
Add/divide the hazelnuts, blackberries, radish, parsley, mint and goat cheese.
Season with the flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Serve the lemon vinaigrette alongside to drizzle on top.
Notes
Use other fruits: Raspberries, strawberries, boysenberries or even fresh figs would be great in this salad.
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 wheatberries yourself.
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.)
