The search for tasty, healthy breakfast dishes is a neverending quest. I am always looking for a breakfast that can be made ahead and munched on for several days, offering a tasty, easy meal each weekday morning. In the winter, my standby is my beloved steel-cut oatmeal, and sometimes, if I have extra time on the weekend, I'll make up a big pan of egg casserole with seasonal vegetables.
But now, as the summer heats up, what to make? Here's my latest venture: A fluffy, tender grain salad with oats, quinoa, and millet, nutty with hazelnuts and bursting with blueberries.
When we ran our Reader Request Week a few weeks ago, one request that stood out to us was from BabyGrace: "A make-ahead brunch recipe that is NOT a baked French toast or egg-based casserole." This dovetailed nicely with my own perpetual quest for a good make-ahead breakfast that was tasty and delicious, but still healthy with a dash of protein.
So we put our heads together, and Cambria and Emma almost simultaneously came up with the idea of a breakfast grain salad. Brilliant!
This idea worked well with another one of my goals for a summer breakfast dish: Be as good cold as it was hot. I wanted a dish that didn't need to be cooked or warmed up in the morning — just thrown in a Tupperware and taken to work with you.
Dressed with yogurt, lemon juice, and maple syrup, these fluffy spoonfuls of grains and fruit are actually much more delicious when cool than hot. The salad even improves overnight in the refrigerator — a good thing for a make-ahead dish. So give it a try — and try it with other flavors too — it would be terrific with almonds and strawberries, or walnuts and roasted figs.
Breakfast Grain Salad with Blueberries, Hazelnuts & Lemon
Makes 8 servings1 cup steel-cut oats
1 cup golden quinoa
1/2 cup millet
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and cut into coins
2 large lemons, zest and juice
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup Greek yogurt (or soy yogurt, if you want to make this vegan)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups hazelnuts, roughly chopped and toasted
2 cups blueberries or mixed berries
Mix the oats, quinoa, and millet in a fine mesh strainer and rinse for about a minute under running water. Set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the rinsed grains and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until they begin smelling toasted. Pour in 4 1/2 cups water and stir in 3/4 teaspoon salt, the ginger coins, and the zest of 1 lemon.
Bring to boil, cover, turn down the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes, then remove the lid and fluff with a fork. Remove the ginger. Spread hot grains on a large baking sheet and let cool for at least half an hour.
Spoon the cooled grains into a large bowl. Stir in the zest of the second lemon.
In a medium bowl whisk the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil with the juice of both lemons until emulsified. Whisk in the maple syrup, yogurt, and nutmeg. Pour this into the grains and stir until well-coated. Stir in the toasted hazelnuts and blueberries. Taste and season with additional salt, if necessary.
Refrigerate overnight; the flavors of this really come together overnight in the fridge.
Related: Oatmeal in Jars: Make a Week of Breakfast in 5 Minutes
(Images: Faith Durand)
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Comments (17)
Do you think replacing the yogurt with soy milk would adversely affect the outcome?
actually, i meant to say replacing the yogurt with ALMOND milk.
Oh, this just made my morning!
I was reading through the post, thinking the photos and description looked great, when I found out it was inspired by my request! Thanks so much for developing what seems sure to be a delicious recipe. What a great brunch side dish this will be, and I love that it can (and should!) be made a day ahead!
Oooh, and how about pouring just a bit of milk over the top before enjoying? Yum!
This looks delicious. Definitely one to try with soy yog.
or subbing the olive oil for coconut oil and using raw nuts before eating rather that overnight.
This is a really good idea. Been craving some grains but something healthier than the usual granola...Thanks.
I'm not a big millet fan - is there a particular function of it in here or do you think just leaving it out would be fun. I keep a lot of wheat bran around for making granola - think that would do a similar trick?
Always looking for gluten free breakfast alternatives, this looks fantastic!
As far as I can tell, you basically tailor-made this for my boyfriend. So hey, thanks for that!
I decided to make this my pre-run breakfast last night then to top it off just saw this runner's world piece on benefits of blueberries for running - so even better. And I finally used the millet I'd been storing. Great recipe thank you!
I saw this yesterday and had to make it immediately! I used coconut milk and a little bit of soy in place of the yogurt. Was afraid it would be too much lemon but it wasn't! Great recipe!
This is so delicious! I didn't have maple syrup or hazelnuts, but substituting honey was a win. Thank you!
I made this yesterday and it was so yummy! I did a few things differently - cut the recipe in 1/2, cup down on the oil, substituted honey and added banana! YUM!
http://www.abbieanderica.com/2012/06/breakfast-grain-salad.html
Made this and LOVE it.
As a single person, the recipe make a huge amount. Much more than you can eat before it goes bad.
I decided to modify the dressing and freeze half of it. I made the dressing as given except that I left out the yoghurt (which I didn't think would freeze feel). I tossed the non-dairy dressing into the salad and then divided it into single servings. I froze half of those. When I want to eat a serving, I mix in fresh fruit and yoghurt or keifer.
Next time I'll half the ingredients.
Dahl - I used bulgur wheat in place of millet and it worked great. I've never used wheat bran...does it cook up into individual grains or into more of a creamy porridge like oat bran does? If the latter, it would probably alter the texture of the dish, but doesn't mean it wouldn't be tasty :-)
I just happen to have all of the ingredients on hand (except hazelnuts, so I suppose I'll use almonds or walnuts instead), so I'm planning to make this tonight. Can't wait to try it tomorrow!
My brother and I made this for our annual family Christmas brunch. It was great that it can be made ahead, and it turned out amazing! We made just two small adjustments. We couldn't find millet at our regular grocery store and didn't want to make another stop, so we just used equal parts oats and quinoa. And secondly, we used pomegranite seeds instead of blueberries. It was great as left-overs, however I would suggest that if you are planning to eat it over a period of a few days that you leave the fruit out initially and only mix it in as you eat it.