Tuna wheat berry salad with balsamic vinaigrette
This delicious tuna wheat berry salad makes for a healthy lunch or dinner that anyone will love. With recipe tips, accompaniments, and more.
This Recipe includes
Main ingredients:
| Tuna – canned tuna |
| Wheat berries – soft wheat berries or pearled wheat. You can also use quinoa or bulger if that is what you have. |
| Mixed greens – you can use any sort of mixed greens like arugula, mâche, frisée, chicory, romain lettuce, baby spinach, etc. |
| Corn – canned corn |
| (Optional) onion – chopped red onions or sweet onions |
| Chicken stock – liquid chicken stock or liquid vegetable stock. You can also use water with a stock cube. |
Spices and flavoring ingredients:
| Balsamic vinegar – for that sweet tangy taste. |
| Olive oil – melds well with the balsamic vinegar to make it less sweet |
| Feta cheese – for a light salty taste |
| Pinch of salt and pepper |
Cooking tips
- Canned tuna works best, as it is already cooked and can easily be added into the dish.
- I recommend canned corn rather than sweet corn to avoid making it too sweet. Sweet corn has a higher sugar content as it is picked while still immature, before the sugar has a chance to turn into starch.
Why we love it
When you want a light and healthy meal, either for lunch or dinner, this tuna wheat berry salad is a quick and easy solution. It is filling and full of flavor, while also being full of nutrients. This is a meal that is going to keep you energized.
The easiest part of this is using canned tuna and corn, are both so versatile and easy to incorporate into a variety of meals without doing any lengthy cooking.
It makes a wonderful main or side dish in warm weather and can be changed up with other ingredients, depending on what you have on hand. Don’t hesitate to change things up every so often by adding in some cherry tomatoes or cucumbers, or even some steamed broccoli.
Now, I usually use a rice cooker to cook the wheat berries, since I can just set it and leave it to go do other things. But I have made it on the stove as well, so I have included instructions for both.
What to serve with it?
This tuna corn salad is a great light and healthy lunch or dinner, but you can also serve it as a starter or side dish. Pair it with a salmon in lemon butter sauce or a homemade carrot soup.
How to store it?
You can prepare this tuna wheat berry salad in advance, but I don’t recommend adding the greens and dressing into the mix. The salad will become heavy and wilt with the dressing on top, so it is best to keep them separately.
Keep them separate in the fridge, and when ready to serve remove both from the fridge about 20 minutes in advance so that they get to room temperature. Then add the balsamic dressing onto the salad a few minutes before you are ready to serve.
Similar recipes
Tuna wheat berry salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked wheat berries
- 3 cups water liquid chicken stock, or liquid vegetable stock
- 200 g 3/4 cup of feta cheese
- 2 oz of mixed greens
- 10 oz of tuna 2 cans or 240g
- 5 oz of sweet corn 1 can or 140g
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- pinch of salt and pepper
- Optional 1/2 chopped red onion
Instructions
Wheat berries on the stove top:
- In a saucepan, add the wheat berries along with water and salt and bring to a boil over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until water is absorbed.
- Remove from heat and mix with a fork.
- Let wheat berries cool to room temperature.
Wheat berries in a rice cooker:
- Add the wheat berries, water and salt into the the rice cooker and turn it on.
- Once it is finished, remove from the rice cooker into a large bowl and mix with a fork.
- Let wheat berries cool to room temperature.
Other ingredients:
- Chop the feta cheese and any optional ingredients like the red onion into small quarters.
- In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Move the wheat berries to a large salad bowl, and combine it with the mixed greens, tuna, sweet corn, feta cheese, optional ingredients, and salad dressing.
- Toss the salad and serve.
Nutrition
If you enjoyed that, check out our other great salad recipes that you can make easily. Bon appétit!
