5 Nutrient-Packed Grain Recipes to Upgrade Your Meals
We love pasta as much as you do. But these days, Mason jars of grains and seeds are occupying valuable real estate in our pantries alongside diminishing stocks of spaghetti. First, there was quinoa, the gateway grain (um, seed). Emboldened, we stirred spelt into soups and spiked salads with farro. By now, our love of versatile, nutrient-packed grains is nothing short of an addiction. But considering how many ways there are to cook with them, going whole hog with whole grains makes total sense.
Ditte Isager1/5Build a Salad
Start treating grains as a basic building block, and weeknight meals become effortless. Customize your healthful bowl with raw and/or cooked vegetables, herbs, and crunchy nuts or seeds, and toss with a vinaigrette. Still going? Add a poached egg or some sliced chicken. Get the recipe: Black and Wild Rice Salad with Roasted Squash
Ditte Isager2/5Boost Your Batter
One of many great reasons to keep extra cooked grains around: They can be added to pancake or waffle batters, quick breads, muffins—even vegetable fritters. It’s an effort-less way to add nutrition and texture to old standbys and new classics, like these crispy, savory millet pancakes. *Fresh advice: Store grains in zip-top bags or in airtight jars (be sure to clip and include any relevant information from the label). Freezing them is ideal, but few of us have the space for that. Instead, keep them in a cool pantry, where they’ll hold for several months. Get the recipe: Millet-Scallion Pancakes
Ditte Isager3/5Toast for the Most
Like searing a piece of meat or roasting vegetables till they’re charred around the edges, toasting grains intensifies their flavor. Bake them for about 15 minutes in a 350° oven before boiling in our basic method. Or sauté them with aromatics when building the base of a soup like this one. Fresh advice: The fresher the grains, the faster they’ll cook, so shop where there’s high turnover. Get the recipe: Toasted Spelt Soup with Escarole and White Beans
Photo by Ditte Isager4/5Up with Oats
You don’t need a bowl to get oats into your diet. Rolled, steel-cut, and even quick-cooking oats are all whole grains, and if processed properly, they’re naturally gluten-free. This crunchy, nutty, oat-packed loaf can be sliced for breakfast on the go, toasted and topped with yogurt or cream cheese, or eaten in place of an energy bar. Get the recipe: Nutty Grain and Oat Bars
