Wheat Berry Salad with Arugula, Carrots and Chickpeas
This whole grain salad recipe features chewy wheat berries with arugula, chickpeas, carrots and feta cheese tossed in lemon dressing.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on March 12, 2026
This unapologetically bold salad is overflowing with bitter arugula, tangy feta cheese, sweet and crunchy carrot ribbons, chewy wheat berries and earthy chickpeas. The bright, lemony olive oil dressing brings it all together. Ribbons of carrot make this salad particularly beautiful and memorable, and theyโre easy to make with a standard vegetable peeler.
Hearty salads with whole grains or beans (or both, as is the case here) are terrific side dishes for family meals and potlucks. Keep one in the fridge for ready-made meals or a healthy snack. Iโve loved this salad recipe for well over a decade now, and wanted to share it with you again today with new photos to catch your eye.
Before you add the ingredients to your grocery list, check to see if you have farro, spelt berries or kamut in your pantry. Theyโll work just as well as wheat berries, since theyโre nearly the same thing.
What are wheat berries?
Wheat berries are the whole wheat kernel. They can be ground to make whole wheat flour. Or, they can be cooked whole as weโre doing hereโtheyโre also good in soups, porridge and creative vegetable dishes. Wheat berries come in red or white varieties, and either will work for this recipe.
Wheat berries taste nutty and earthy, and I love how their chewy texture contrasts so nicely with crisp salad ingredients. Theyโre nutritious, of course, since theyโre the definition of a whole grain. They offer fiber, protein, zinc and magnesium, among other health benefits.
Where to buy wheat berries
Wheat berries can be hard to find now that Bobโs Red Mill has discontinued selling them. Look for them at natural grocery stores or search online at your preferred retailer, paying attention to the quantity (one pound is plenty for general cooking, though people often buy in greater bulk to make their own flour). Here they are at Target and Amazon.
Wheat berry options and alternatives
You have options! Try a different variety of wheat like farro, spelt berries or kamut. For a gluten-free alternative thatโs similarly chewy, use wild rice. You can cook them all similarly, but check the package directions for suggested cooking times, as they may not take as long to cook as wheat berries.
Tip
Wheat berries freeze beautifully for later. Since they take a while to cook, you might as well make extra to defrost for future salads.
To freeze, let the cooked wheat berries cool completely, then transfer them to a freezer bag. To minimize freezer burn, refrigerate the bag until itโs chilled through, then transfer it to the freezer. To defrost, break off the amount that you need and cook it in the microwave or boil it briefly until warmed through.
Salad Serving Suggestions
This filling vegetarian salad is high in fiber and can serve as a light meal on its own. You can boost the protein content by serving it with a couple of fried eggs. Sliced ripe avocado would also be a hearty addition.
You could round out your meal with a nice soup or stew. Here are a few complementary options:
- Cabbage Vegetable Soup
- Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup
- Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
- The Ultimate Gazpacho
Please let me know how your salad turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Wheat Berry Salad with Arugula, Carrots and Chickpeas
This salad recipe features chewy wheat berries combined with arugula, chickpeas, carrots and feta cheese tossed in a lemon dressing. Itโs beautiful and boldly flavored, and proves that whole grains can be a lovely salad component. Recipe yields 6 medium servings.
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 cup dried wheat berries*
- 1 can chickpeas (15 ounces) or 1 ยฝ cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 4 medium carrots, sliced into ribbons using a vegetable peeler
- ยฝ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 5 ounces arugula (if itโs not baby arugula, give it a few chops to break it into smaller pieces)
Dressing
- โ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ยผ cup lemon juice (about 1 large or 2 medium lemons), to taste
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 2 medium garlic cloves, pressed
- ยผ teaspoon red pepper flakes (omit if sensitive to spice)
- ยผ teaspoon fine salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Cook the wheat berries: Since wheat berries take around an hour to cook, I like to make extra and freeze it for later. To cook the wheat berries, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Stir in the wheat berries and ยฝ teaspoon salt. Partially cover the pot with a lid and cook, stirring often, until the berries are tender but still a little chewy, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Drain the wheat berries and let them cool to room temperature or close to it (you can speed up the cooling by pouring them onto a rimmed baking sheet or pouring them into a large bowl, stirring occasionally).
- In the meantime, whisk together the dressing ingredients. It should taste nicely tangy; you can add another tablespoon lemon juice to make it more zippy, or another pinch of salt for more flavor overall.
- Transfer the cooled wheat berries to a big bowl. Add the chickpeas, carrots, feta cheese and arugula and toss to combine. If youโll be serving the entire salad within the next few hours, drizzle in all of the dressing and toss to coat. If youโre planning on leftovers, store the dressing separately and dress individual portions before serving.
Notes
Recipe loosely adapted from two of my favorite recipe sources, Melissa Clark (Cook This Now) and Americaโs Test Kitchen (Healthy Family Cookbook).
Make it dairy free/vegan: Replace the feta with pitted and roughly chopped Kalamata olives to make up for fetaโs salty and tangy flavors.
*Wheat berry alternatives: Try farro, spelt berries or wild rice, cooked according to their own methods. Wild rice is your best gluten-free option.
2026 recipe edits: I updated the ingredient quantities and yield for improved clarity.ย
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionistโs advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
More Whole Grain Salads
If you appreciate the chewy texture that wheat berries add to this salad, here are a few more hearty salads youโll enjoy:
Yum, yum, yumโฆyes, pleaseโฆkeep up with the salad recipes! As a fellow introvert/online extrovert, I feel your pain. Luckily, I found my perfect match after a long time of perfectly-happy-alone-time. Heโs a total social extrovert who keeps the chatter going when weโre amongst others so I can float and absorb, with occasional bump ins. And even better, I didnโt have to give up eating out of the salad bowl โ we just have two forks now. :)
Thanks, Erin. Iโm glad you found someone to share your salads and your life with. :)
Beautiful. Definitely my kind of salad!
This salad looks so fresh and tasty! Yum!
ME TOO.
Youโre blessed to realize this and be able to articulate it so well, Kate! Seriously! Just knowing this about yourself will serve you well in all your relationships. I feel like Iโve only come to understand this about myself recently and that, in a lot of ways, Iโm still coming to understand it. For a lot of my life, I felt kind of guilty about being introverted or thoughtful, like it was decidedly NOT the preferable way to be and that I should hype myself and be โpeppyโ like your traveling companion advised you. But the reality is that I am not like that. I can only be me, and since being me is all that I have to offer in this big, diverse world, I have to be that and accept it as OK.
Youโre so right, Shanna. I am what I am and you are what you are, and itโs ok to be quiet and thoughtful. You canโt force peppy!
a) IN LOVE with your white table, glass bowls, jade plants, natural light, etc. Seriously purty.
b) This salad is making me weepy.
c) Move here already!
Iโm trying, Iโm trying! This summer has been too busy to pack up and move. Iโm coming to visit mid-July, thoughโIโll email you in advance this time. Letโs drink wine again!
This salad looks amazing โ love all the textures you have going on here, especially since texture is one of the things I love most about salad.
As a fellow introvert, I can totally relate. Thanks for sharing & the reminder that alone time is good, and being bubbly just for the sake of it probably isnโt.
Iโm a salad fanatic too โ I sometimes get self conscious that I post too many salads on my blog, too. Love this recipe โ thanks for sharing. :)
Youโre welcome, Tami. :) Bring on those salad recipes, I know that I for one cannot get enough of them!
1. You are so pretty! (Visited the Houzz article) And of course Cookie is, too.
2. Love your place. Very artfully done.
3. You are single-handedly responsible for a shift towards the healthy in my cooking habits, since I found your blog and started subscribing.
4. Being introverted/introspective and enjoying being alone is a wonderful thing, and is not necessarily counter-productive to finding a life partner. It took me a while to find the right man, but we are very happy 23 years later. If it is what you want, I wish the same for you.
Thank you so much for your sweet and thoughtful comment, Sue. Iโm delighted to hear that youโre eating more healthy food since finding my blogโyou make all my hard work worthwhile. Glad to hear that you found the right one for you, I hope to find mine someday, too. Until then, Iโm content just hanging out with Cookie and my friends. :)
This is exactly the type of meal I want to be eating now that itโs gotten hot out. Chickpeas, greens, and carrotโperfect. And I must say I would have a hard time not kicking anyone who told me to โpep upโ in the shins. Forbearance!
I love the combination of flavours, colours and textures in this salad. Just perfect. And I know exactly what you mean about being an introvert. Although I love time with my friends and other people, I canโt do it for long. I wish I could but I never will be able to because I need to be able to disappear into myself relatively frequently. I spent far too long trying to be someone that Iโm not in the past and now I just accept that thatโs how I am!
Hear, hear! Iโm learning to accept these qualities about myself rather than trying to change them or pretend that Iโm otherwise. Thereโs really nothing at all wrong with being introverted!
Iโve been wanting to experiment with wheatberries. This looks like a great place to start!
Youโre kitchen is darling! Iโm ready to hop a plane from NYC and invite myself over for a cooking party with you and cookie!
Thanks, Ashley. You know youโre always welcome in Oklahoma. :)
I love that big window right by your kitchen table! :) My boyfriend and I are moving in together (for real) next month. Iโve basically been living in his apartment while at the same time still sharing an apartment with a roommate (my bedroom there has become a storage over the past few months). I still have moments of panic attacks about not having MY own place anymoreโฆ there are days when I miss being single, like not having to worry about time and organizing schedules according to his and eating or not eating whenever I want to. This salad looks amazing and what boy would not love a salad like that? :) Kathryne, you are truly adorable! :)
Thanks, Margarita! I think relationships are all about compromise and it sounds like youโve found one worth compromising for. Best of luck!
I call it โalone-zoneโโฆ I know how it goesโฆ
I could eat a salad every day โ and I love everything about this one!
I feel the same way. Iโm often in my own head and enjoy my quiet time, itโs when I feel most peaceful and inspired.
I have really enjoyed your blog for a while โฆ. I swear Cookie was a cat? It wasnโt until this last post about your kitchen, that I peeked @ houzz and see that Cookie is a dog! Thank you for all your yummy salads and other recipes. I truly enjoy reading your posts and trying the recipes.
Thatโs so funny, Karen! Cookie is all dog. Iโm so happy to hear that you enjoy my blog and the recipes!
you photograph the salad so beautifullyโฆ it looks soo fresh.. especially in this weather!! and i so identify with every word that you wrote about your โintroversionโ!!! :)
I love your kitchen. Sometimes, you just have to make do with what youโve got and turn it around into your special space!
Aside from the salty/sweet blend of flavors, the colorization is phenomenal! I canโt wait to try this recipe. How does the lemon flavored dressing fair against the other ingredients? Is it the dominate flavor, or does it balance out the extreme saltiness of the feta cheese and spice of the arugula?
Great question, Kyle. Iโd say the bold lemon flavor rounds out the other bold flavors. This salad has a real kick to it.
Bright combinations and luv your blog :) new follower :)
xoxo
I feel like I might have mentioned this to you at Veronicaโs, but I miss living alone PRECISELY because of the quiet, much-needed alone time. Iโm definitely the kinda gal who likes to decompress solo often. And salads like this one are the ultimate single girl food(/ultimate food in general in my opinion). Yum. And thanks for including one of my recipes in your salad roundup, lady :)
This looks great! Melissa Clark & Americaโs Test Kitchen are two of my favorite sources for advice & inspiration. Yum!
Wow โ love the comment thread here. So many sweet and true things said, your heart must be swelling. :) Beautiful salad tooโฆ
Yes, every comment has made me smile! Iโm convinced I have the best readers around. Thanks, Marissa!
Funny, I felt very much the same way after I returned from New York. I love being around people, and am very much a people person, but alone time is so vital to recharge, re-energize, and balance. I love big salads, especially when Mattโs away and Iโm living the single girl life. Also, after a gorge-fest in NYC, I NEED lots of salads. xo
Great salad! I love adding wheat berries to salads!
The picture of the salad jumped at me on facebook, so beautiful!
In my culture (Iโm eastern European) personal space is not valued the same way as here, in North America. People like to spend most of their time doing things together. But after living in Canada for several years, when I visited my homeland for a few weeks I was really challenged. Seeing everyone (these are people I love and was very excited to see) made me so tired. At one point I had to lie and hide away in a park because I needed a few moments by myself to recharge. Looking at it right now I think itโs pretty funny how much I changed. Iโm glad to see that Iโm not the only one who spends a lot of time with the head in the clouds :)
I love salad recipes and can never get enough so please keep up the delicious work!
Iโm SO excited because I found your blog by accident today and everything looks SOOOO delicious! I love to cook and 95% of my diet is whole grains/fruits & veggies so this is RIGHT up my alley โฆ yay for me! :) I will be trying a lot of these recipes this week โฆ keep up the great work!
Thank you, Holly, Iโm happy you found my blog! Please let me know how the recipes turn out. I love feedback! Your portrait photography is beautiful, by the way.
Me too, Kate! :) Iโve already made the chickpea salad and the banana oat pancakes and both were DEE-LISH!! Looking forward to more food exploration with your delicious recipes. Thank you for the sweet compliment as well. :)
Oh yay, so happy to hear youโre enjoying the recipes already! Thanks, Holly!
Ok, I made this salad for dinner tonight and it knocked my socks off! I added grape tomatoes because I had them on hand and it was the perfect addition. Loved the colors, textures and flavors โฆ one of my favorite all-time recipes for sure!! Serious amounts of yummmm โฆ thx, Kate!
Thatโs great news, Holly! Itโs one of my all-time favorite salads, glad you feel the same way about it. :)
All us single salad eating blog world gals! Somewhere there must be a bevy of understanding, salad crazy men just waiting for us :) This recipe looks absolutely delicious โ Iโll just replace the wheat berries with brown rice (gluten free friendly) and Iโll be smiling all week long.
Haha! Letโs hope so!
Iโm reading a book called โQuiet: An Introvertโs Guide to Living in a World that Wonโt Stop Talkingโ. It was given to me by a friend and fellow introvert, with the promise of โThis will change your life.โ Iโm hoping it just makes me feel better about covering my ears and backing away.
And there is, quite frankly, nothing better in these warm days of early summer than a huge bowl of salad, grains and legumes, plunging a fork into, over and over again. Satiety comes, and itโs all good now that the loud crunching is over. I so totally get it.
This salad would be a hit at our house. So healthy and colorful! Yum!
PS I had a dog names Cookie in high school :)
I am a MAJOR introvert in some waysโฆI really can spend days on end with only myself and be perfectly content. I really NEED alone/me time and get cranky when I donโt get it.
AndโฆI adore salads. Especially wheatberry salads. The combination of ingredients in this sounds awesome! Definitely something I would love!
Hello! I made this salad for dinner tonight with arugula from my CSA. Terrific recipe! I especially LOVED the dressing. Thanks!
Yum! That looks so delicious! I love salads too and definitely agree with you that living on by yourself is awesome. I often talk to my cat, who is my buddy and companion. He keeps me from going too crazy! Thanks for sharing!
someone else already commented that they replaced the wheat berries with brown rice, but do you have any other gluten-free suggestions?
I would definitely try this at home and will send you feedback :) My family love to eat salads.
Loved this recipe! I made this but wanted a warm dinner entree so I roasted the carrots and chickpeas rather than mix everything together cold. Came out wonderfully!
Great idea! Thank you, Basia. You might love this recipe, too!
Thanks for a great recipeโฆI have made this many times now, the flavor combinations are spot-on without requiring a long list of ingredients. A keeper for sure!
I am completely obsessed with this salad. I found it when looking for recipes for wheatberries bc my husband ordered 20 lbs of them on a whim. I think about it often and share it with all of my neighbors. Since discovering it about a month ago, I think Iโve made it 8 times. The blend of ingredients is perfection. Thank you so much for my new favorite recipe!!
Thatโs great! Thank you for your review, Jane.
I tend to struggle in the kitchen, so I really appreciated how simple this was to make. I subbed farro for the wheat berries. Delightful!
Iโm happy to hear you didnโt struggle with this recipe, Rachel! I appreciate your review.