Mediterranean Millet Salad

Tender millet and chopped fresh & preserved vegetables tossed with a lemony herb vinaigrette, this gluten free whole grain salad is satisfyingly flexible.

Are you a millet eater? Millet curious? I developed this recipe because I was the latter, and now I am the former. After reviewing the Whole Grains Council's website with my healthy eating coach, she challenged me to pick a new-to-me grain and try it.
I picked millet, and here we are.

Throughout the winter I've made this salad with a rotating cast of leftover cooked vegetables, fresh vegetables, preserved vegetables, and herbs. My method pretty much goes like this--step 1, put millet and water in the Instant Pot and, step 2, while the Pot is coming up to pressure open the crisper and figure out what's going to be in the salad that day.
It’s hearty enough to keep me satisfied for a while, and I can load it up with plenty of fresh veggies to make it feel like Spring has truly sprung even though the muddy garden doesn’t quite agree. 

Because I've made this so often I've got some tips & tricks for you.

Cook's Notes for making Millet Salad

First of all, you can cook the millet in a pressure cooker like I did, or on the stovetop or in a slow cooker. 

For a dressing use the vinaigrette of your choice—Italian, Greek, balsamic—my preference is for a lemony herb vinaigrette. Don't be afraid to add another splash of dressing if you think the salad is dry. It's not a drippy wet salad--there should not be a puddle of dressing in the bottom of the bowl when you've finished.

Grab whatever fresh, cooked, and/or preserved veggies that you’ve got and toss them in this salad. Fresh vegetables that are great in this salad include carrots, cucumbers, celery, red or sweet onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes.

Cooked vegetables that are great in this salad (and don’t cook any vegetables just for this salad! Cook some extra veggies with a previous meal and plan to use the leftovers in this salad!) include broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes.

If you’ve got frozen peas or edamame, they’d be lovely as well.

I like this with garbanzo beans or small white beans, but kidney or black would also be yummy.

Preserved vegetables that would be good in this salad include olives, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, pickled peppers, giardiniera, and roasted red peppers.

Fresh herbs that would be good in this salad include curly or Italian style parsley, mint, fennel fronds, and maybe dill or basil or rosemary depending on the type of dressing you choose.

I've got a long form video on my YouTube channel where I demonstrate how to pressure cook millet as well as how to assemble the salad while the dogs wander around the kitchen. You can see the full Millet Salad video here.

Not into millet? How about wild rice--another gluten free whole grain.

You can use a pressure cooker or the stovetop to cook wild rice for these recipes, too! I've got a yummy Fruited Wild Rice Salad With Sweet Potato recipe for you. With tender sweet potatoes and crunchy red grapes, this is a very satisfying salad indeed. Want to keep with the Mediterranean vibe? How about my Instant Pot Greek Wild Rice Salad recipe.

Millet Salad
By Kirsten Madaus

Tender millet and chopped fresh and preserved vegetables tossed with a lemony herb vinaigrette, this flexible gluten free whole grain salad satisfies.

Prep time: 00:20
Cook time: 00:10
Total time: 00:35

Yield: 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
½ cup millet
⅞ cup water (if cooking in a pressure cooker)
2 to 4 Tablespoons vinaigrette style salad dressing
2 to 4 cups chopped fresh or leftover cooked vegetables
½ to 1 cup cooked beans, if desired
¼ to ½ cup preserved vegetables, if desired
½ cup chopped fresh parsley or other fresh herbs
optional ½ cup crumbled feta cheese


Instructions:

Place millet and water into a 3 or 6 quart pressure cooker, close & lock lid, and cook at High pressure for 10 minutes. After the cooking program is complete, allow 10 minutes of natural pressure release before releasing any remaining pressure. Fluff millet with a fork and set aside to cool briefly.

In a large bowl, mix millet with 2 Tablespoons vinaigrette until evenly distributed. Stir in chopped vegetables then beans, then preserved vegetables, adding more vinaigrette as needed to make sure dressing coats all the components of the salad but isn’t drippy.

Fold in fresh herbs until they are evenly distributed throughout salad, and top with crumbled cheese if desired.


This salad can hang out in the fridge for several days before serving.

I prefer to eat it at room temperature, so I take it out of the fridge about 30-45 minutes before serving.

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