This breakfast salad combines some of my favorite things: sweet and salty flavors, autumn vegetables, and creamy sauces. And it’s a delicious breakfast. I love a tasty breakfast.

Breakfast salad is only for some, but you can choose a salad for lunch or dinner. But if you’ve never had a breakfast salad, it’s worth a try. Eating vegetables and whole grains first thing in the morning feels great. Breakfast salads and vegetables are an excellent opportunity to soak up plant-based protein.

This special breakfast salad is made with nuts, wholesome cooked farro, baked sweet potatoes, and apples. The base is curly kale, and the sauce is sweet and salty almond butter citrus. It is inspired by rich and colorful autumn produce. This has become one of my favorite salad recipes.

Is salad a good breakfast?

Salad for breakfast? I get this response when I mention breakfast salads to clients and friends.

But actually, salad is a great breakfast. It’s nutritious and fresh, and if it’s meal-sized and you pay attention to the balance of macronutrients, it’s a great way to stay full for hours. Sure, it’s not your typical breakfast choice, but it’s no different than any other delicious breakfast.

An essential component of a nutritious salad

The trick to making a breakfast salad last is to fill it with filling ingredients. Try to include healthy fats, protein, complex carbohydrates, and plenty of vegetable fiber. In other words, make it a power strip.

Here are some examples of macronutrient groups you can use to make breakfast salads:

Healthy fat

nut
Seed
Nut or seed butter
Olive oil
Avocado oil
avocado

Complex carbohydrates

Sweet potato
Whole grain bread (croutons, breadcrumbs, etc.)
quinoa
Unpolished rice
Farro
barley
Whole wheat couscous
Root vegetables
Beans.
lentil
Corn

protein

Beans.
lentil
Vegetarian meat
Bean curd
Fermented black beans
Shelled hemp seed
Green leafy vegetable
nut
gluten

vegetable

Green leafy vegetable
broccoli
cauliflower
Green pepper
Tomato
eggplant
cucumber
zucchini
carrot
Onion

Or whatever you want to eat! This is just a roundup of some of my favorite breakfast salad ingredients. However, you can use what you have and breakfast salad as an opportunity to enjoy your favorite foods.

Ingredients for a breakfast salad

Farro

Farrow is the star of this breakfast salad. It’s also one of my favorite whole grains. I often eat it as a side dish. It also appears in many of my salad recipes, including pesto farro and kale salad, balsamic roasted cauliflower salad, and carrot and beet farro salad.

Farro is not gluten-free, so you can replace it with quinoa or millet if you follow a gluten-free diet. Other whole grain options for breakfast salads (which also have a nice chewy texture):

Spelling berry
Wheatberry
oat
Sweet potatoes and apples

Baked sweet potatoes and apples add natural sweetness to breakfast salads. They’re also fiber-rich foods that help to make them more full.

Sweet potatoes and apples can be baked in the oven or fried in an air fryer—that’s two options!

kale

I love curly kale’s rich texture and slightly bitter taste, as well as how well it holds up in its remaining form. Therefore, it is one of the vegetables I rely on most when I cook. If you don’t like kale, replace it with another salad green you like.

Almond butter

I’m a big fan of using nut and seed butter as a base for salad dressings. I use an irresistible mixture of almond butter, orange juice, lemon juice, and Bragg’s liquid amino acids for my breakfast salad. It’s an effortless mix, but it’s fantastic.

The almond butter in the dressing is mild and doesn’t compete with apples or sweet potatoes. It works well in recipes. If you are allergic to nuts but can tolerate seeds, suntan oil is an excellent alternative to almond oil.

Meal preparation and storage

Like many of the hearty grain salads I make, you can prepare a wheat breakfast salad ahead of time and incorporate it into your weekly preparation.

I suggest stirring the condiments, baking or air-frying vegetables, or pre-cooking wheat. All of these steps will make this salad very easy to make. These three ingredients can be prepared up to four days before mixing the salad.

Ingredients

1 cup dried wheat (pearl or plain)

2 medium sweet potatoes, washed and chopped

2 large apples or 3 small apples, cored and chopped

1 tablespoon of avocado oil

3 cups chopped curly kale

Make creamy almond butter marmalade

3 tablespoons almond butter (if possible, choose creamy almond butter; Use sunflower seeds or cashew butter instead)

1/3 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon tamari or Bragg liquid amino acids

Instructions

Cook according to package directions.
Bake potatoes and apples in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir the sweet potatoes and apples in the oil, then transfer them to a baking sheet or spray them with oil. Bake for 30-35 minutes, stirring once during cooking or until they are soft and golden.
Put the sweet potatoes and apples in an air fryer and spray with oil. Fry in batches at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil and steam the kale in a steamer for 5 minutes or until tender.
To make the dressing, stir the ingredients well.
Once the wheat, potatoes, apples, and kale are cooked, combine them in a large mixing bowl. Pour the dressing over the top and stir well. Serve the salad warm or cold. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.