Vegan Greek Millet Salad

Serve up this hearty vegan Greek salad as a meal or side dish! Adding the millet into the recipe makes the salad more filling and of course nutritious too. This easy millet salad makes the absolutely perfect lunch on a scorching summer's day and is ready in 30 minutes!

Why This Recipe Works

• Hearty: Adding millet to vegan Greek salad makes it a heartier and more satisfying salad.
• Summer salad: This easy vegan millet salad will be one you come back to again and again for summer BBQs, cookouts, and parties!
• Easy recipe: Simple ingredients and preparation make vegan Greek salad perfect to make ahead easily for weekly meals.

What is Millet?

Millet is a cereal grain with a mild flavor that soaks up dressings and seasonings you add to it. It's boiled in water, similar to rice, and can be used as a hot cereal or as a pilaf. Sometimes it is ground into flour and used to make baked goods.

This grain from the grass family is a staple for much of the world except for the US where it is predominantly used in bird feed. There are different varieties of millet and they may look different, ranging in colors from white to brown.

It's naturally gluten-free with high amounts of fiber and protein making it a great substitute for other grains such as rice, quinoa, and couscous.

What Goes Into This Recipe

• Millet: An easy to cook ancient grain makes the base of this easy vegan Greek salad. If it’s not available in your local grocery store you may be able to buy it online or in a specialty market or organic food store.
• Extra virgin olive oil: A healthy, bright flavored oil perfect for salads. 
• Fresh lemon juice: Use freshly squeezed lemon juice rather than bottled lemon juice for the best flavor. If you don’t have it, you can swap it with red wine vinegar.
• Dried oregano: The essential herb in Greek salad.
• Garlic: Use fresh garlic for the best flavor in the simple dressing for the salad.
• Sea salt and black pepper: Essential to bringing all the flavors together.
• Cucumber: For its crisp texture.
• Tomatoes: Cherry or grape tomatoes for sweet, yet tangy flavor and little to no prep.
• Red onion: Red onions are best when making salads. They have a nice bite of flavor and crisp texture.
• Romaine lettuce: Firm lettuce leaves with the perfect amount of crunch to hold up with all the veggies in this millet salad.

Variations

• Make with other grains: Swap out the millet for other whole grains such as brown rice, farro, bulgur, and wheatberries.
• More veggies: While tomato, cucumber, and red onion are the classics in vegan Greek salad you can also add in red bell pepper strips, sliced artichokes, roasted eggplant or any other vegetable you have on hand!
• Add briny flavors: Add on some kalamata olives, pepperoncini peppers, or tofu feta to give this vegan Greek salad a salty flavor.
• Add chickpeas: A bit of plant protein makes this a heartier salad for a main meal.

How to Make Greek Millet Salad

• 1) Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Once it boiling, add the millet and cook for 20 minutes uncovered. 

• 2) Make the dressing while the millet is cooking. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper in small bowl.

• 3) When the millet is done cooking, transfer it to a fine-mesh strainer and let it fully drain. When all the excess water is drained, transfer it to a large bowl.

• 4) Pour the dressing over the drained millet while it is still warm. Mix well and set aside to cool.

• 5) Once the millet has fully cooled, add remaining ingredients and toss well to mix. 

• 6) Taste for seasoning and place in the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving.

Expert Tips and FAQs

• Chop up the lettuce into small pieces so it mixes well with the millet and other veggies.
• Add the dressing to the millet while it's still warm. The warm millet soaks up all the flavors of the dressing better than when it's cold.
• Let millet salad sit before serving. This gives it a chance for all the flavors to meld together.

More Salad Recipes

Healthy Mango Black Bean Salad

Colorful Farro Salad

Warm Soba Salad with Cucumbers

Orzo Chickpea Salad

Artichoke Potato Salad

Photos by Alfonso Revilla