Pear and buckwheat salad
Pear and buckwheat salad has become one of our favourite spring lunches. It's healthy, gluten-free, and has a zingy dressing. Perfect for lunch, a fresh side salad with dinner or any time you need a delicious salad.
If you're a fan of fresh and healthy salads, please try this recipe! It's so crunchy, fresh and full of delicious sweetness from the pears and zing from the lemon dijon dressing. The almonds give the salad an extra special crunch.
One of our favourite salad recipes!
Playing around with different salad ideas is such a fun thing to do. You can literally put anything you want in a salad. The trick is to create a base from the salad leaves, add something filling like buckwheat, quinoa or other grain. Then something a little bit sweet and top with something crunchy and a tasty dressing.
Tips for adding protein to salads
There are many ways to pack some extra protein to your salad. This salad has 7g of protein per portion, which counts to 15% of your daily protein need. To add even more protein you could try adding some cooked chickpeas, lentils or other types of beans to the salad. To go extra big you could also add some other protein-rich products such as tofu, seitan or other soy-based products. I particularly like the Vivera plant-based bacon pieces, they give any salad an extra smoky flavour element which is quite nice.
This amazing vegan salad is:
- Dairy-free (lactose-free)
- Gluten-free
- Can be made nut-free
- Quick and easy to make
- Healthy
- Crunchy
- Flavourful
- Rich in nutrients and vitamins
- So delicious!
- Perfect as a light lunch or side dish with dinner!
Ingredients you'll need to make this Pear, almond and buckwheat salad:
- Buckwheat groats
- Pears
- Water
- Red onion
- Almonds
- Fresh parsley
- Mixed salad leaves
- Olive oil
- Lemond juice
- Dijon mustard
- Maple syrup
- Garlic
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 cup Buckwheat groats
- 1 1/2 cup Water
- 1/4 - 1/2 Red onion (chopped)
- 1/2 cup Almonds (chopped)
- 2 tbsp Fresh parsley
- 2 Pears (sliced)
- 3-4 Handfuls of mixed salad leaves
- 1/3 cup Olive oil
- 1/4 cup Lemon juice
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp Maple syrup
- 1 Garlic clove (crushed)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Rinse the buckwheat well in a fine colander and transfer to an Instant Pot.
- Add water/vegetable stock and stir well.
- Close the lid, making sure the valve is closed. Select 'manual' and set it to 2 minutes.
- When cooking has finished and the Instant Pot beeps, allow it to release the pressure naturally; this takes about 20-25 minutes.
- After the pressure has fully released, open the lid, drain the cooked buckwheat, transfer it to a bowl, and allow it to cool completely.
- Place the buckwheat in a large salad bowl when it has cooled down. Add finely chopped red onion, thinly sliced pears, fresh parsley, dates and the salad leaves. Give everything a good mixing.
- Prepare the dressing by combining all ingredients in a jar, closing it tight and shaking it until well mixed.