Summer salads are a daily occurrence in our house. This peach salad brings enough heft that it can hold it’s own as a meal or be a delightful side salad.

Grain Alternatives

I typically make this type of salad with grains I have leftover from dinner the night before. For the grain, I like something that adds texture which usually means going with wheat grains, hence the Khorasan. If you wanted to have a similar texture but make the salad gluten-free, I’d recommend sorghum.

If you want to make this salad quick and don’t have leftover grains, I’d shift to something quick cooking: quinoa, millet, or bulgur. These grains won’t have the same texture but do help keep this salad on the filling side of a meal.

Make it Vegan

I like the salty balance the feta adds to the salad but it’s definitely secondary to the peaches and the pistachios. To make this salad vegan, drop the feta and swap the butter for olive oil.

Greens

Arugula isn’t everyone’s favorite green and that’s no problem. This salad would make an excellent kale salad. The hearty greens would balance great with the wheat and the peaches. You could also make this with lettuce- I like to keep a leaf lettuce mix on hand for salads like this.

Nuts

When it comes to nuts, I like the bigger flavor of pistachios in the salad. The slightly sweet/woody flavor of the pistachio is a great companion for the peaches. However, I’ve been known to use hazelnuts or walnuts in a similar way. Just don’t skip- the crunch from the pistachios really brings the salad together.

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