Herbed Cherry Grain Salad with Spicy Ginger-Chili Dressing

This salad is peak summer eating for me. It’s the kind of thing I start craving the second stone fruit season hits and then make on repeat until the cherries disappear. It’s grain-based, so it’s hearty enough to be a full meal on its own, but also works beautifully as a side next to grilled fish or chicken or honestly just a hunk of good bread and some cheese.

I love a grain salad but so many of them are boring. Just grains and vegetables and a safe little lemon dressing. No thank you. This one has a spicy ginger-chili dressing with sumac that gives the whole thing this warm, slightly smoky kick that plays so well against the sweetness of the cherries. The combination sounds unexpected but I promise you it works. The cherries burst with this jammy sweetness, the pepitas bring crunch, the herbs keep it fresh and the dressing ties everything together with heat and tang. It is so good.

I use quinoa here because it cooks fast and I almost always have it on hand, but you can absolutely swap in farro, millet, rice or whatever grain you like. The salad actually gets better as it sits, so it’s a great one to meal prep at the beginning of the week or make ahead for a gathering. I’ve brought this to summer dinners and it always gets the “wait, what’s in this?” reaction, which is my favorite kind of compliment.

Herbed Cherry Grain Salad with Spicy Ginger-Chili Dressing
[Serves 4]

For the salad:

2 ½ cups cooked quinoa, about 1 cup dried (or any other grain of choice: farro, millet, rice, etc.)
½ cup pepitas
8 ounces cherries, pitted and cut in half
½ cup parsley, roughly chopped
½ cup mint, roughly chopped
2 scallions, green parts only, cut finely on a bias
Salt + black pepper, to taste

For the dressing:

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated on a microplane
1 teaspoon dried red chile flakes
½ teaspoon ground sumac
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1. Thoroughly rinse quinoa in a fine mesh sieve. Add quinoa and 1 ¾ cup water to a small pot. Bring to a low boil over medium-high heat. Once water begins to boil, turn down heat to low, cover the pot and let cook for 15-18 minutes. Remove cooked quinoa from heat and allow to cool completely. Can be made ahead.

2. Toast the pepitas in a dry skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until golden.

3. Whisk all dressing ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth.

4. Add quinoa, pepitas and pitted cherries to a large serving bowl. Toss with the dressing. Gently fold in the fresh herbs then salt and pepper to taste.

A few notes:

I really do recommend making the quinoa ahead of time and letting it cool completely before assembling. Warm grains will wilt the herbs and make the whole thing a little sad. I usually cook a batch the night before or in the morning and let it hang out in the fridge.

The dressing has a nice kick from the chile flakes and ginger, but if you’re sensitive to heat you can dial back the chile flakes to ½ teaspoon and it’ll still be delicious. If you love heat, go for it and add more.

Sumac is one of those spices that I think is wildly underused. It has this bright, lemony tartness that adds so much dimension. You can find it at most Middle Eastern grocery stores or online. If you don’t have it, a little extra squeeze of lemon juice can work in a pinch, but it won’t be quite the same.

For the cherries, I like to use dark sweet cherries. Just make sure they’re ripe. If you’re not in cherry season, this salad is also great with diced peaches or nectarines.

This salad holds up well in the fridge for 3-4 days, so it’s a fantastic meal prep situation. If anything, the flavors get even better after a night in the fridge.