Ina Garten's Flavorful Tip For Whenever You Add Grains To Your Salad

Ina Garten has built a career on cooking advice that's both approachable and quietly brilliant, and her grain salad trick is no exception. In a recent recipe, she recommends dressing the salad while the grains are still warm. The reason is simple: Warm grains absorb flavor better than cold ones, which means every spoonful of farro, bulgur, or quinoa carries more of the vinaigrette. It's the kind of small but game-changing step that explains why she's still one of America's most trusted cooks decades after first opening the Barefoot Contessa shop in the Hamptons.

Adding grains to salads isn't just about flavor — it's also about substance. Instead of a bowl of greens that leaves you hungry an hour later, a grain salad has staying power. Think farro with roasted vegetables, or a Mediterranean-inspired buckwheat grain salad tossed with herbs and feta. Garten herself has called a simple grain side one of her favorite dishes, and her warm-dressing tip is proof that a small shift can take an everyday salad into the kind of dish you actually crave.

If Garten's tip gets you thinking about grains differently, it's worth expanding beyond the salad bowl. Ancient grains like quinoa, millet, and farro have made a comeback for good reason — they're versatile, nutrient-dense, and add a satisfying chew that plain rice can't always deliver. Stocking a few in your pantry makes it easier to riff on recipes without needing much else.

Once you've got them on hand, grains can anchor grain bowls with vegetables and protein, bulk up a simple soup, or replace pasta in a weeknight dinner. They're also one of the best ways to meal prep ahead of time: Cook a big batch, then change up the flavors with different dressings, sauces, or toppings throughout the week. The trick is to treat them as more than filler. A warm vinaigrette, a sprinkle of fresh herbs, or a crumble of cheese can transform grains from background ingredient to main event, something Garten has been doing for decades.