Wheat Berries substitute

Best substitute

Farro

Use the same amount by volume or weight as the wheat berries you are replacing

Best for grain bowls

Close match

Farro is the best substitute and swaps 1:1, cooking in about half the time with a slightly softer, nuttier result. Spelt berries are almost indistinguishable from wheat berries, and rye berries work if you want something earthier. Pearl barley is the cheapest and most available option, but it is softer and starchier. What wheat berries do in a grain bowl or salad is provide a firm, poppy chew that survives dressing and refrigeration for days without going soft, so any substitute needs to hold its shape rather than turn creamy.

Other wheat berries substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Spelt Berries
Close match
Use the same amount by volume or weight
Effectively the same ingredient from a different wheat species, and the closest match on this list.
What changes
Whole spelt kernels cook in about fifty minutes, hold the same firm, distinctly poppy bite, and taste marginally sweeter and nuttier than hard red wheat berries. If a recipe was developed for wheat berries, spelt berries will produce a nearly identical dish.
Best for
grain salads, grain bowls, soups, pilafs, anywhere wheat berries are called for
Soaking overnight cuts the cook time to about thirty-five minutes and improves the texture. Spelt contains gluten, so it is not an option for coeliac cooking despite occasional claims to the contrary.
3Kamut or Khorasan Wheat Berries
Close match
Use the same amount by volume or weight
Another wheat species, with notably larger kernels, roughly twice the size of common wheat.
What changes
That size gives the best chew of anything here, big and juicy and satisfyingly firm, and the flavor is distinctly buttery and sweet. The only downside is that the grains are so large they read as a different ingredient visually in a delicate salad.
Best for
grain bowls, hearty salads, soups, grain sides
Soak overnight, then simmer for forty-five to sixty minutes. It absorbs more water than smaller grains, so use plenty and drain rather than measuring liquid exactly.
4Rye Berries
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume or weight
Whole rye kernels, cooked the same way and in about the same time as wheat berries, around fifty minutes.
What changes
Texture is even chewier and slightly denser, which many people prefer in a cold salad. Flavor is the real change: rye is noticeably earthier, darker and faintly sour, in the same family as rye bread, which is excellent with beets, cabbage, dill and mustard dressings and slightly odd with delicate summer vegetables.
Best for
cold grain salads, hearty winter bowls, soups with root vegetables
Rye leaches a fair amount of starch, so the cooking water turns thick and cloudy. Cook it like pasta in abundant water and rinse it briefly after draining.
5Pearl Barley
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by volume
The most available and cheapest substitute, and the compromise is worth knowing about.
What changes
Barley cooks faster, thirty to thirty-five minutes, and turns plump and tender rather than firm and poppy, and it sheds a lot of soluble starch. In a soup that starch is an asset, thickening the broth into something silky. In a dressed salad it makes the dressing cloudy and slightly gluey, and the grains soften more over a few days in the fridge than wheat berries do.
Best for
soups and stews, hearty warm grain salads, pilafs
For salads, boil it in plenty of salted water like pasta, drain and rinse under cool water to wash off the surface starch, then dress it. Hulled barley, if you can find it, is much closer to wheat berries than pearl barley, with a firmer chew and a fifty-minute cook.
6Whole Freekeh
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume
Young green wheat, roasted while still moist, so it is genuinely the same grain with a completely different flavor profile: smoky, grassy and savory.
What changes
Whole freekeh keeps a firm chew close to wheat berries and cooks much faster, in about twenty to twenty-five minutes. Use it when the smokiness suits the dish, because it is not a background flavor.
Best for
warm grain salads, pilafs, stuffings, bowls with roasted vegetables and yoghurt
Rinse it thoroughly before cooking to remove ash and chaff from the roasting. Buy whole rather than cracked freekeh for a wheat berry substitute, since cracked freekeh cooks in ten minutes and eats much softer.
7Sorghum Grain (best gluten-free option)
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume
If you need a gluten-free grain with genuinely comparable chew, whole sorghum is the honest answer, better than brown rice or quinoa for this purpose.
What changes
The little round kernels cook in about fifty minutes and stay firm, round and poppy, holding up in a dressed salad for days. The flavor is mild and slightly sweet, a bit blander than wheat, which is easy to fix with a well-seasoned dressing.
Best for
gluten-free grain salads, grain bowls, soups
Cook it in plenty of salted water and drain. It never goes truly soft, which is the point, so do not keep simmering it waiting for it to soften like rice. Brown rice and quinoa are more available gluten-free options but neither gives the same firm pop.

What is Wheat Berries?

Wheat Berries is the name for whole, unprocessed wheat kernels with only the inedible hull removed, so the bran, germ and starchy center all stay intact, which is why they keep a firm poppy chew in a grain bowl or salad instead of turning creamy.

Cooking tips

Cook wheat berries and every substitute here like pasta, not like rice. Use a big pot of well-salted water, simmer until the grain is tender but still has a distinct pop when you bite it, then drain. Trying to measure exact liquid for a whole grain that cooks for an hour is a recipe for either scorching or a soggy pot.
Soaking overnight cuts the cook time by roughly a third and produces a more evenly tender kernel. If you forget, cover the grain with boiling water and leave it for an hour, or just add fifteen minutes to the simmer. Salt in the soaking water is fine and helps season the grain from the inside.
Wheat berries stay firm and separate for days, which is what makes them the best grain for meal prep. Cook a big batch, dress it while it is still warm so it drinks up the vinaigrette, and refrigerate for up to five days or freeze in portions for three months. Any substitute you choose should be treated the same way, except pearl barley, which softens more in the fridge.
The chew is the feature, not a flaw. A properly cooked wheat berry is tender inside but never soft, and it should pop slightly against the teeth. If yours are still hard after an hour, they are likely an old bag; add water, keep simmering and check every ten minutes, since older grains can take considerably longer.
Whole grains contain the germ and its oil, so wheat berries, spelt, rye, kamut and sorghum all go rancid over time in the way that white rice does not. Buy them from a shop with turnover, smell before cooking, and store them in the freezer if you get through them slowly.

Frequently asked questions

What is the closest substitute for wheat berries?

Spelt berries are the closest match in every way, since they are whole kernels of a closely related wheat species with the same firm poppy chew and a very similar cook time of around fifty minutes. Farro is a close second and is easier to find, with the practical advantage of cooking in twenty-five to thirty minutes if pearled. Kamut berries give the biggest, most satisfying chew but are noticeably larger. All three are wheat, so all three contain gluten.

Can I use farro instead of wheat berries?

Yes, and it is usually the best practical choice. Swap it 1:1 and start checking for doneness much earlier, since pearled farro is done in twenty-five to thirty minutes against forty-five to sixty for wheat berries. The finished grain is slightly softer and less springy, and it releases more starch, so if you are making a vinaigrette-dressed salad, rinse the drained farro under cool water first to keep the dressing clean. In soups the extra starch is a bonus.

Is there a gluten-free substitute for wheat berries?

Whole sorghum grain is the best one, because it is the only common gluten-free grain that keeps the same firm, round, poppy chew after an hour of cooking and days in the fridge. Brown rice and quinoa are far easier to buy but neither gives the same texture: short-grain brown rice is softer and clumpier, and quinoa is much smaller with a delicate popping bite rather than a substantial chew. Buckwheat groats are another option, though the earthy flavor dominates. Spelt, kamut, farro, rye and barley all contain gluten and are not alternatives here.

Can I use brown rice instead of wheat berries in a salad?

You can, and it is a reasonable everyday substitute if you are not fussy, but be clear about what changes. Brown rice cooks in about forty-five minutes and comes out softer, stickier and blander, so a salad made with it lacks the distinct chew that made the wheat berry version interesting, and it clumps rather than staying loose. Short-grain brown rice clumps most, so use long-grain brown rice, rinse it after draining, and be generous with acid and salt in the dressing to make up for the milder flavor.

Can I just leave the wheat berries out of a recipe?

In a grain bowl or a grain salad, no, because they are the base of the dish and the whole thing collapses into a small pile of vegetables without them. In a soup where they are one component among many, yes: you will get a thinner, lighter soup, and you can add a drained tin of chickpeas or white beans if you want to put the substance back without cooking a grain for an hour. Beans give a soft creamy bite rather than a chew, so it is a change of character rather than a like-for-like fix.

Related substitutes

More grains & starches substitutes

Wheat Berries substitute

Other wheat berries substitutes

2Spelt Berries

3Kamut or Khorasan Wheat Berries

4Rye Berries

5Pearl Barley

6Whole Freekeh

7Sorghum Grain (best gluten-free option)