How to Cook with Triticale: Delicious Recipes & Expert Cooking Tips

Discover how to cook with triticale, a nutritious whole grain. Explore easy recipes, cooking tips, and benefits of triticale to add variety to your meals.

How to Cook with Triticale: Delicious Recipes & Expert Cooking Tips

What is triticale and how do I use it in my kitchen? Triticale, a hybrid grain combining wheat and rye, is becoming more recognized as a wholesome choice for home cooks looking to add variety and nutrition to their meals. Packed with protein, fiber, and essential nutrients, triticale offers a hearty, nutty flavor that works in a wide range of dishes. What does triticale taste like? It tastes very similar to wheat, with a mild touch of rye flavor. Whether you’re cooking it as a side dish, using it in soups, or baking with it, learning how to cook with triticale can elevate your culinary creations. In this guide, I’ll share easy triticale recipe ideas, expert tips for cook-ing, and ways to incorporate this versatile grain into your everyday meals. Ready to get cooking with triticale? Let’s dive in!

Growing Triticale

While you may not have heard of triticale, this hybrid whole grain of wheat (triticum) and rye (secale) has been enjoyed for more than a century. First bred in laboratories in Scotland and Germany, triticale has the characteristics and qualities of wheat and the hardiness of rye. Triticale is only produced in 29 countries around the world, with the main cultivation in Poland, Germany, France, and Australia. It may be hard to distinguish the difference between kernels of triticale and wheat, but you can spot a subtle contrast in color, as wheat tends to be a lighter shade than triticale.

Triticale Nutrition Benefits

Considered a whole grain, triticale contains many essential nutrients that benefit your diet and offer health benefits. This grain is packed with vital nutrients such as fiber, protein, B vitamins, iron, magnesium, and copper. Triticale also contains phytochemicals that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. Adding triticale to your diet offers numerous health benefits, such as aiding in diabetes control, digestion, circulation, and heart health.

One important thing to note is that triticale is a gluten-containing grain, since it is a hybrid of wheat and rye, which both contain gluten. So, if you are sensitive to gluten, you’ll need to avoid this grain.

Triticale Nutritional Information

Per ¼ cup (48 g) uncooked (about ½ cup cooked) serving

How to Cook Triticale

You can use whole grain triticale kernels just like you would other types of large whole grain kernels, such as farro, rye berries, and wheat berries. Just simmer them in liquid until tender and enjoy them as a side dish, in soups or stews, and in grain bowls. You can also find triticale flakes and flour to use in cereals and baking. I’m lucky as I can get locally grown triticale (pictured above) in my farmers market. But you can also find it in well-stocked supermarkets, natural food stores, and online. In fact, you may notice that triticale is an ingredient in many wholesome foods in your pantry, such as cereal, nutrition bars, crackers, breads, and mixes.

Forms of Triticale

• Flakes: Triticale flakes are often used for breakfast cereal, granola, or energy bars. You can also use flakes for a cereal, as follows:
  1. Add 1 cup triticale flakes to 2 cups of boiling water.
  2. Cover and reduce heat. Let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
• Flour: Triticale flour can be used as a substitute for wheat flour in baking. It adds a nutty flavor and enhances the nutritional profile of baked goods like bread, muffins, and pancakes.
• Whole Grains: Rinse the triticale grains and cook them in boiling water and a touch of lemon juice in a medium pot for about 55-60 minutes, similar to how you would prepare rice or quinoa. Wait until triticale is tender yet firm. Cooked triticale grains can be used in salads, soups, and side dishes.

Top 5 Ways to Use Triticale

1. Nutritious Salads and Bowls

Cook whole grain triticale kernels to add to salads or grain bowls (see above) to provide an extra boost of fiber and protein. This grain pairs well with vegetables and dressings to create a delicious balanced meal. You can also swap out cooked wheatberries and farro with triticale. For example, try cooked triticale instead of wheatberries in these salads:

2. Serve as a Side Dish
Serve cooked triticale kernels as a simple side to replace other grains, like brown rice, quinoa, or farro. For example, swap out farro for triticale in this recipe for Balsamic Roasted Butternut Squash and Brussel Sprouts with Farro. You can also serve cooked triticale with curry dishes (try my Zucchini Lentil Curry or Curried Chickpeas) or stir-fries (check out this Seitan Snow Pea Sir-Fry) instead of brown rice. Season with herbs and spices for added flavor.

3. Add to Soups and Stews
Sprinkle some triticale grains into savory, hearty soups, stews, and chili to enhance the texture and nutrition. If you already have a recipe for soup that calls for other grains, such as barley, sorghum, or quinoa, swap them out for triticale. Keep in mind that triticale may take longer to cook than quinoa or millet, but about the same time as larger whole grains, such as farro, sorghum, or wheatberries.

4. Mix it into Baked Goods
Enhance nutritional value of delicious baked goods such as cakes, muffins, breads, cookies, and crumbles compliments of triticale flour. Bring in a unique flavor by replacing 50% of the wheat flour with triticale flour in your recipe.

5. Breakfast on Triticale
Feature cooked triticale kernels or flakes as a nutritious and hearty start for your day. Just simmer until tender (make a batch and heat it up during the week), and top with soymilk, seasonal fruit, nuts, or seeds for a delicious breakfast.

Written by Serena Neal, dietetic intern and Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN

Photos and recipes by Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN

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