Wheat is a vital, staple, preferred, favored, and choicest energy source in many parts of the world due to the unique processing quality attributed to gluten that helps cooking it to bread, biscuit, pasta, noodles, etc. Colored wheat adds nutritional and functional health benefits to the energy-rich wheat. Colored wheat accumulates anthocyanins in the aleurone or pericarp layer of seed coat that give it the blue, purple, or black color. Currently available information on the color wheat in the key aspects include its biochemistry, food processing, nutrition, genetics, breeding, and effect on human health. There is sudden rise in number of colored wheat publications from more than 60 institues and 16 different countries. Biochemists have identified and characterized different bioactive compounds, understood their functionality, studied underlying pathways and regulatory elements, and isolated anthocyanins for use as natural colorants. Breeding has increased its productivity while retaining the highest possible anthocyanin content. Nutritionists have characterized its health-promoting activities that are attributed to anthocyanins. While the food processing efforts include the development of different colored wheat products and understand the effect of cooking on food functionality. Biologists emphasize on understanding the mechanism of anthocyanin development and transport in vacuoles and how it affects human health. Data compilation indicates that as compared to white wheat, it has higher content of several bioactive macro- and micro-nutrients, including, protein, dietary fiber, anthocyanins, phenolics, flavonoids, minerals (Fe, Zn, Ca) and vitamins (E and B group, lutein) with relative contents and functionality varying in the order of black> purple> blue> white. It has lower yield potential that is being targeted for improvement. Its health-promoting activities include, protection against metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, aging, cancer, and neurodegeneration in addition to antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and prevention capability for molding and cooking associated amino acid losses. The purple color in the pericarp layer is due to natural mutation, selected in the late 19th centuray; blue color in the aleurone layer is due to introgression from wild relatives selected in late 20th centuray; black with both colors was generated by scientists by cross breeding purple and blue lines in the early 21st century. The color development intiated due to bHLH-MYC regulatory transcription factor addition/activation. Its processing to bread, biscuit, chapatti, pasta etc. reduces anthocynin content, but increases antioxidant activity. For its exploitation as functional food on a large-scale, market generation and consumer awareness creation are key challenges ahead.