I love a good salad, and sometimes the best salads don’t even involve lettuce. When I’m looking for a way to get my veggies in, I turn to orzo salad, chickpea salad and this fabulous farro salad.
I love looking for new ways to get my veggies in, and this farro salad is a real winner. It’s a blend of fresh veggies, chickpeas, feta cheese and olives, all tossed in the most delicious homemade vinaigrette. This salad is healthy, full of protein and will earn you rave reviews from family and friends.
What is farro?
Farro is a type of ancient wheat grain that has the hull removed. Farro is sold in the rice area of most grocery stores, and can be prepared by boiling the grains in salted water for approximately 20 minutes. Farro has a pleasant, chewy texture and mild flavor.
How do you make farro salad?
To make farro salad, you will combine cooked farro with cucumbers, roasted red bell peppers, chickpeas, kalamata olives, red onions and feta cheese. Everything gets tossed together with a simple savory dressing. From there, you can either serve your salad immediately or refrigerate it for up to 6 hours.
Tips for farro salad
I like to use the small Persian cucumbers for this salad. If you can’t find this variety, use a seedless English cucumber instead. I use a bottle of pre-prepared roasted peppers for convenience sake, but you can roast fresh peppers if you prefer. This salad calls for parsley because it adds a fresh flavor and many people always have it on hand. If you don’t have parsley, other great herb options are dill, chives or mint. Make sure to cut all your veggies into small pieces so that they blend well with the tiny grains of farro. If you’re looking to save time, cook your farro in advance, up to 3 days before you plan to make this salad.
Is farro healthy?
Farro is full of nutrients! It contains plenty of fiber, protein, magnesium and zinc. It also contains a variety of antioxidant compounds which help protect against diseases. It’s a great substitute for refined grains such as white rice.
Farro Salad Variations
There are so many different ways to flavor your farro salad! Here are some of my favorite optional additions to this recipe.
Grilled Chicken Sun Dried Tomatoes Marinated Artichoke Hearts Cherry Tomatoes Baby Spinach
Farro salad makes a great side dish, vegetarian main course, or potluck offering. It’s unexpected and unique, yet full of flavor and texture. Every time I bring this salad to an event, I get a ton of requests for the recipe!
More great salad recipes
Black Bean and Corn Salad Creamy Cucumber Salad Cherry Tomato Salad Pesto Pasta Salad Brussels Sprout Salad
This post was originally published on June 4, 2015 and was updated on February 3, 2019 with new content.
