Easy Farro Salad Recipe
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An Easy Farro Salad Recipe filled with vegetables and a tangy vinaigrette. The perfect vegetarian side that’s flavorful and filling.
Finding the perfect summer side dish that is easy to make and healthy does not have to be difficult.
We love our healthy pasta salad recipe but sometimes it’s nice to change it up! Farro is a grain that has amazing texture and flavor, and this is probably the best farro salad recipe you’ll find!
Filled with crunchy celery and peppers, sweet summer tomatoes, and a simple salad dressing that just gets better as it sits in the refrigerator and marinates.
This salad pairs well with basically anything but we love serving it with balsamic grilled chicken! It’s great for meal prepping or bringing to a picnic to share with friends!
Tyler’s Tip for the Best Farro Salad
- Undercook the farro slightly so it holds its chewy texture as it sits in the delicious salad dressing, it will continue to marinate and soak up flavors as it chills in the fridge.
- You can use a storebought dressing, but I promise making your own healthy salad dressing is so worth it!
Farro Salad:
substitutions
Olive Oil: You could use avocado oil, but we really recommend extra virgin olive oil.
Onion and Garlic: The flavor of sauteed onion and garlic works really well in this dish but it can be substituted for 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and onion powder or omitted if needed.
Farro: This dish works great with the texture and nutty flavor of farro but you could try brown rice, whole grain pasta, gluten-free pasta, and quinoa.
Vegetables and Herbs: 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley and dried basil can be used in place of fresh if needed but the fragrance and flavor of the herbs will be lacking. Other vegetables that can work well in this recipe are: zucchini, corn, sugar snap peas, arugula, and fresh fennel.
Salad Dressing: Store bought italian dressing can work in place of the homemade dressing in this recipe.
How to Make Easy Farro Salad
- Mix together the dressing in a small bowl.
- Heat olive oil in a pan, sauté onions and garlic until translucent, then stir in farro, season, and cook per package directions until al dente. Let it absorb the liquid, then cool to room temperature.
- Toss together the cooked farro, bell peppers, tomatoes, olives, celery, basil, and parsley.
- Mix in the dressing and refrigerate for 10 minutes or serve immediately.
What to Serve with Farro Salad
This is the perfect summer side dish served alongside great proteins such as Balsamic Grilled Chicken, Grilled Chicken Teriyaki, or Pineapple Grilled Chicken.
This farro salad is also good with Healthy Chicken Salad! Both recipes are great for meal prep and don’t need to be warmed up so they’re perfect for lunch!
storage
Storing: This will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: We do not recommend freezing this recipe, the farro and vegetables will not thaw properly.
other healthy salad recipes:
Here are some of our favorite other salad recipes
Easy Farro Salad
Ingredients
For the Farro:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 cup dry farro
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups low sodium chicken broth or water
For the salad:
- 1 cup diced red bell peppers
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup halved black olives low sodium
- ½ cup finely diced celery
- ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
For the Dressing:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat.
- Sauté the onions and garlic for 4 minutes or until translucent.
- Add 1 cup of dry farro to the pot and stir to combine. Add black pepper, salt and water. Cook the farro according to the directions on the back of the packaging, we like to cook it a bit more al dente so it can soak up the dressing.
- While the farro is cooking, mix together the dressing in a small bowl.
- Once the farro has cooked and absorbed the liquid, remove from the heat and let it come to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, combine the cooked farro, bell peppers, tomatoes, olives, celery, basil, and parsley. Mix together until evenly incorporated.
- Pour the dressing over the farro salad and mix together with a large serving spoon.
- We like to refrigerate the farro salad for 10 minutes to give it a nice chill and allow the flavors to combine but this is not necessary and it can be served immediately.
- Serve alongside your favorite grilled chicken or eat as is and enjoy!
This Farro Salad recipe was absolutely delicious! My daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I’m not much of a cook and the recipe was very easy to follow and it didn’t take long at all to put together. I’ll definitely be making it again!
This was great. Though, because I had run out of Farro (thought I had plenty 🤦🏼♀️, I used quinoa and it was still excellent. Thank you!!!
I’m so glad you liked it, Heather! I bet it was delicious with quinoa!