Spring Farro Salad
What are some easy and delicious recipes for Spring Vegetables? This Spring Farro Salad is one fresh and easy answer to that question. In this post, I will show you how to make an impressive salad bursting with Spring goodness, and give you some tips on working with Farro. This salad is topped with an easy and delicious artichoke vinaigrette you will love.
Spring Harvest Farro Salad
When this time of year hits, I am so ready for fresh veggies and lighter dishes. This recipe is the perfect cure for the winter blues with purple carrots, asparagus, and radishes along with other fresh veggies. I make this salad every chance I get when Spring hits!
When Farmers Market season starts, I can’t think of a more perfect salad to make. I really enjoy working with fresh produce and Farmers Market finds. That is what this site is all about! If you want to find new and exciting ways to add fresh ingredients into your cooking, then I am here to help! To find out more about me and the site, be sure to visit the about page.
This salad has also been published in the 2nd edition of The Salad Gazette, an Ebook full of wonderful fresh salad recipes published by The Sidesmith (formerly known as The Devil Wears Salad).
Ingredients For Spring Farro Salad
Farro– for more info about farro, please see the next section of the post.
Purple Carrots -I love purple carrots! They taste the same as your garden variety orange, but they just add so much color to any dish they are a part of. With a dark purple exterior and a bright yellow center, they bring a bit of sunshine to a recipe.
Radishes -Radishes not only add some punch, but some color as well. You want to be sure these are cut into thin slices, radishes can have a strong flavor.
Leeks -Raw leek has a nice mild flavor that is not too strong in this salad. I only use the white part for this recipe. You can always save the green leek tops for making vegetable stock or leek and potato soup.
Asparagus -There are not many things that say “Spring” louder than asparagus! Try to use thinner stalks for this recipe. Since they will be raw, the thicker spears tend to be a bit woody unless they are cooked.
What Is Farro?
Farro in the Italian language means “ancient wheat grain” and it is thought to be one of the first crops ever cultivated. It’s texture is chewy and it has a nutty flavor to it. This grain is very versatile, and makes a great replacement for rice in most dishes.
There are three types of Farro: Spelt, Emmer, and Einkorn. The word Farro does not actually refer to only one grain, but these three types. The most common in the US is Emmer. The recipe card has useful tips for cooking farro that you won’t want to miss.
How To Make Farro Salad
- Cook the farro.
- Chop the vegetables.
- Assemble the dressing.
- Combine the salad ingredients with the dressing.
This is a really easy recipe! For full instructions and helpful tips, be sure to see the recipe card. It has all the info you’ll need!
Artichoke Vinaigrette
While I don’t use many processed or jarred ingredients, I must say that jarred marinated artichoke hearts are a favorite of mine. Using the marinade in the dressing adds a nice flavor to the vinaigrette.
I love using the marinade for the artichokes in the dressing not just for the flavor, but because it’s a great way to reduce waste by making use of the marinade itself, rather than just throwing it away once the artichokes in the jar have run out.
If you decided to use this vinaigrette on other salads, I wouldn’t stop you. It’s a good one! You could try it on Burrata Caprese or Fried Goat Cheese Salad.
Farro Salad Recipe Variations
If you can’t find any purple carrot, feel free to use orange, white, or yellow carrots instead. Or, just use a different color of carrots anyway because you can!
If you want an alternative to the leeks in this salad, chopped shallot is really nice. Just make sure that you are using something mild in flavor.
What To Serve With Farro Salad
I love this salad on its own, but it’s great paired with my Roasted Asparagus Soup for a light dinner. It would also be nice with my Curried Chicken Salad with Coconut for a picnic, or Spicy Chicken Burgers.
This salad makes a nice work lunch. It makes enough to last nearly the whole work week, and you don’t even need a microwave because it is served cold or at room temperature.
Kept in a tightly sealed container, this salad will keep for about 5 days. You can store it with the dressing mixed in, no need to keep them separate.
If you tried this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out! Just leave a rating or comment below, or take a picture and tag me @thecoppertable on Instagram, or share with your friends on social media! If you have not signed up for my weekly newsletter, you can do that below. I have all sorts of exclusive content just for newsletter subscribers, and I’d love for you to join. Happy Cooking!
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Spring Farro Salad
Loaded with whole grain and crunchy veggies, this Spring Farro Salad is a healthy side dish or a meal all by itself. It is tossed with a delicious artichoke vinaigrette you'll love on other salads as well!
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 Servings 1x
Ingredients
For the Farro
- 1 cup uncooked Farro
- 3/4 cup Water
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 small Dried Bay leaf
For the Vegetables
- 8 ounces small Asparagus Spears (about 1 cup of asparagus spears cut into one inch pieces)
- 1/4 cup thin sliced Radish (1-2 radishes)
- 2 medium Purple carrots, thin sliced
- 1/2 large Leek, white part only
For the Artichoke Vinaigrette
- 4 Marinated Artichoke Heart Quarters from the jar
- 2 tsp fresh Thyme leaves
- 1/2 cup Marinade from Jarred Artichoke Hearts
- 2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 5 tsp Honey
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
Instructions
- Heat a small saucepan on medium high heat. Toast the uncooked Farro for about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the 3/4 cup water, small bay leaf, and the 1/2 tsp of salt to the saucepan.
- Bring to a boil, then cover and turn the heat to medium.
- Cook for 15 minutes, then drain the excess water. Set the cooked farro aside to cool.
- While the farro cools, cut off any woody ends from the asparagus and cut the spears into one inch sections.
- Thinly slice the radishes and purple carrots.
- Cut the leek in half lengthwise and slice the white part of half the leek into thin slices. Rinse any dirt or grit from the leek slices and pat dry.
- To make the dressing, remove the fresh thyme leaves from their stems.
- Place the 4 artichoke heart quarters, 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, 1/2 cup of artichoke marinade, 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 5 tsp honey, 2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp black pepper into a blender and pulse until smooth. Or, you can place all ingredients into a bowl and use a stick blender.
- Toss the salad and the dressing together in a large bowl and serve.
Notes
As the instructions above state, you will have excess water to drain from the farro after it is cooked. It does not absorb all of the cooking liquid the way rice does.
If you want to change up this recipe a bit, you could use shallot instead of the leek, or watermelon radish instead of red radishes. This salad is also wonderful with a 1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese mixed in.
This salad is meant to be served cold or at room temperature.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Additional Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Side Dishes and Salads
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: VegetarianDiet
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 350
- Sugar: 17
- Sodium: 2194
- Fat: 8
- Saturated Fat: 1
- Unsaturated Fat: 6
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 62
- Fiber: 10
- Protein: 12
- Cholesterol: 0
The salad looks delicious. I’m not familiar with farro, so that’s new to me. Stopped by from Mostly Blogging.
This salad is so perfect for spring! Thank you!
You are welcome Amanda! I agree, this is a great Spring recipe!
Such an amazing salad recipe! My family is going to love it! Thanks!
You are welcome Nora!
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever used farro before! This is a great recipe for it and it’s really well rounded.
Thank you Lillian! I really like Farro, and I prefer it over brown rice. It’s one of my favorite grains!
What a gorgeous salad this was, just perfect. Thank you!
You are welcome Keri!
I love everything in this farro salad! And the artichoke vinaigrette is so perfect with it.
Thank you Ananiah, glad to hear you like it!
Im looking forward making this salad, would love to try your dressing.
Thank you Jean. I love the dressing on this salad, it’s one of my favorites.
What a beautiful salad – an ideal Spring dish!
Thank you Alexandra!
Such a delicious and easy salad to make. We love it. Thanks for sharing.
You are most welcome Megan!
I really like the look of this and how it could be adapted to other grains too. great use of spring vegetables and I have been wondering what to do with farro – want to try it! Thank you!
Thank you Melissa, I hope you like this recipe. It really is very adaptable!