This spring salad with farro, fresh vegetables, and eggs is a protein-packed, meatless lunch or dinner. It’s an easy recipe, made partially with help from your Instant Pot!
A gorgeous spring salad recipe like this one will outshine any basic asparagus salad or spinach salad. Why? Because it’s not just visually beautiful and delicious tasting, it’s a healthy salad, too.
Is Farro healthy?
Farro is a very nutritious ancient grain; read more about in my post, How to Cook Farro.
Can you make the spring salad ahead of time?
You can prepare this salad up to four days ahead, making it perfect for meal prep. You can even store the salad in mason jars to pack for lunches. If you wait to add the dressing, it will travel well to picnics, and cookouts, too.
Although it’s a vegetarian salad, there’s plenty of protein from the eggs and farro. If you want more protein, it would be delicious with grilled chicken.
Instant Pot Farro and Hard Boiled Eggs
With the farro and eggs both being cooked in an Instant Pot, this recipe comes together quickly. If you haven’t ever made farro in a pressure cooker, it’s beyond easy. There isn’t any stirring necessary, and you won’t need to check on it during cooking; just start it up and walk away.
For those of you who don’t own a pressure cooker, I have instructions on how to cook farro 4 ways, including on a stove top. The same thing applies to my post on making Instant Pot hard boiled eggs.
How long does salad stay fresh in the refrigerator?
Like most other salads, if it’s kept in an airtight container, the spring salad will keep well for up to 4 days
Unfortunately, though, this gorgeous salad doesn’t freeze well.
You can freeze farro, though, so go ahead and make a big batch of that. When you’re hungry for another spring salad, the farro will be cooked and ready to use.
Hungry for other healthy salad recipes?
If you love fresh veggies in your salad, be sure to try these recipes:
- Summer Salad with Homemade Salad Dressing
- Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad
- Winter Salad with Sage Vinaigrette
Easy Farro Spring Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked farro
- 8-12 asparagus
- 1 red bell pepper
- 3-4 artichoke hearts
- 1/2 red onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- olive oil
- sea salt
- pepper
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- How to cook farro in the instant pot: Rinse 1 cup farro in a colander, then transfer to Instant Pot and add 1 cup of water (+ sea salt if desired). Lock the lid and turn the valve to sealing position. Set to 22 minutes on high pressure, let the pressure release naturally (15-20 minutes). You have to cook at least 1 cup or the pot won't come to pressure. This will leave you with leftover farro. If you don't have an instant pot, here is a complete guide on How to Cook Farro.
- While farro is cooking. Make hard boiled eggs, either in a second Instant Pot or in a regular pot on the stove top. I like putting fridge cold eggs into boiling water and cook in a rolling boil for 7 minutes, then remove and let cool down on the kitchen counter (no ice bath or running water required).
- Peel and thinly slice the onion. Wash asparagus and cut off dry ends, then cut into 2-inch pieces. Wash, deseed and thinly slice the bell pepper. Drain and cut artichokes in half or quarters. Add all vegetables to a baking sheet, add 3 cloves of crushed garlic, sea salt, pepper, and massage oil and seasoning into the vegetables with your hands.
- Place in the oven for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the asparagus.
- In the meantime, add steaming hot farro to a large bowl and add frozen peas and stir until the peas are defrosted.
- Add roasted vegetables to the bowl and serve in two bowls or divide into two meal prep containers.
- Add a hard-boiled egg per serving and drizzle with fresh lemon juice.
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Claudine says
Hi! Lorena,
Please tell me are the artichoke hearts canned or fresh and if fresh how do you prepare and cook them ???
Thank you
Claudine says
Hi! Lorena,
Please tell me are the artichoke hearts canned or fresh and if fresh how do you prepare and cook them ???
Thank you
Lorena Grater says
I use jarred artichoke hearts. They are already cooked. If you want to cook whole artichokes from scratch I recommend using the Instant Pot. You can use this tutorial: https://www.jessicagavin.com/instant-pot-artichokes/
Claudine says
Thank you !
L Ed says
Are you starting with 1 cup cooked or 1 cup uncooked farro? Ingredients say 1 cup cooked, but instructions then tell you to cook it.
Lorena Grater says
I’m sorry I should have been more clear. The recipe is with 1 cup “cooked” farro. I just wanted to give instructions on how to cook it in the instant pot for those that don’t know. You have to cook at least 1 cup because else the Instant Pot doesn’t get to pressure. You will end up with leftover farro.
Myra Lander says
Does Farro have another name?Myra
Lorena says
This is all I could find: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farro