This warm farro salad recipe makes a hearty meatless meal. Topped with a bright citrus vinaigrette, this flavourful salad is delicious for lunch or dinner.
I’ve made plenty of vegetarian farro recipes and honestly, this warm farro salad is among my favorites. It has a wide variety of flavours and textures, so it’s delightful on the taste buds. The farro is tender and chewy, the eggs are soft, and the roasted vegetables practically melt on the tongue.
What is farro?
If you’ve never tasted farro, you have a real treat coming to you with this warm salad recipe. Farro is one of seven ancient grains, in a special class with:
- millet
- sorghum
- freekeh
- teff
- kamut, and
- amaranth
Visually, farro looks similar to brown rice, but it’s a little larger. It’s also sturdier, meaning it doesn’t get mushy as easily as rice can.
What does farro taste like?
With a nutty taste and chewy texture, in a way, cooked farro tastes similar to eating warm walnuts. It’s comforting and hearty, but not heavy like whole grains are.
An Instant Pot farro salad recipe!
This salad is super easy to make, especially if you own an Instant Pot. That is correct – this is an Instant Pot salad! How is that possible, you ask? Well, because you can make Instant Pot farro and Instant Pot hard-boiled eggs!
If you don’t own an electric pressure cooker, don’t worry; you can still make the farro salad. Just head over to my post, How to Cook Farro to learn how to make farro on a stove top.
In the recipe below, I explain how to make Instant Pot hard boiled eggs; there are stove top instructions as well.
About Warm Farro Salad
Although this is a vegetarian farro recipe, warm farro salad is not lacking in protein. Both farro and eggs are great sources of protein. As a result, it makes a fantastic meatless meal.
Obviously, this salad is meant to be served warm. That being said, there is no reason it can’t be eaten cold, or even at room temperature. Although, with the cooked eggs in it, be sure to refrigerate any leftovers.
Aside from hard-boiled eggs, the farro salad includes:
- oven-roasted potatoes
- root vegetables, including carrots and turnips
- shallots
- seasoning of salt and pepper
The Greek yogurt dressing for the salad is so delicious! It includes fresh dill and parsley as well as a splash of Dijon mustard and orange juice.
If you enjoy meal prep, make yourself a large batch of Instant Pot farro. As a result, you’ll have the beginnings of a warm farro salad whenever the craving strikes.
Warm Farro Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked farro
- 10 oz carrots - (300g)
- 10 oz yellow potatoes - (300g)
- 10 oz turnip - (300g)
- 5-6 shallots
- olive oil
- sea salt
- pepper
- 1/4 cup greek yogurt
- 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill - (optional)
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley - (optional)
- 1 orange
- 2 eggs
- 4 spring onions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- 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). 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 all vegetables and cube turnip and potatoes into about 1/2" (1 cm) dice. Cut carrots in half lengthwise or quarter lengthwise (depending on thickness). Thinly slice shallots.
- Add all to a large baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper, and massage oil and seasoning into the vegetables with your hands.
- Roast in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the dressing by adding, greek yogurt, mustard, olive oil, dill, parsley, the juice of one orange into a jar and whisk until well combined. Now add sea salt and pepper to taste and whisk until well mixed in.
- Per serving, add half a cup cooked farro and half of the roasted vegetables to a bowl, top with hard-boiled egg, sprinkle with thinly sliced green parts of spring onions, drizzle with yogurt dressing and enjoy!
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Christina says
Hi I have a gluten intolerance but these farro salads look delicious. Do you have any suggestions on what I could use as an appropriate replacement?
Lorena Grater says
Yes!! You can make this same salad with either brown rice or quinoa :)
Brenda says
Looks delicious, but the cook time says 22 min. and you have to roast the vegetables 30-35 minutes?
Lorena says
Thanks for catching that!! That’s obviously wrong. I have no idea how the timing got there. I don’t remember adding any. Maybe the plugin pulled the 22 minutes from the instruction (pressure cook 22 mins). I have no clue. I just corrected the mistake. Thanks for pointing it out.
Cookinmom says
This would be awesome as a side dish as well!