To get your whole grains, try this farro salad with asparagus and other delectable ingredients. It’s refreshing and delicious. It’s the ideal meal for picnics, baby or bridal showers, or simply for no reason at all!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 55 mins |
| Additional Time: | 12 hrs |
| Total Time: | 13 hrs 15 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
Ingredients
- 2 cups farro
- ¾ pound fresh asparagus, trimmed
- 1 cup red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh chives
- ¼ cup balsamic vinaigrette, or to taste
- 1 cup shaved Parmesan cheese, divided
Instructions
- Soak farro in a large bowl of water for at least 12 hours. Drain.
- Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once water is boiling, stir in drained farro and return to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, then cook farro uncovered, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and continue simmering until tender, about 30 more minutes. Drain and allow to cool.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add asparagus and cook, uncovered, until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain in a colander, then immediately immerse in ice water for several minutes until cold to stop the cooking process. Once asparagus is cold, drain well, and chop. Set aside.
- Place farro, asparagus, tomatoes, walnuts, cranberries, parsley, and chives in a large bowl. Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette over and sprinkle about 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese; toss. Top with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Serve at room temperature.
- If you can’t find farro, look for spelt or wheat berries, which are available in the health food section of some markets.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 223 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 32 g |
| Cholesterol | 6 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 164 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Used pearled farro to reduce time. Otherwise, prepared as written. I love it! Filling, and very healthful. Rave reviews from family and friends.
Excellent. Used Insta pot to make farro. Much easier
First time I ever ate farro and it was good! I used pearled farro cooked according to package directions so no need to presoak like you do with the whole grain type, frozen peas (thawed & rinsed) instead of asparagus, sliced almonds instead of walnuts, and omitted the parsley & chives.
Very good! I have made it with barley and it tastes very good, as well! I tend to use more balsamic. Tonight I made it with pine nuts (didn’t have Walnuts) and I think I liked it even better with pine nuts. I have added red onion to it. Overall this is a very good salad and versatile that you can make substitutions very easily!
I left out the cranberries and walnuts and used olive oil, aged balsamic and a squeeze of lemon instead of vinaigrette. The farro was perfect consistency and the flavors complimented each other well.
Delicious!! I don’t like tomatoes, I used red peppers instead and I added pieces of chicken breast.
Delicious! Followed the recipe, except that I added a little salt and a bit more dressing. Used Ken’s lowfat balsamic vinaigrette.
I’ve made this many times over the past couple of years, usually for picnics or pool parties. Excellent recipe. I have also used pine nuts instead of walnuts, feta instead of Parmesan, and sometimes omit the dried cranberries. No matter what I do, this is always a big hit.
Easy and delicious – at room temperature and cold. I used pecans instead of walnuts. I also subbed dried parsley and chives (all I had).
I substituted sliced toasted almonds for the walnuts and it got rave reviews from my family.
This was a nice combination of flavors. I toasted the walnuts, and used feta for the parm (because I just had the shaker stuff)and used balsamic vinegar *my oops* instead of the dressing but we love balsamic so it worked just grand. Put the cooled salad atop a bed of spinach and all were satisfied! Thank you
Used pearled farro, which cooks in about 20 mins with no soaking. Did not use any herbs; used balsamic vinaigrette dressing, which had plenty of spice. Room temp salad, so easy to bring to any event….Love this!
this is an excellent & healthy salad. Will make again Starangel
I never soak the farro. Just cook with chicken broth as per package directions. Also I didn’t have shaved Parmesan the first time and used grated. Liked it better than the shaved especially for leftovers.
Excellent salad! I’ve made it 4 times and everyone loves it. I made this salad per the directions except I used farro from the grocery store and it just said to cook it on the stovetop until desired tenderness (took about 40 min). Easy. Also, I didn’t have walnuts so used thin-slices almonds. Delicious! A filling salad. Everyone loves the chewy farro.
I ended up using more dressing
Excellent! Wanted to try some farro and I’m glad I did it with this recipe. This makes a LOT. I used scallions in place of the chives and parsley. Didn’t have cranberries so used dried tart cherries. Really good!
This is truly wonderful. I followed the recipe exactly. I didn’t have cranberries but I wanted to try it so I did and I’m so glad I did! I’ve made it two to three times a week. It’s great with grilled chicken or steak or just by itself.
Really terrific dish. I used quinoa and didn’t have chives so substituted green part of green onions. Look for low-sugar dried cranberries. I cut the asparagus first, then cooked it – I think that made it easier to cut and left out the toughest ends of the stalks (left about 1/3). To make it in a hurry, I spread the hot quinoa out on a dinner plate to help it cool quickly. I used fresh shredded parmesan cheese to give extra rich flavor. Enjoy!
I liked this. It was balanced and was a welcomed way to eat whole grains. Especially good with sharp parmesan on top.
I used wheat berry in place of the farro, grilled the asparagus, and used Ken’s Lite Raspberry Walnut salad dressing. Delicious. My husband raved about it too!