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This healthy vegan farro salad is packed with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, honeycrisp apple slices, chives, and a lemon vinaigrette. It makes a wonderful light lunch or side dish.

close-up of fall farro salad with cranberries and almonds on a teal plate

I’m pretty new to farro, and I am surprised just how much I like it. I am notoriously picky when it comes to everything certain grains. I don’t like the texture of quinoa or couscous (ok they’re not technically grains), for example.

I love the texture of farro. It’s sort of chewy/nutty… like it has a bit of bite if that makes any sense. It’s satisfying to eat.

farro in a glass bowl

Farro is also quite filling and has a light, pleasant taste. It doesn’t overpower anything else that you’re serving it with, and that makes it good for salads. I did a bit of research into farro, and it turns out that it’s an ancient grain, and the Romans used to eat it. It’s fairly easy to find. I did have to go to a couple different supermarkets when I was first trying to locate it.

I ended up buying the trusty Bob’s Red Mill brand, and most stores carry that brand in general, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find, especially in the States. Farro is high in protein for a grain, and it contains lots of fiber. What’s not to love? It’s also sometimes mistaken for spelt, but it’s not the same thing. And sometimes it also goes by the name “emmer”. Now ya know.

glass bowl with fall farro salad with apple slices

If you’re wondering how to cook farro, it’s actually really easy. I find it even easier to cook than rice! Why? It doesn’t need to soak up all the water, so you won’t have it glued to the bottom of the pan unless you really forget about it. 1 cup uncooked farro in 3 cups water or stock, bring it to a boil, simmer for 30 mins, drain it, and you’re done. I do strongly recommend cooking it in stock or at least water + a stock cube to infuse some salt and flavor into it.

This cold farro salad is actually a great make-ahead salad, I found. I took it for work lunches 2 days after I made it, and it actually held up pretty well. The apple slices didn’t brown too much (I suppose the lemon juice in the dressing helps with that), and it tasted just as good as when I first made it.

teal plate with vegan farro salad and a fork

Hope you enjoy my fall farro salad!

Questions? Let me know!

This healthy vegan farro salad is packed with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, honeycrisp apple slices, chives, and a lemon vinaigrette. It makes a wonderful light lunch or side dish.
5 from 1 vote

Fall Farro Salad

By Natasha Bull
This healthy farro salad is packed with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, honeycrisp apple slices, chives, and a lemon vinaigrette. It makes a wonderful light lunch or side dish.
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 35 minutes
Inactive time:: 15 minutes
Total: 50 minutes
Servings: 2
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Ingredients 

  • 1 cup uncooked farro
  • 3 cups vegetable broth or water + veg bouillon/stock cube
  • 1 honeycrisp apple sliced thin or diced
  • 1/3 cup sliced almonds
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chives chopped
  • 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 tbsp)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions 

  • Add the farro and veg broth to a medium pan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. 
  • Let the farro cool for at least 15 minutes. 
  • Meanwhile, prep your other ingredients. 
  • Once the farro has cooled (it doesn't have to be totally cold), toss with the other ingredients. Serve immediately or put it in an airtight container in the fridge and chill it. Farro can be cooked ahead of time then combined with the rest of the salad ingredients later on if needed. 

Notes

  • I've eaten this salad 3 days after I've made it, and as long as you keep the salad in an airtight container, the apples don't brown much. 
  • Serves 2-4.

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Like this recipe? You may also like my healthy broccoli salad or my chickpea and kidney bean salad.

Hi! I’m Natasha.

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22 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Excellent Fall salad. We served it with Honey mustard chicken thighs and the combo was fantastic. The sweet and tart flavors of the farro blended well with our entree.

    Reply

  2. I’ve just found your page and I love it! I made the spinach and grilled eggplant salad onnthe weekend and it was a hit at our family bbq. I’m now looking at this farro recipe and just want to clarify something for my own understanding. You say farro is sometimes mistaken for spelt but they are different. In my search for farro, my local nut/grain store told me farro and spelt seed were the same thing. Im confused now and hoping for some clarification please. I’m in Australia but I don’t think that would make a difference to what it’s called.

    Reply

    1. Hi Jacqueline! So glad you liked that salad. 🙂 According to my research, the nut/grain store was incorrect. Here’s an article from The Kitchn that explains it in more detail: https://www.thekitchn.com/farro-is-not-spelt-and-spelt-i-71041 I’ve also found a few other resources that say the same thing… but I’ve also found contradictory research. There seems to be a lot of confusion and different opinions out there, and I’m hoping that I’ve been referencing correct ones haha. Apparently “true” farro is a higher quality grain for cooking called emmer. Spelt is a different group of wheat species that includes emmer and einkorn. All 3 are types of whole wheat… so if you can find emmer, that is the best to use. Maybe look on Amazon Australia (not sure it’ll display properly for me) and see if you can find anything specifically labeled as farro and go from there? Then you’ll get a sense of if it’s available or called something different down under. Let me know how it goes!

      Reply

      1. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and for sharing your research. I think I may take a copy of your motes to the grain store and take it from there. Watch this space!

        Reply

  7. I love farro Natasha! Such a hearty grain. And this fall version is perfect for right now.

    Reply