This Winter Farro Salad is incredibly flavorful! It’s loaded with fresh seasonal ingredients and makes for an easy lunch, side dish for dinner and quick to meal prep for the week!
It’s been a while since I have made anything with farro – maybe even since I made my Summer Vegetable Farro Salad!
And I figured, since we are still a month out from Spring and the days are still cold and dreary – why not make this delicious, hearty Winter inspired Farro Salad?!
I think it’s so important to utilize all things seasonal during each according season. In Summer, I eat allll the tomatoes and peaches. Fall, give me all of the pumpkin + apples! In Spring, I love the fresh strawberries! And in Winter, I love the juicy pears, cranberries and of course, CITRUS.
Speaking of citrus, if you haven’t checked out my Blood Orange Mojito yet, I highly encourage you to give it a try! So good!
This salad is loaded with all things yummy and it’s the perfect way to start off your week!
Why You’ll Love This Salad:
First off, it’s incredibly easy to make! The main ingredient is of course, farro. Once you get that made, you simply add all of the other ingredients in, mix to combine and it’s done!
I love how hearty this meal is – it could easily be made into lunches for the week. Or, you could make it for dinner and use it as a side dish!
The farro is chewy and so filling! It acts as an incredible starting point for amazing flavor. The rest of the ingredients – talk about YUM!
The tangy feta cheese, the subtle sweetness of the dried cranberries, the zest of the lemon, the crunch of the pecans, and of course, the melt in your mouth pairs and juicy fresh orange slices….all of these ingredients make for an incredibly delicious salad!
Toss it together with a giant squeeze of lemon or if you want, make a super quick easy lemon vinaigrette and you’re all done! So let’s get into what you need to make this dish.
Ingredients You Need:
- Farro
- Water
- Orange
- Bartlett Pear
- Red onion
- Dried cranberries
- Feta cheese
- Pecans
- Salt to taste
- Olive Oil
- Honey
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Dijon Mustard
How to Make This Dish:
First, make sure to rinse your farro. Next, add the farro to a large pot. Cover with water and a heavy pinch of salt. Let that come to a boil. Once it is boiling, reduce it to a medium low heat and let it simmer for about 30 minutes or until the water has evaporated.
While the farro is cooking, it’s time to prep your veggies and lemon vinaigrette!
Dice the orange into bite size chunks, dice the red onion, slice your pear as well – you can definitely dice it into bite size chunks. I kept it into large pieces of photography purposes but we are all about ease and practicality here at OBB – so dice however you’d like!
If desired, feel free to roughly chop the pecans as well.
In a jar, add in fresh lemon juice, olive oil, dijon mustard, honey and balsamic vinegar along with salt to taste. Top the jar with the lid and shake it in the jar until it’s combined. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Once the farro is done, add it to a large bowl. Add in the rest of the ingredients as well and combine.
Next, add a little bit of the lemon dressing and mix. You can always add more if you want!
And voila – it’s all done! So simple. So good. So delicious!
Ingredient Substitutions:
You can absolutely add in your favorite protein to this recipe. I think that roasted chicken or chickpeas would work amazing!
No pears? Sub in a crunchy apple!
No pecans? I think that walnuts or sliced almonds would work well.
Don’t like feta cheese? Sub in goat cheese! You will still get the tanginess but it will be extra creamy as well!
I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as I do! Cheers to only having a month left in Winter!
Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are a few others you might like:
Autumn Harvest Salad with Maple Cinnamon Vinaigrette
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! Like a recipe that you saw? Follow me on Pinterest here! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Winter Farro Salad
This Winter Farro Salad is incredibly flavorful! It’s loaded with fresh seasonal ingredients and makes for an easy lunch, side dish for dinner and quick to meal prep for the week!
Ingredients
- 1 cup farro, rinsed
- 3 cups water
- 1/2 of a large orange, diced into bite size chunks
- 1/2 Bartlett pear, sliced
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup diced red onion
- 1/2 cup feta cheese
- 1/4 cup pecans, roughly chopped
- salt for the water
Lemon Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- the juice of one lemon freshly squeezed
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1.5 tsp dijon mustard
- salt to taste
Instructions
-
Rinse one cup of farro. To a medium pot, add the rinsed farro followed by 3 cups of water or stock. Add a pinch of salt and bring this to a rolling boil on high heat. Once boiling, reduce to medium low heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
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While the farro is cooking, dice the orange into bite size pieces. Dice the red onion. Slice the pear and roughly chop the pecans. Set aside for now.
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In a jar, add the ingredients for the lemon vinaigrette. Add the lid onto the jar and shake until the dressing is combined. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
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Once the farro is done cooking, add it to a large bowl. Add salt to taste if needed. Next, add in the orange, pear, dried cranberries, feta and pecans. Mix together. Add in a little bit of the dressing at a time and mix in - you can always add in more to your own bowl if needed.
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Mix all together and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
This serves a generous serving to 2 people with leftovers! Enjoy this dish hot or cold.
LOVE farro in a salad! This looks so hearty and wonderful, especially that pear! A perfect winter salad!
Thank you, Katherine! Farro is So hearty and delicious! 🙂
This salad look so hearty and comforting! Love all the colours in it too! Yum! Glad I stumbled onto your site 🙂
Thank you so so much, Michelle! You’re too kind 🙂