I’m experimenting with a new grain this week, farro, and the first thing I wanted to make was a salad. Farro is a delightful chewy grain with a neutral flavor that will make any salad very “meal” worthy. I decided to go a mediterranean route with tomato, cucumber, seasoned and sautéed chickpeas, and my favorite creamy (and vegan) tahini dressing. This Mediterranean Farro Salad was pretty quick to prepare and I can keep the ingredients in the fridge all week to assemble whenever I want a fresh salad.
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What is Farro?
Farro is an “ancient grain” with a delightfully chewy texture and nutty flavor. It’s packed with protein and fiber, but has a neutral flavor, which makes it a great addition to salads, bowl meals, skillets, and more. Farro isn’t quite as popular in the U.S. as other grains, so you’re more likely to find it at health food stores or international markets.
How Do You Cook Farro?
Farro is really easy to cook. Like other grains, you simply boil it in water until tender. I suggest making a batch of farro to use throughout the week, so you don’t have to cook it fresh every night. This salad recipe assumes you have farro already cooked. For detailed cooking instructions, check my tutorial on How to Cook Farro.
Can I Use a Different Grain?
Absolutely! If you don’t like farro or can’t find it in your area, you can use bulgur (cracked wheat), couscous, brown rice, or even quinoa in place of the farro.
Mediterranean Farro Salad with Spiced Chickpeas
Ingredients
DRESSING
- 1/3 cup tahini ($1.13)
- 1/3 cup water ($0.00)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice ($0.18)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
SPICED CHICKPEAS
- 1 15oz. can chickpeas ($1.15)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.12)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.03)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional) ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked black pepper (10-15 cranks of a mill) ($0.03)
- Salt to taste ($0.02)
SALAD
- 3 cups cooked farro (or other grain) ($1.49)
- 2 Roma tomatoes ($1.39)
- 1 cucumber ($0.99)
- 1/4 bunch fresh parsley ($0.79)
Instructions
- To make the dressing, combine the tahini, water, lemon juice, minced garlic, cumin, cayenne, and salt in a blender. Blend until smooth. Set the dressing aside until ready to use (keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days).
- Rinse and drain the chickpeas in a colander. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Once hot add the drained chick peas. Sprinkle the smoked paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper (if using), and some freshly cracked pepper over top. Stir the chickpeas to coat in the spices, then continue to sauté for about five minutes, or until the outside of the chickpeas are slightly browned and blistered. Season with salt to taste.
- Chop the tomatoes, cucumber, and parsley. Place about 3/4 cup cooked farro in each bowl, then top with chopped tomato, chopped cucumber, spiced chickpeas, and a large pinch of chopped parsley. Drizzle the dressing over top and serve.
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Nutrition
How to Make Mediterranean Farro Salad – Step by Step Photos
Make the dressing first so that the flavors have a few minutes to mingle. Add 1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste), 1/3 cup water, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 cloves of garlic (minced), 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt to a blender. Blend until smooth. Set the dressing aside, or refrigerate for longer storage (up to five days).
Dice two roma tomatoes and one cucumber. Roughly chop about 1/4 bunch parsley (I only chopped a small amount of parsley in the photo).
Rinse and drain a 15oz. can of chickpeas.
Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a non-stick skillet and heat over a medium flame. Add the chickpeas, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp cayenne (optional), and some freshly cracked pepper (about 10-15 cranks of a mill). Stir to coat the chickpeas in oil and spices. Continue to sauté the chickpeas until they get slightly brown and blistered on the outside (about 5 minutes). Season with salt to your liking.
Begin to assemble the bowls by placing about 3/4 cup cooked farro in each bowl, then topping with some diced tomato, cucumber, spiced chickpeas, and a sprinkle of the chopped parsley.
Drizzle the tahini dressing over top.
And now it’s time to eat! There’s so much flavor packed into this one bowl, it’s incredible.
Nomnomnomnomnom…
This is just what I needed after a month of stress-eating junk, and feeling too busy to care. It is a cleansing, nourishing comfort food that I stumbled upon at just the right time. Like others, I added feta, and also agree that it is amazing without, but even better with (if dairy is an option). The recipe was very easy to follow and it was a snap putting it together. I cannot get enough of the dressing. I made extra for veggie-dipping snacks. YUMMM! This has just become a go-to dish. Thank you.
love this receipee
I made this following the recipe exactly.
When making it with leftovers, I added spring onion and a handful of spring mix greens. I didn’t put the tomatoes or cucumber in it to store it so I could reheat the farro and chick peas. I tried once with goat cheese but it didn’t need it at all. Love this salad.
We make this probably once a month. I make 2 types of beans because my kids don’t love chickpeas but they eat everything else in the recipe. I’ve started skipping the dressing just to save time and use ranch on busy nights, but the dressing is great too! Thanks for a great, filling meat free recipe!
Loved it! Very filling! I added avocado (it only had 1-2 days before it went bad and I hate wasting food). I added vegan feta and kalamata olives. Also, for the dressing, my jar of tahini looked like it had 1/3 of a cup, so I just eyeballed it and made the dressing in the jar. It was wonderful. Saved me cleaning the blender too lol
I had to make a couple of changes because of supply issues, but was still pretty happy with the results. I have yet to find farro in any of my local shops (and haven’t yet got curious enough about it to buy online) and tahini was out of stock, with no known date of return, so I ended up modifying the recipe to use mayonnaise and toasted sesame seed oil.
Should this be reheated or eaten cold?
I eat the leftovers cold. :) When it’s first prepared, the farro and chickpeas will be warm and the rest of the ingredients room temperature or chilled.
Thanks, I’m planning to bring this to a potluck as a cold salad. Good or bad idea?
Delicious and simple! I added roasted red pepper as well 🙂
This dish is VERY delicious!
Made this today – terrific! Added a little feta, but this would have been fine without it. Love the dressing.
This is very tasty! I just meal prepped this for my lunches this week. I will definitely make this again many times over.
The salad tastes great
This is delicious!!! I’ll be making this often!
This is one of our all-time favorite recipes. I’m not kidding! It is really quick to make on a week night, but it is so healthy, cheap, and sooo delicious. We make it every other week or more and it never gets old. It’s also one of the best farro dishes I’ve found, by far. If you haven’t tried this…. do it!
This recipe was delicious! I added some za’atar to the chickpea seasoning mix and also added some feta cheese. The tahini sauce really made the recipe. Will definitely make this again!
We enjoyed this for lunch today. Would have added a little more lemon juice to the dressing, and because I had sweet paprika instead of smoked, I added about 1/4 t more paprika and about 1/4 t cumin. Very satisfying dish; thank you very much!
We LOVE this recipe! The chickpeas themselves are amazing but adding the tahini dressing makes it spectacular. I love the nuttiness of the farro with the fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. I added some feta because it makes everything better!
The spiced chickpeas are amazing.
Enjoyed the recipe. I’d make it more explicit that cooking the farro should be done up front. Also, as I was inexperienced at cooking farro, you might mention one cup uncooked farro equals about three cups cooked. Finally, I worried that the dressing might require the blender you mentioned—that doesn’t seem to be the case; you might want to speak to that, either by saying the blender is optional or by recommending blending by hand because it’s simpler, leaves less clean up, and may give you a little more dressing.
Thanks for the recipe and thanks to Emily VanDerWerff for the recommendation.
This was really great, thanks for another keeper! We added feta too :)
This recipe is AMAZING! I added feta because cheese is my weakness. We’ll be making this all summer long.
Feta is a good idea. Thanks!
How to save left overs for Mediterranean Farro Salad with Chick peas? Does it freeze well?
This isn’t a recipe that we’d suggest freezing since it’s so fresh! It will keep in your refrigerator for about 3-5 days. Enjoy!
A great, healthy and flavorful meal! Came together quickly too.
This is such a delicious dinner, especially the dressing! Even my girls love it!
I loved everything about this dish! I made it last Wednesday and it’s only Sunday and I’m making it again! I’m also happy the dressing made more than enough, I won’t have to make any for dinner tonight or for leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
That’s awesome Danielle! Thank you!
I just made this for dinner and all 4 of us actually ate it, which NEVER happens. Thank you!
HOORAY!!! Thanks Nicole!
This goes into the permanent rotation. Perfect!!!! Made exactly as the recipe reads. A perfect main dish meal!
Hooray!
This is so amazingly satisfying. Thanks for the recipe!!
You’re so welcome!
Amazing!!
This is so tasty, like eating a pita sandwich. Farro is such an underutilized grain–the texture is perfect. It might be because I don’t really care for cucumbers, but I used half of one instead and it seemed the balance was perfect. Thanks for posting this awesome recipe!
Way to make it your own!
Perfect meal prep. Served it with some spinach and added some feta cheese and red onion. Can’t wait to eat this all week!
You mentioned having farro pre-cooked in the fridge. Is this good cold, or best served at room temperature? Thank you!
I like this one room temp. :)
This looks absolutely delicious and looking at the ingredients, I can already taste and love it.
Question… If I add another can of chickpeas and reduce the farro to 1 cup, would it be more protein/ body building friendly?
Do you think this would throw off the textures too much?
I think that swap would be fine as far as flavor and texture goes. :) Unfortunately I don’t know the protein content of farro vs. chickpeas off hand, so I don’t know how much it would change the protein content, and whether or not it is more body building friendly is probably highly subjective.
Since I’ve made this like four times now, I figured I should leave a review! Such an easy, tasty salad. I love the chewiness of farro and it really works well with the crunchy cucumbers. I usually add some feta to mine, and mix it in with romaine lettuce for a bigger lunch. The dressing is great, and I put it on other salads all the time!
Delicious! I find this to be a great “gone-all-day, come home at 9:30 and eat something amazing” recipe. My kids and husband loved it, and the kids started out skeptical (‘leave the veggies off mine…” “no dressing on mine please”). I made each serving ahead of time so they didn’t have any option but to dig in, and even the 2 year old cleaned his plate.
Thank you for the great recipe! (I also made it with tri-color quinoa since that’s what I had on hand.)
This was fantastic! So much flavor and so healthy too. Thanks Beth!
Finally tried this recipe tonight and was blown away. *So* tasty! Satisfying and filling but not heavy. Especially loved the lemony tahini dressing (I licked the bowl!). Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow! :)
This was very tasty! I used brown rice instead of farro, and eliminated the cucumbers. I plan to make this again. It would probably taste great with feta, but it’s pretty good as is… a great base recipe!
Made this tonight with Quinoa as I was unable to find farro at Aldi. It was delicious. I mixed everything together in one bowl similar to the Roasted Cauliflower recipe you have on this site as well. It was delicious. Thank you for the amazing recipe.
I made these for lunch meal prep this week. The chickpeas and tahini sauce were excellent. I’m not sold on the farro thought. Taste was ok, but It was very gummy. (I served it cold so maybe that was the problem?) I cooked it in the InstantPot. Maybe next time I’ll try stove top and see if I get better results.
I hope you gave the farro another try. One site I found suggested cooking it like pasta: with salt in an excess of water and take out when al dente. It worked great for me. Farro’s texture is darn near perfect.
Hi…I made this but didn’t use faro. I used quinoa and brown rice and saute the chicken peas in fresh garlic and ginger.
I made this, but with tiny changes to the chickpea recipe, since Turmeric is good for inflammation and seemed to fit a little with the spice profile I added about 3/4 of a teaspoon to the spice blend. Have had it for lunch two days in a row now at work and its so good i chase the last grains of farro around with my fork. This is an amazing recipe, works well for workday lunches (but I love several others that I’ve tried from your site too!) It’s so good!
The textures and flavors are wonderful! I divided this into four containers for lunches and topped with dressing and salad greens each morning. This is a great vegetarian lunch that can compete with all of the $12 takeout salads I could have instead. I used dried beans, so mine may have been even cheaper than Beth’s.
Did you eat it reheated or cold?
Absolutely delicious as is! However, I did add some feta cheese at the end. So good! Next time I think I’m going to try some grilled chicken breast and cilantro.
This recipe’s so good I might get it tattooed on my arm
Hahaha love it! :D
My wife and I love this recipe. We decided to swap out the farro for wheat berries which I think is a bit more filling. The change we made that we LOVE is swapping tahini sauce for plan old peanut butter. This makes the meal a LOT more affordable and, in my opinion, taste better too!
Thanks for this recipe. It’s a weekly favorite.
I must have done something wrong, because this one did not work out for me. The cucumbers are the worst part of it (and obvi not Beth’s fault) so maybe I just got a bad one, or maybe I should have peeled it. The dressing is good but not great, and doesn’t really infuse into the salad the way I expected. The chickpeas never really roasted for me (I’ve done it in the oven before for better results) but probably wouldn’t have stayed crisp til Friday’s lunch anyway. So probably my fault, but this one was a loser for me (among hundreds of winner recipes!).
I am eating this right now. I did not want to wait until I was finished to thank you. This will definitely be a new healthy staple in my household. Thank you so much!! 😍🤗
I made this tonight and it was a hit. I felt like my cells were singing in appreciation of all the healthy nutrients.
Beth! I CANNOT thank you enough for this *amazing* recipe which I’ve made so many times (and currently devouring!) I couldn’t find Farro in my area so I instead made tabbouleh. To make this the ultimate feast, I also add some frozen sweetcorn and a chicken drumstick (pre-made and frozen of course – Budget Bytes worthy!) All defrosted of course lol. DELICIOUS. Thank you!!!!
And lettuce! Can’t forget my romaine lettuce! Oh I’m stuffed…!
You’re so very welcome!! I’m glad it was such a hit for you. :)
Made this today, doubled the recipe for the week for the boyfriend and me. AMAZING! Took a fair bit of work but was TOTALLY WORTH IT!
Beth,
I made this last night, WOW YAYAYAYAYAY YESSSSSSSSSSSS!@$@!~@~~~!!!! Thank you!! I made extra dressing and made it into a salad by serving everything over 3 cups of kale (which I massaged the dressing on for about 30 seconds to soften it up). It was fantastic! I cooked the farro in chicken broth and it was a nice, subtle addition. I cooked the chickpeas on too high heat initially and chickpeas went flying everywhere…. my dogs thank you for the airborne treats X-D This is definitely going into the regular dinner rotation. I was so full and satisfied!
I will try to attach a pic below!
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UuBkEg2DWwI/WH7A61_G9GI/AAAAAAAA6jM/pUeZL_f1PdMNG_Y4XwBGGLDb66xEodzdwCL0B/h1152/733641558182367957%253Faccount_id%253D1
Loved the dressing so much I’ll double it next time!
This was terrific. It’s the third recipe I’ve tried from this site and I’ve had a great experience will all three. Very easy to make.
Wow Beth, this recipe is amazing! Tried it for the first time for dinner yesterday and it was a big hit. So easy, nutritious and flavorful! I added a big handful of spinach and rocket, thinly sliced red onions and a few slices of kalamata olives. Delicious to the max. Hubby loved it too. We’re going to have it again tonight. Thank you!
Really, really good! I substituted brown rice for farro. I was worried it would taste “too healthy,” but it was packed with flavor! This will definitely be a new lunch staple.
Outstanding! The best dinner I’ve had in ages. What flavour. And so healthy as well. You don’t have to be on a restricted diet to find this recipe super satisfying and tasty. I made it with groats (couldn’t find farro, not a fan of quinoa) and it was delicious. I will make it again and again (especially because there was very little left over).
I made this yesterday to get me through my lunches for the week! It’s very tasty and refreshing. I added prosciutto and “pearl” mozzarella to amp it up a bit! I will definitely make this again!
So delicious and healthy!
I made this for supper tonight along with your honey spice chicken thighs ( https://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/03/honey-spice-chicken-thighs/), and let’s just say it took all the willpower I could muster to not eat the portion I had packed for tomorrow’s lunch! Absolutely delicious salad! I had never had farro before trying this recipe, but it is certainly something that will be added to my regular rotation from now on. Thank you for sharing this!
Deeeelicious! And so simple to put together. Thank you so much for sharing this!!
Oh man this is good! It tastes so fresh and came together quickly. I feel like I should have all these ingredients on hand all the time so I can eat this whenever I want. The only thing I changed was adding one more clove of garlic to the sauce because I like it garlicky. Next time I might do a little baked tofu if I can find it on sale. Yum!
I totally agree about garlic. I added 6 or 7 cloves because I LOVE garlic.
I made this with quinoa and added black beans because I had some left over and I was blown away. So delicious! My four year old kept asking for more.
This recipe was insanely delicious. 10/10
I made it with bulgur; I added green onions and one pint of cherry tomatoes
thanks again.
This is what I have for lunch this week; and It’s delicious. I will make again.
I just made this for the first time, and as an avid home cook and vegetarian of many years, I suddenly feel like a failure. How could I think I was above smoked paprika?! Thank you so so much for this recipe and opening my eyes to smoked paprika (and providing me with a kickass lunch for the work week!)
AWESOME. I had to swap the farro for couscous since I was running short on time but I loved the spicy-paprika-garlicky chick peas! So glad to have another use for chick peas than hummus and falafal. Might experiment with adding some kalamata olives and feta next time. I can already tell this salad is going to be so versatile!
Would dry chick peas work too? I usually cook a big batch of them and then freeze in 1 can portions which, I think, is
1 3/4 cup. It’s even cheaper than canned beans and I can control the amount of sodium. Thanks
Yep, that will absolutely work. :)
I made a version of this dish for lunches this week. I used couscous instead of faro and substituted hummus for the tahini in the dressing. I still thought it was very good and filling! Thanks for a quick and easy lunch idea!
This looks so good! Do you think adding some feta and avocado would be good on this?
Absolutely! :D
Delicious!
I made this into a mason jar salad (I got 6 jars out of this recipe), and it’s SO fantastic. PERFECT for lunch!!!
Thanks for all the amazing recipes. :)
Chickpeas and brown rice, cous cous, or pasta, tossed with spinach or another veggie, has been my lunch nearly every day for a couple of months now. I usually throw them in plain, but I’ll have to try your recipe because it sounds delicious!
This was fantastic! I subbed peanut butter + sesame oil for the tahini, and added feta and spinach. So hearty and so filling for 4 generous portions!
Ummm…this was amazing. Thanks for the healthy and delish recipe!
I love cooking salads, it is definitely the better choice when wanting to go to sleep and not feeling heavy right? I particularly liked your Mediterranean Salad recipe! I tried a delicious similar option at Barilla Restaurants, have you been there? Here´s the link http://www.barillarestaurants.com/menu/Insalate/Mediterranea I decided to cook it myself as well, for the sake of trying and results were amazing!
Thank you Beth for the recipe! I was looking for ways to cook and serve faro for some time (cooked 1 cup = 2 dinners and 2 lunches). I also added feta cheese to the salad and had it for dinner. We loved it!
wow!its really amazing recipe .am going to try out really , this is very healthy and give full nutrients strength to the body and make free from all diseases .thanks for posting.
I’m eating this salad right now. It’s awesome! I bought tahini a while ago & have been looking for recipes to use it. This is a keeper! Next time I’d probably add another tomato. I’d never had farro before this but I really like it. Thanks for the recipe!
Tried this tonight. It was first time using farro. I switched the tahini for blue cheese and added some avocado. Really enjoyed it. Loved the texture. Saved some farro for breakfast and the banana walnut recipe you posted. I will definitely be buying from whole foods instead of Harris Teeter at $6+ a bag!
Oh perfect, I have a small amount of faro in my cupboard and have been hemming and hawing about what to do with it, so I’ll make this! Perfect!
Going to try this… silly question though; do you serve the farro hot/warm/cold?
I ate it cold with this salad. It just depends on what recipe you’re using it with. :)
Thanks! I guess I’ll try it both ways! I wonder if it’ll work cold with brown rice, as well. Guess I’ll find out!
I’m sure brown rice would be fine, too! You can almost use any cooked grain here. :)
Great recipe! I made two changes: one, I had freekeh on hand so I used that instead of farro; and two, I was too lazy to get out the blender so I just stirred the tahini sauce by hand instead. It turned out great! This is definitely going on the regular rotation in our house.
The only downside is that it seems like it might be hard to pack as a lunch? I imagine that the cuke & tomatoes might get soggy if you mix them beforehand–but would love to be wrong :)
Thanks, Beth!
I’ve made this twice to bring to work for lunches – I mix together and then portion out the farro/cucumber/tomato/parsley into individual containers (I get 4 good-sized servings out of this recipe), then divide the dressing into separate smaller containers as well. When it’s time for lunch I just pour the dressing over and it keeps everything from getting soggy :) love this recipe!
Boom, just made this, wifey approved!
I am so excited to make this! I think I’m going to run out and buy a cucumber and tomato tonight!
I’ve made some lemon-tahini dressings before but I’ve always had to tweak them a bunch, Judging by my experience I think yours is going to be the ratio I’ve been looking for all along
Thank you for sharing a delicious, hearty vegan recipe.
I had farro in the pantry andI didn’t know what to do with it, so I was so glad to see you doing this series of recipes. . I made this today and oh my goodness it is delicious!
Beth, this recipe is amazing! You have truly out done yourself this time. I seriously thought this could’ve easily come from a legitimate Mediterranean cafe after having just two bites.
The dressing is delicious – it tastes just like Annie’s Goddess salad dressing! I also added red onion to mine, because I had it on hand. This makes for a great workday lunch, prepackaged and ready to go!
This looks awesome! I love the idea of blistering the chickpeas with spices on the stove. Do you reheat the chickpeas when assembling salads during the week or eat it cold? If hot, any method you find works better? Looking forward to the other farro recipes as well! I’ve never had farro before but you’ve definitely made made curious.
I just add them cold (because I’m lazy and it still tastes good haha).
I made this last night with your roast eggplant recipe from awhile back. It was fabulous!
This looks great! Winter tomatoes always make me sad, but I’ve found slow roasting them is an easy way to amp up the flavor of even the most wintery winter tomatoes. Can’t wait to try this!
This looks so good. I have some tahini that is begging to be used in something other than hummus!
I loved this! It tasted like falafel in a bowl and I prepped enough for the week. I also had some tzatziki with it on the side. Thanks!
I had everything to make this in my fridge and it is SO GOOD. I didn’t have farro so I used barley and I had some olives in my fridge so I sliced up a few and threw them in the salad too. I don’t know how I’ve never pan roasted chickpeas before – they might be the best part!!!
oh wow this look amazing!
styleandchocolates
This looks so good! I just started eating farro and I love it’s nutty texture. And chickpeas are one of my faves!
Yay, I’m excited for your farro week! We make a huge batch in the rice cooker every couple weeks, use it for veg bowls & sub it for rice in all kindsa stuff. This salad looks great!
How much dried/raw farro do I need to cook to yield 3 cups cooked farro?
One cup of dry farro will make about 3-3.5 cups of cooked farro. :)
Made this for dinner tonight. It was delicious! I’m going to work this into my weekly work lunches. Thank you for the great recipe!
This looks delicious in and of itself, but what’s really tempting me is the chickpeas! I’ve never cooked farro either but now I have an excuse to try…
This looks absolutely delicious. I’ve made my list, and I will go shopping tomorrow. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
I’m not a big fan of tomatoes, is there anything else I can substitute for that? This looks so good!
Just use your imagination and sub what you like.
Siced medley of colorful peppers…. cubed, seasoned and roasted butternut squash…. grated carrots
You can just leave them out or you can try adding some red onion, kalamata olives, feta, diced bell pepper… there are a lot of options to make it more rounded without tomatoes. :)
I’m a different Liz than the original commenter and I like tomatoes but WOW – added feta and Kalamata olives as well – excellent suggestion!!
Also added some leftover halibut – also good. I forgot how much I like that tahini dressing. I made it a lot when you posted it previously – thanks for re-posting!
***I am making all of these farro recipes with kasha (roasted buckwheat groats) and they are all working well.