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.
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
Servings 4Ingredients
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
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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…
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. :)