Mediterranean Farro Salad with Grilled Vegetables

Fire up the grill and celebrate grilling season with this colorful, nutty, bright, smoky, and tangy Mediterranean Farro Salad with Grilled Vegetables. Combining the nutty bite of farro with a bounty of summer’s freshest produce, this salad is both hearty yet lite.

Summer is here along with her vibrant bounty of beautiful vegetables. Whether you’re looking for the perfect side to serve next to your grilled Habanero Mojo Chicken, Seared Scallops with Saffron Cream Sauce, or are looking for ideas for meal prep, this farro salad recipe is both easy and delicious.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Easy Process – The most labor-intensive part of this recipe is simply chopping all of the veggies. When it comes to grilling the vegetables you’re simply charring them to slightly soften them and get that smoky flavor. It only takes a few minutes.
• Customizable – Not only can you swap out the vegetables in this farro salad with feta for what you like or may have on hand, you can also have fun by adding in additional ingredients including your favorite grilled proteins.
• Meal Prep – This farro salad can be enjoyed warm, at room temperature, or chilled. It gets better as it refrigerates, allowing all of the flavors to come together. In addition, you can prepare the individual components of this dish well ahead of time. Feel free to cook your farro a couple of days in advance, as well as grill the vegetables and make your vinaigrette ahead of time.
• Accessible Ingredients – Farro might be a whole grain you haven’t worked with before, but it is showing up more and more in grocery stores. You can find it in the same aisle as pasta and rice. The rest of the ingredients are readily available produce, and pantry staples like olive oil and red wine vinegar.

What is Farro?

Farro is as much about the flavor as it is the texture. Farro is an ancient grain packed with nutrients with a history that traces back to Mesopotamia making it one of the oldest grains. It’s a grain that has been popular in Europe for generations, especially Italy, and is beloved for its nutty flavor and chewy, toothsome texture. You can use it in risotto style dishes, casseroles, soups, and salads such as this Greek farro salad. Farro is a type of wheat and because of this isn’t gluten free.

Farro is processed in three different ways, pearled, semi-pearled, and whole farro. Pearled farro is the quickest cooking and mildest flavored, and because it is quick cooking is both the most popular and easiest to find. Semi-pearled farro still has some of the whole grain intact and offers the best of the other two varieties, quicker cooking but with more flavor and nutrients. Whole farro has the entire grain intact and has the most flavor of the three varieties and also the most nutrients. However, it also requires the most cook time. You can either soak it overnight or boil it, which often takes thirty minutes or more. Use what you like and also what you have access to.

Farro is extremely nutrient rich. It is relatively high in protein for a plant-based source and is also rich in iron and other minerals. One cup of dried farro equals about two cups of cooked farro.

How to Make Mediterranean Farro Salad with Grilled Vegetables

• Cook your farro. Cook your farro according to the package directions. Keep in mind farro has a chewy texture. Drain it well and keep refrigerated in an airtight container until your ready to assemble your salad.
• Prep your vegetables. Skewer your tomatoes so you can easily flip them on the grill. The squash and onions cut into thick planks. Brush your vegetables generously with olive oil and season them with salt, pepper, and a little dried oregano.
• Prepare your grill. Prepare your grill for direct grilling. If using a charcoal grill spread your charcoal in an even layer. If using a gas grill heat all of your burners. You want your grill at around 400 degrees. Also make sure your grates are clean.

• Get those veggies nice and charred! Place your vegetables on the hot grate. The tomatoes will cook the fastest and only need a couple of minutes for their skin to split and char. The rest of the vegetables will take 3-4 minutes per side to char and soften. Remove them from the grill as they char and allow them to cool enough to handle.

• Give everything a chop. Once everything has cooled, chop your vegetables into bite sized pieces, except for the tomatoes. Measure out your baby arugula and crumble your block of feta.
• Shake up your vinaigrette. Add all of your ingredients for the Greek vinaigrette to a mason jar and give it a vigorous shake until combined. You can allow your garlic to soak in the vinegar and lemon juice combination ahead of time to mellow it if you like.

• Gently toss everything. Add all of your ingredients including the farro to a serving bowl and gently toss to combine it.

• Taste for seasoning and acidity. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. The feta delivers a lot of salt to this dish. Also give an additional squeeze of lemon if desired.

Have Fun Customizing Your Grilled Vegetables with Farro

This Mediterranean farro salad is a great base recipe to play around with and make completely your own. Not only can you swap out the grilled vegetables for other veggies like eggplant or asparagus, but you can add in additional ingredients. Here are a few ideas.

• Grilled Chicken
• Grilled Shrimp
• Marinated Artichoke Hearts
• Sun Dried Tomatoes
• Olives
• Pepperoncini Peppers
• Chickpeas
• Baby kale or spinach
• Cannellini Beans
• Roasted Pistachios
• Dried cranberries or cherries
• Swap basil or parsley for the dill

How to Store Mediterranean Farro Salad

Different portions of this salad can be made in advance. Because farro does take a little time to cook it’s something I like to prepare on the weekend and then add to other dishes during the week for a quick and easy meal.

• Cooked farro can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and kept for up to five days.
• The vinaigrette can be made a week in advance and refrigerated. Allow it to come to room temperature and then shake to combine.
• Once your salad has been prepared it will keep for up to four days refrigerated. Make sure to store it in an airtight container or tightly cover your bowl with plastic wrap.
• The grilled vegetables can be made two days in advance. Let them cool completely and then transfer them either to a zip top bag or an airtight container and keep them refrigerated.

Tips From the Beach

• Cut your vegetables fairly thick. This will let you properly char them without them becoming too soft and mushy. You still want them to have texture and hold up in the salad.
• Invest in good feta. This is both a salty component and also a creamy texture in the salad. Skip the already crumbled stuff and buy the block or wedge.
• Don’t salt your vegetables too far ahead of time. The salt draws out their moisture which will cause them to steam instead of char. You want both the color and flavor.
• You can skewer your onions to make them easier to flip when grilling if desired.
• If you want a less acidic vinaigrette add a tablespoon of water to your dressing.
• If you want the garlic in the Greek vinaigrette to have less of a bite, allow it to sit in the red wine vinegar and lemon juice for ten to fifteen minutes before making your dressing.

For more easy sides makes sure to check out Twice Baked Colcannon Potatoes and Greek Skillet Potatoes.

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