Farro Salad with Feta & Cherries

This versatile farro salad features tart cherries, arugula, apples, and feta cheese; it works as a side dish or a main dish grain bowl.

This post was created in partnership with Oregon Fruit. All opinions are our own.

Pretty simple is mantra around here. Alex and I like to say that cooking healthy is not easy, but it can be pretty simple once you change your lifestyle. A great thing about pretty simple cooking it also can be 1. pretty delicious and 2. pretty. Believing this mantra wasn’t always the case for us, Over the years, learning through trial and error has helped us understand what makes a recipe simple to put together–and that simple doesn’t always mean quick! Experience in the kitchen has helped me surround myself with simple recipes that maximize flavor and minimize headaches. That’s the case with this farro salad with feta and cherries. Keep reading for the recipe!

Related:25 Best Salad Recipes

How to make farro salad

This farro salad takes about 25 minutes to put together. But it’s a pretty simple concept. Simply boil a whole grain until tender, like farro, quinoa for gluten-free. We like using farro because it has the chewiness of barley, but cooks in just 20 minutes. Make sure to use pearled farro for this recipe, which ensures the quick cooking time.

To the farro, add apple, arugula and tart cherries. Sprinkle a bit of feta cheese for a savory saltiness, and then cover the entire farro salad in a tart cherry vinaigrette. With the red and the green, it’s visually stunning, and it tastes incredible: tangy, tart, sweet, and savory all at once. Another great thing is that though it features lots of fresh ingredients: apples, arugula and cherries, it can be eaten year round since many of these ingredients are available throughout the year.

Related: How to Cook Farro in 15 Minutes

Using canned tart cherries

Typically Alex and I don’t think of using fruit in cans. However, we’ve been introduced to Oregon Fruit canned fruit, which we used for this recipe. Canned fruit is an easy way to incorporate the flavor and nutrients of fresh fruit; it’s available nationwide and year round. Oregon Fruit is packed in the USA during the summer for maximum ripeness and flavor. Some other great features: it’s non-GMO and there’s no High Fructose Corn Syrup or BPA in the cans. Here we’ve used canned tart cherries, which bring a sweet-tart flair to the salad. I’m a huge fan of tart flavor (my favorite drinks: margaritas or sour beer), so this one hits it out of the park for me.

How to serve this farro salad

Versatility is another thing we love about this recipe. You can use it as a side dish at a holiday meal; it would look lovely piled onto a large a platter. Or, turn it into a main dish as a grain bowl! Simply mound a larger quantity into a bowl and serve it with avocado toast or crackers as a filling lunch or weeknight meal. It can be served warm, room temperature, or cold, which makes it endlessly versatile. And finding recipes that work for many occasions is part of that pretty simple approach to the kitchen! We hope you’ll find this farro salad hits all those elements for you–an uncomplicated concept for many occasions that looks pretty and tastes pretty delicious.

Looking for recipes with whole grains?

Eating whole grains is more than just whole grain bread! In addition to this farro salad, here are a few of our favorite recipes with whole grains:

• Roasted Fall Vegetable Grain Bowl
• Greek Sofrito Quinoa Bowl
• Mediterranean Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
• Stress Reducing Avocado & Quinoa Nourish Bowl
• Spinach Artichoke Red Rice Casserole
• Healthy Superfood Salad

Did you make this recipe?

If you make our farro salad with tart cherries, we’d love to hear how it turned out. Leave a comment below or share a picture on Instagram and mention @acouplecooks and @oregonfruitproducts.

This recipe is…

This farro salad is vegetarian and naturally sweet. For gluten-free, substitute quinoa.

Farro Salad with Feta & Cherries

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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

5 from 1 reviews

• Author: a Couple Cooks
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: About 3 as a main, 4 to 6 as a side 1x

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Description

This versatile farro salad features tart cherries, arugula, apples, and feta cheese; it works as a side dish or a main dish grain bowl.

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups dry pearled farro
• 15-ounce can Oregon Fruit tart cherries
• 2 tablespoons Dijon or stone-ground mustard
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium shallot
• 1 tart apple
• 3 cups baby arugula
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup feta cheese crumbles (goat cheese would also work)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh ground pepper

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Instructions

1. In a saucepan over high heat, bring 9 cups of water to a boil. Add the farro, stir once, and continue to boil uncovered for about 20 minutes, bubbling rapidly. Taste a grain of farro; if the grain is plump and tender, remove the pan from the heat and pour it into a strainer. (If not, continue to cook and taste until tender.) Rinse with lukewarm water to cool slightly and shake it dry. Brands of farro can vary, so adjust the cook time as necessary.
2. For the vinaigrette, drain the cherries. Finely chop 2 tablespoons of the cherries, then reserve the remainder for the salad. Combine chopped cherries, vinegar, maple syrup, and mustard in a small bowl. Drizzle in oil, whisking constantly, until incorporated.
3. With the remaining cherries, roughly break some of them in half, or slice them in half. Thinly slice the shallot into rings. Chop the apple into very small bite-sized pieces. When farro is done, mix it with 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Then in a large bowl, combine the farro, cherries, shallot, apple, arugula, feta crumbles, and cherry vinaigrette. Top with fresh ground pepper. Taste and adjust flavors as desired. (When serving leftovers, drizzle a bit of olive oil over the salad if you find it to be dry.)

• Category: Salad
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: American

Keywords: Farro salad, Salad with Farro, Farro Recipes, Tart Cherries, Arugula Salad, Feta Salad, Whole Grain Salads, Whole Grain Recipes

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About the Authors

Sonja Overhiser

Cookbook Author and writer

Sonja Overhiser is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best healthy cookbooks of 2018. She’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the food blog A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Sonja seeks to inspire adventurous eating to make the world a better place one bite at a time.

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Alex Overhiser

Cookbook Author and photographer

Alex Overhiser is an acclaimed food photographer and author based in Indianapolis. He’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the recipe website A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Alex is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best vegetarian cookbooks by Epicurious.

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