Summer Farro Salad
The Best Summer Farro Salad! A healthy vegan farro salad with red cabbage, carrots, broccoli, fresh herbs and a spicy peanut sauce.
This summer farro salad is packed with all of the fresh flavors I want to eat right now– plenty of crunchy vegetables, chewy farro, fresh herbs, peanuts, and a crave-able spicy peanut sauce.
If you haven’t tried farro before, I’ve got several farro salad recipes like my Mediterranean Farro Salad, Farrotto with Confited Tomatoes, Blueberry Farro Salad, Sweet Cherry Farro Salad and more.
This Summer Farro Salad is a must make any time of the year, but especially right now as Farmers Markets start to open and most of our diets gradually start including more fresh produce.
See below for more details on how to make this, or scroll down to the full recipe below.
Ingredients Notes:
- Cooked Farro: Obviously! You can grab farro at most grocery stores, or even online. Trader Joe’s also sells a 10-minute farro that’s great for quickly cooking farro. You’ll just want to make sure that it’s cool or room temperature before mixing with the vegetables.
- Shredded red cabbage: I love the color that red cabbage gives this summer farro salad, but you can use green cabbage if you’d like.
- Bell pepper: You can use any color you’d like. I usually pick based on how it will look as I love the rainbow salad look, but red, orange or yellow will work.
- Peanut Sauce: The peanut dressing is so good! If you love peanut dressing, then you’re going to want to make this one. If you like a spicy dressing, then you can add in more sambal oelek or chili crisp.
As with most salads, this one is customizable based on what you have in the house or what looks good at the market. I try as much as I can to create recipes that let you take control, I know that’s why I gravitate towards cooking over baking. Sub another vegetable that you’d prefer, play around with ratios, add more cilantro or scallions to taste. It all works.
Substitution ideas: Fresh corn kernels, cherry tomatoes, finely chopped red onion for the scallions, or basil or parsley for the cilantro. For extra protein, feel free to add in cooked chickpeas or white beans.
How to make this healthy summer farro salad
Once your farro is cooked, this salad couldn’t be easier to throw together in one bowl, which makes for easy cleanup. Start by whisking together all of the ingredients for the dressing in a large bowl until very smooth and creamy. If the sauce is too thick, thin with a tablespoon or two of water.
Add in the rest of the ingredients for the salad– all of the vegetables, cooked farro, cilantro and scallions. Toss well, taking care to ensure that all of the grains and vegetables are well-coated. Mix in chopped peanuts and serve, garnishing with more cilantro, scallions and chopped peanuts as desired.
How to cook farro
I have a whole tutorial on my Mediterranean Farro Salad post on choosing the right type of farro and how to cook it, but the cliff notes are below.
Because of possible label confusion on which type you are getting, I recommend going by the package directions for cook times or by taste– when farro is done, it’s done. The farro that I buy from Bob’s Red Mill takes 30 minutes to cook, but the one from Trader Joe’s takes 10.
If you are lucky enough to find actual whole farro, you’ll have better success if you soak it overnight first, like beans, before cooking. To cook, rinse farro then place in a medium sized pot along with cooking liquid of choice, like water or broth.
For this recipe, you’ll use roughly 1 cup of uncooked farro and 3 cups of water or broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat , cover and simmer until tender and chewy. The cooking time depends on what type of farro you are using: pearled typically takes 15 minutes while semi pearled takes 25-30.
More Healthy Farro Salad Recipes
- Mediterranean Farro Salad
- Sweet Cherry and Farro Salad
- Blueberry Farro Salad
- Grilled Corn and Basil Farro Salad
- Warm Farro and Kale Salad
- Jeweled Farro Salad
- Farro and Citrus Salad
This farro salad is packed with so much texture and vibrant colors! I almost called this a rainbow farro salad because it’s so beautiful to look at, but this side dish screams summer to me so I went with that. I hope you love it as much as we do!
If you try this vegan Summer Farro Salad recipe, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag your Instagram photos with #delishknowledge . I absolutely love seeing your creations. Happy cooking!
Summer Farro Salad
Ingredients
Farro Salad Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked farro*
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage
- Half bell pepper, any color seeded and thinly sliced
- 1 cup shredded carrot
- 1/2 cucumber, seeded and sliced into thin half moons
- 1 1/2 cups finely chopped broccoli florets
- 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
- 2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup crushed peanuts
Spicy Peanut Sauce
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sambal oelek**
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 small garlic clove, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Place the ingredients for the dressing in a large bowl: peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, sambal oelek, maple syrup, ginger, garlic and water. Whisk together until very smooth.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients on top: farro, red cabbage, bell pepper, carrot, cucumber, broccoli, cilantro and scallions. Toss well, taking care to ensure that all of the veggies and farro are well coated.
- Toss in chopped peanuts and serve, garnishing with more cilantro, scallions and chopped peanuts as desired.
