Cold Farro Cucumber Salad
This refreshing farro salad is served cold, laden with Mediterranean ingredients like feta cheese, cucumbers, herbs, green onions, capers, lemon, and olive oil. It's perfect as a light meal or as a hearty side dish, and holds up well in the fridge for leftovers.
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 297kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup farro about 3 cups cooked, see notes
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice from about 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups diced cucumber from about 1 large cucumber, see notes
- 8 oz. cubed feta cheese see notes
- 3-4 green onions thinly sliced, white and green parts
- ¼ cup capers
- ½ cup chopped fresh herbs I used mint, dill, and parsley
Instructions
- Rinse the dry 1 cup farro in a mesh sieve. Then, cook it in a pot of boiling water as you would pasta, for the timing indicated on the package instructions (this will vary based on type and brand, see notes). Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to rapidly cool. While the farro is cooking is a great time to chop and prep the remaining ingredients.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper to make the dressing.
- Add the cooked and cooled farro to the bowl with the dressing, as well as the 4 cups diced cucumber, 8 oz. cubed feta cheese, sliced 3-4 green onions, ¼ cup capers, and ½ cup chopped fresh herbs.
- Mix everything well and serve.
Notes
- To cook the farro, you'll need to refer to the package of farro you bought for timing. I'm a big fan of Trader Joe's quick cooking farro, which only needs about 10 minutes to cook. Usually, farro takes about 15-20 minutes of cooking for pearled and up to an hour for whole (similar to barley). For this recipe, cook the farro as you would pasta, in a large pot of water. Then drain and rinse with cold water to rapidly cool so it's ready for the salad. 1 cup of dry farro yields approximately 3 cups of cooked farro, which is perfect for this recipe.
- Farro substitutions: Use barley, rice, quinoa, or another whole hearty grain, or a small pasta like orzo or pearl couscous instead of farro.
- Make it vegan / dairy-free: Use a vegan feta cheese substitute or omit the cheese.
- For serving sizes, this salad serves 4 as a light meal or 6-8 as a side dish.
- For the feta, I always recommend buying block feta cheese rather than crumbled. The texture and taste is much better!
Nutrition
Calories: 297kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 34mg | Sodium: 835mg | Potassium: 292mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 604IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 225mg | Iron: 2mg