Roasted Beet Feta Farro Salad

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

You can make all parts of this salad ahead of time and then just assemble everything when you’re ready. That’s why this recipe a solid choice for meal prep. Also, groceries sell roasted beets if you’re looking for a shortcut.

This is a big and filling salad because of the farro. Cooked whole grains are wonderful in salads. They add texture and bite to this mix of veggies and lettuce.

Don’t forget about beets. Their flavor is subtle and earthy and so great with salty cheeses like feta and goat cheese. They’re the kind of reliable year-round vegetable that gives you much-needed color in salads especially during the fall and winter months. 

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Beets: Buy beets without leafy green tops. You can go with red beets, golden beets or both. If you want a shortcut, buy packaged pre-cooked beets. They are in the refrigerated section of the produce department. Pat off the juices with a paper towel before you dice them. Love Beets is one brand that makes them.
• Farro is similar to barley with a nice chewy bite. You can substitute with brown rice if you need the recipe to be gluten free.
• Feta: I like to take a block of feta cheese and crumble it myself with my hands. Then you get more variety from small to larger pieces. If you use a tub of crumbled feta, the cheese will be smaller and more distributed throughout the salad. 
• Arugula: Either baby arugula or spinach will work, or you can use a mix of both.
• Walnuts: Toast the nuts before you toss them into the salad. Spread them across a sheet pan and toast in a 350-degree F oven for 5 minutes. You can substitute with almonds or pistachios.
• Red onions, finely chopped, add a sharp accent to the salad ingredients. 
• Parsley: I finish the salad with chopped fresh herbs.
• White wine vinaigrette: The dressing has fresh lemon juice, garlic, whole grain mustard, white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper. You can substitute with red wine vinegar.

How To Make This Roasted Beet Feta Farro Salad

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

1. Put each beet on a small piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Loosely wrap into packets. I do this on the baking sheet, so then they can go straight into the oven. Roast the beets for 45-50 minutes. Carefully open the packets. They are ready when you can easily pierce them with a paring knife. 

2. Peel the beets by rubbing off their skins with a towel and then dice them. 

3. Cook the farro on the stove. Combine the grains and water in a pot. Bring them to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer them uncovered. Assuming you are using pearled farro, it will cook in 12-15 minutes. You want the grains retain their chewy consistency. Then drain the farro and remaining water in a fine mesh strainer. Rinse with cold water to cool completely.

4. Make the vinaigrette. In a small bowl, whisk the minced garlic, mustard, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper.

5. Combine the salad ingredients including the farro, red onions, arugula, walnuts, feta and parsley. Drizzle with half the vinaigrette, tossing everything together.

6. Fold in the beets. Do this slowly and gently. The more you stir, the more that the roasted beets will stain the salad pink. Add more vinaigrette as desired.

Serving

Farro is a hearty whole grain, which is why I like to eat this recipe as a main dish salad for lunch or dinner. It works as a side dish too depending what else you’re serving at the meal.

Grain salads are a good alternative to vegetarian pasta salads. Both are good for meal prep.

If you do serve it as a side, pair it with proteins such as chicken, salmon or shrimp. You can also stir in canned chickpeas or white beans to keep it vegetarian.

Storage & Leftovers

Try to plan ahead. If you’re doing meal prep or if you think you’ll have leftovers, only dress the portion of salad you’re going to eat. You can save the salad and vinaigrette up to 3 days in a separate airtight containers. If the salad is dressed, it will wilt faster. Then add more arugula before you serve it.

Recipe Tips

• You can roast the beets up to 2 days in advance. Keep them in the fridge in an airtight container. Then let them sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before you plan to assemble the salad, so they aren’t as cold as when you first take them out of the refrigerator.
• You also can cook the farro 2 days before you assemble the salad. After you rinse the grains with cold water and they have cooled off, then you can put them in a container in the fridge.
• You can make the vinaigrette up to 2 days ahead of time. Store it in the refrigerator in a jar. Take it out of the refrigerator 15 minutes before you’re going to toss it in the salad because the oil will harden in the chill of the fridge.