This hearty farro bowl recipe is full of Mediterranean flavors! Juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, briny olives, and a creamy dressing make a satisfying grain bowl that’s the right meal for summer time or any season.


It’s no secret that bowl meals are an excellent satisfying, enjoyable option to eat all of the veggies. Right here’s Alex and my newest in a stream of simple dinner concepts: the hearty farro bowl! It’s my preferrred Mediterranean food plan dinner or lunch, pairing plump grains of farro with tangy tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, salty olives, and seasoned chickpeas.
The icing on the cake (is, bowl) is my new innovation: hummus dressing! It’s so easy to make a sauce utilizing hummus. It comes out creamy and bursting with taste with solely 3 substances—form of a like a tahini sauce, however even simpler. This one is on repeat in our kitchen: and I hope it will likely be in yours, too!
Elements on this farro bowl recipe
This farro bowl is a spin on a basic grain bowl: a meal constructed round a complete grain, veggies. a sauce, and protein. Through the years I’ve created recipes for rice bowls and much quinoa bowl recipeshowever that is the primary farro grain bowl! Listed here are the important substances for this farro bowl:
- Farro is a complete grain that can be utilized as an alternative choice to rice, barley or different grains. It’s truly an historic grain that has been eaten for the reason that Roman instances! I really like its chewy texture and nutty taste.
- Recent herbs, olive oil, and garlic: These important substances are for flavoring each the farro and the chickpeas. We like to make use of parsley, dill or cilantro.
- Chickpeas: Chickpeas are the plant-based protein right here. You can even use different proteins like tofu, shrimp, or hen.
- Cucumber, tomato, and Kalamata olives: These Mediterranean-style greens have large, daring taste. Substitute different uncooked veggies if desired!
- Feta cheese: It provides a pleasant salty counterpoint to the flavors (omit for vegan).
- Greens (elective): I used a handful of child arugula, however different greens like spinach, butter lettuce, or romaine work properly.
- Hummus dressing: It’s creamy and irresistible, made with hummus, olive oil, and lemon juice.


Suggestions for the hummus dressing
Should you’re making the hummus dressing, be certain to make use of a high quality model of hummus! We advise steering away from the favored Sabra model: the flavour has a powerful chemical aftertaste (presumably as a result of citric acid used as a preservative, no less than in line with Reddit).
Regardless of the case, use a hummus model with a creamy, tangy and easy taste. Experiment to discover a model you like (certainly one of my favorites is Esti hummus).
My favourite sauce and vegetable variations
This farro bowl is ideal as a wholesome dinner thought or wholesome lunch thoughtand it’s simply customizable to your tastes and dietary wants! It’s form of like making your personal Candy Inexperienced menu (certainly one of my favourite restaurant ideas for bowl meals). Listed here are some concepts for various the substances:
In fact, you can too range the entire grain, particularly should you’re cooking for gluten-free eaters. For gluten-free, use quinoa or rice.


Add protein to make it a most important dish
One other option to customise this farro bowl recipe is with including totally different proteins! It presently makes use of chickpeas as a plant-based protein, however we’ve discovered this generally isn’t sufficient for hungry eaters (particularly should you’re serving it for dinner). Listed here are a couple of protein adders we love:
Storing leftovers and make forward notes
This farro bowl recipe is straightforward to make forward. You may make the farro as much as 3 days upfront, the chickpeas as much as 1 to 2 days upfront (open chickpeas are solely good for as much as 3 days), and the hummus dressing 1 week upfront.
Refrigerate all parts individually. I recommended chopping the recent greens immediately earlier than serving.
Steadily requested questions
Farro is an historic grain with a chewy texture and nutty taste. It’s full of fiber and protein, making it a hearty and satisfying base for this bowl. It additionally holds up properly when combined with different substances, so your bowl gained’t get soggy.
Completely! Should you can’t discover farro or need to strive one thing totally different, you may substitute it with quinoa, brown rice, barley, and even couscous. Simply alter the cooking time accordingly.
Sure, you may! The farro and chickpeas may be cooked upfront and saved individually within the fridge. The dressing may also be ready forward of time. Assemble the bowls simply earlier than serving to maintain the greens recent and crunchy.
Be at liberty to get inventive! You’ll be able to add different greens like roasted purple peppers, grilled zucchinior chopped kale. You can even swap the feta for goat cheese or omit it for a vegan choice. Experiment with totally different herbs and spices to alter up the flavour profile.
Farro Bowl
This hearty farro bowl recipe is full of Mediterranean flavors! Juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, briny olives, and a creamy dressing make a satisfying grain bowl that’s the right meal for summer time or any season.
- Prep Time: quarter-hour
- Prepare dinner Time: quarter-hour
- Whole Time: half-hour
- Yield: 4 1x
- Class: Important dish
- Technique: Stovetop
- Delicacies: Mediterranean
- Weight-reduction plan: Vegetarian
For the farro
- 1 cup raw farro, pearled or semi-pearled (not complete)
- ¾ teaspoon kosher saltdivided
- 2 tablespoons chopped recent herbs (parsley, dill or cilantro)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
For the bowl
- 15-ounce can chickpeas
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon every cumin and coriander
- ¼ teaspoon every smoked paprika and onion powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1 English cucumber, chopped
- 1 handful olives, sliced in half
- 1 handful child greens (like arugula)
- Feta cheese, to serve (elective)
Hummus Dressing
- ½ cup top quality hummus (keep away from Sabra)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (extra water if crucial)
- Rinse the farro below chilly water in a high quality mesh strainer. In a big saucepan, place the farro, 3 cups water and ½ teaspoon of the kosher salt and convey it to a boil. Scale back the warmth to a simmer, cowl, and prepare dinner till the grains are tender, about 15 to twenty minutes for pearled farro and 25 to half-hour for semi-pearled farro. Style take a look at a grain to see whether it is tender (if the package deal is unmarked, simply prepare dinner till tender). Drain any extra water. Add the extra ¼ teaspoon salt and olive oil or butter. Stir within the minced garlic and herbs. Style and add extra salt if desired.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Mince the garlic. In a small bowl, combine the cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, onion powder, and salt. In a big skillet, warmth the olive oil over medium warmth. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute till aromatic however earlier than it browns. Add the chickpeas, spices, salt, and a number of other grinds of black pepper. Prepare dinner 2 minutes till warmed by.
- Make the hummus dressing by mixing collectively the substances in a medium bowl. Style and if desired, you may add a pinch or two of salt or sugar.
- Place the inexperienced in a shallow bowl (if utilizing), then the farro, tomatoes, cucumbers, chickpeas, and olives. Prime with feta cheese, if utilizing, and drizzle with hummus dressing.
A number of extra farro recipes to strive
There are such a lot of enjoyable methods to eat farro! This fundamental farro recipe is a superb facet dish, and you can too use it in farro with mushrooms, farro salador farro soup.

