Charlie Bird’s Farro Salad Recipe (2024)

This is such a fantastic recipe, although as others noted, the salt added in to the farro is too much, especially once you put the salty parmesan on top. I roasted some sweet potato in chunks to add instead of the tomatoes to make a more autumn-y salad, I thought it was delicious and wished I had made more of the farro to make it last longer! The base easily lasted 5 days in my fridge and made for delicious lunches at the office.

This was good but with some adjustments:
Made this with Trader Joe's 10-minute farro so I used 1C apple cider and 1C water and only simmered for 15 minutes. I cut down on the olive oil and did NOT add salt. (The first time I made this the 2 tsp of salt overpowered everything and I had to throw the farro out.)

The recipe calls for apple cider, not apple cider vinegar! I imagine soaking farro in vinegar would make for a pretty nasty experience. LOL

Quick question for the editors: Does Charlie Bird use pearlized or non-pearlized farro in the original recipe? I have made this with both--and the result is dramatically different with pearlized farro. Thanks.

I don't normally write reviews, but I wanted to add that this salad was amazing, and one of the most popular dishes at Thanksgiving this year! I initially thought the combination of ingredients seemed weird/random, but they go together so well! I also added much less salt and only half the mint. Yummy!

I didn't see this coming. It sounded good, and reviews were exuberant, but it truly is delicious. Farrow is new to me, so nutty and tasty. Will be making again and again. I love this site. Have nearly abandoned my cookbooks....

I accidentally used apple cider vinegar. Loved it. Go easy on the salt. Red Mill farro is best. Great recipe. I make it regularly.

I have altered this recipe to get me through the winter by using winter vegetables such as parsnips and beets instead of arugula and other "spring" ingredients, adding chopped dates - all of which are lovely combinations with the pistachios

eight TB of olive oil? Great way to ruin a healthy salad. I'll bet it tastes good, but that is too much oil. You don't need it with the flavor that comes from cooking the farro in cider.

Ok. So this is a little crazy, but the first time I made this, I misread "apple cider" to be "apple cider vinegar," which seems like it would have been a fatal error, but I have made this multiple times, and even though I know it should be made with apple cider, I can't not make it with apple cider vinegar. The end result is just so good. The vinegariness of the farro marries with the oil and lemon, so that it tastes like the dressing has seeped all the way in. Would recommend giving it a shot.

Too salty, even with kosher salt, which is about 1/2 as salty as convetional table salt. Do not salt the dressing, and cut the salt in the cooking liquid in half. Other than that, this is a total winner.

it is important re. the cooking time to know if you have pearled or non-pearled farro ! non-pearled will take twice as long....

Made it to the letter. It was good. I like the addition of the cider and bay leaf to the farro. The mint was nice too.
Try a version inspired by Outerlands in San Francisco which is arugula, farro, red and golden beets, parm, and a light champagne vinigarette.

Ran out of olive oil, so I did 1/2 olive oil, 1/2 walnut oil. Sublime. And yes, the farro took an hour for me too.

Am I the first person to ask whether or not you need to cover the pot while you’re simmering the Farro?

This definitely does not make 6 servings if you're making it as an entree! Made 4 adult meals in our family. Agree that the salt could possibly be cut a bit in the farro. Because I used iodized table salt, I only used 1 tsp of salt. I don't recommend adding more maldon salt to finish. I added chickpeas for more protein and snap peas for crunch. The pistachios are obligatory! Oh my gosh, I just realized I used apple cider VINEGAR. it was still delicious.

I’ve made this dozens of times now and had many friends ask for the recipe. It’s spectacular and super adaptable to what you have on hand.

I added a roasted kombucha squash to my salad, and it was delicious. I increased amounts by 50% and it was the veg entree/side at a lunch party. Even the meat eaters loved it. Making it again today for myself.

I read MANY comments before cooking. Could only find apple cider vinegar, so used it. Used TJs 10 min farro. Poured in a bunch (maybe 1 1/2C) of the apple cider vinegar with the water for the farro and skipped the salt at this point. The farro came out delicious. I ended up adding some kosher salt in the end (I think the unsalted pistachios I used vs salted makes a diffwrence). It would be helpful if recipe specified a few more things. Also, photo shows parm on top but doesn’t mention in recipe

Always a hit with friends and family when I make this-never disappoints!

We LOVE this recipe. One thing - if you get roasted salted pistachios, then we like it best with reduced or do no salt in the dressing or the farro. Just titrate the salt in other places based on how salty the pistachios and parmasean are. And enjoy!

Made this recipe so many times and have done a number of substitutions depending on what’s in my cupboard: half cup of ACV instead of a full cup, Trader Joe’s 10min farro, lime instead of lemon, whatever tomatoes that I have in the fridge. Still good, but go with the original recipe and you will NOT be disappointed.

I realize there are 749 notes for this fabulous recipe and I have made this many times, but each time I wonder whether I should use raw or roasted pistachios? Thoughts?

Is the farro to be rinsed before cooking? I only see “spiced” apple cider in stores. Is that correct here? Please advise ;)

Swap pistachios for toasted pine nuts

Made this for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit. Whenever I need to bring a salad to a pot luck this is my go to recipe. Leftovers are great the next day. And, you can swap out ingredients with good results. I've used apples in place of tomatoes and pecans instead of pistachios. I also make the dressing for a simple arugula salad.

What is it with chefs and salt? Let the food speak for itself. I literally never use it. Don’t miss it and am not dehydrated after every meal. 2 teaspoons or more? Crazy. Parma is salty.

Have made this many times with whatever vegetables are on hand or in season, always good. Recently made it again with farro that cooked in less than 10 minutes, which yielded a lot of unabsorbed liquid and slightly bland farro. My wife had the brilliant idea of straining the farro, reducing the cooking liquid to a syrup, and adding with the dressing, which was a great way to incorporate the savory cider flavor (we use veggie broth instead of water). Dill works great in here too.