Mediterranean Farro Salad
his Mediterranean farro salad is packed with the
flavours of Greece! Featuring pan-seared chicken thighs on an ancient
grain salad of farro with green olives, tomato, and cucumber. Your
Instant Pot cooks the farro to chewy, tender perfection. As a result,
this recipe is perfect for a hearty, wholesome dinner.
Is Farro better for you than rice?
Although both brown rice and farro are wholesome grains, farro is quite a bit healthier. Farro is:
a good source of protein
high in fiber, so it’s good for your digestive system
good for overall cardiovascular health
rich in vitamins and minerals – all combined, one serving of farro has more than 20 essential vitamins and minerals!
Aside from its deliciousness, I think one of the best things about farro is its versatility. You can serve it as a side dish, add it to soups, or make a farro salad. But for a real treat, add cooked farro to your hamburgers, casseroles, or even to your morning eggs!
Thanks to its larger size, farro doesn’t get soggy like some grains can. As a result, it keeps really well, so you can make it ahead to use for easy meal prep. My favorite way to use it is in salads. This warm farro salad is incredibly delicious.
Mediterranean farro salad topped with a pan-seared chicken thigh
Mediterranean farro salad ingredients
This dinner salad is hearty, flavourful, and packed with wholesome ingredients, including:
pan-seared chicken thighs
green olives
cucumber
tomatoes
red onion
Parmesan cheese
If you need the salad to be dairy free, you can omit the cheese. Unfortunately, farro is an ancient grain of wheat, so this farro salad is not gluten-free.
How to make Mediterranean Farro Salad
1. The first step in making this salad is to cook the farro. Farro takes about 30 minutes to cook on a stove top. We’re going to speed things up by making Instant Pot farro instead. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, see my post, “How to Cook Farro” for stove top instructions.
2. After you get the farro in the pressure cooker, take your chicken thighs out of the refrigerator. You’ll want to give them time to warm up before you pan sear them.
3. For the best sear, preheat the pan over medium heat for 7 or 8 minutes before you add the chicken. To prevent the chicken from burning, don’t preheat the pan over a higher heat.
4. While the farro cooks and your pan preheats, clean and cut your vegetables, then set them aside.
5. The next step is to pan-sear and cook the chicken thighs. Once the chicken is cooked through, let it rest for a few minutes while you assemble the farro salad.
6. Serve the chicken on top of the farro salad, along with the pan juices. Dinner is served!
Mediterranean Farro Salad
This Mediterranean farro salad is packed with the flavours of Greece! Featuring pan-seared chicken thighs on an ancient grain salad of farro with green olives, tomato, and cucumber. Your Instant Pot cooks the farro to chewy, tender perfection. As a result, this recipe is perfect for a hearty, wholesome dinner.
Course dinner, lunch
Cuisine International, Mediterranean
Keyword farro salad
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 2 people
Calories 637 kcal
Ingredients
1 cup cooked farro
2 chicken thighs (preferably taken out of the fridge 15-20 minutes before cooking)
1/2 Tbsp butter
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp poultry seasoning
1/2 English cucumber
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
1/4 red onion
1/3-1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2-1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
sea salt
pepper
olive oil
1/2 lemon
honey
1/4-1/2 cup green olives
Instructions
Rinse 1 cup farro in a colander, then transfer to Instant Pot and add 1 cup of water (+ sea salt if desired). Lock the lid and turn the valve to sealing position. Set to 22 minutes on high pressure, let the pressure release naturally (15-20 minutes). If you don't have an instant pot, here is a complete guide on How to Cook Farro.
Preheat skillet over medium-low for at least 6-7 minutes until nice and hot. (do not, I repeat, do not preheat over higher heat to accelerate the process).
Add butter and olive oil to hot pan, swirl around for a few seconds until the butter melted, then add chicken thighs (preferably not fridge-cold) to hot pan and season generously with poultry seasoning (or sea salt/pepper) and pan fry for 6-8 minutes on one side, 6-8 minutes on the other, then reduce heat to lowest setting, cover pan with a lid and let steam for an extra 5 minutes.
In the meantime, wash and chop the cucumber. Wash and chop grape tomatoes. Peel and chop the red onion. And wash and chop parsley.
Add vegetables and herb, 1 cup cooked farro, green olives, freshly grated Parmesan to a large bowl and then season with sea salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, and honey. Stir well and serve in a bowl.
Top farro salad with pan-fried chicken thigh and top with pan juices.
Video: https://youtu.be/sTh_KUzkzU0
