Charlie Bird’s Farro Salad
Updated July 2, 2025
Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 cup farro
1 cup apple cider
2 teaspoons kosher salt, more as needed
2 bay leaves
8 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
70 grams Parmesan cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler (½ cup)
70 grams chopped pistachio nuts (½ cup)
2 cups arugula leaves
1 cup parsley or basil leaves, torn
1 cup mint leaves
¾ cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
⅓ cup thinly sliced radish
Maldon or other flaky sea salt, for finishing
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
32 grams carbs; 8 milligrams cholesterol; 398 calories; 17 grams monosaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 27 grams fat; 6 grams fiber; 409 milligrams sodium; 12 grams protein; 8 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium saucepan, bring farro, apple cider, salt, bay leaves and 2 cups water to a simmer. Simmer until farro is tender and liquid evaporates, about 30 minutes. If all the liquid evaporates before the farro is done, add a little more water. Let farro cool, then discard bay leaves.
- Step 2
In a salad bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Add farro, cheese and pistachio nuts and mix well. This salad base will keep for up to 4 hours at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator (bring to room temperature before serving). Just before serving, fold in arugula, herbs, tomatoes, radish and flaky salt to taste.
Private Notes
Comments
When discussing these notes and peoples' tribulations with farro cooking time my wife - something of a farro aficionado - pointed out that there are pearled and non-pearled versions available. Apparently the non-pearled takes twice as long to cook. Perhaps this is the source of confusion over cooking times?
I used pearled (without knowing the difference at the time) and it was perfect - a little nutty with a very slight crunch but perfectly edible - in 30 minutes using hard cider as liquid.
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.)
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.
Made as directed. This is delicious; the flavor is amazing.
I've made this many times and was grateful to all the comments emphasizing CIDER, not cider vinegar. Though I add a couple of tablespoons of cider vinegar to the cider to cut the sweetness. I also only use 4 tbsp of oil. We couldn’t finish the batch that had all the oil added. I pile on more radishes and tomatoes, skip the mint and use marjoram and thyme instead. I had cheddar Gruyère instead or parm and that worked fine. I used the full amount of salt and it worked for us. Such a great salad!
Eating the leftovers now. So easy to put together, riff on and use it to clean the fridge. I used half a bag of TJs 10 minute farro and added a can of chick peas. I tossed these with lemon, olive oil and garlic while the farro was still warm. I had a bit of feta cheese so used that instead of parm and some remaining good croutons instead of nuts. Cucumber and/or celery would be a nice add too.