Winter Farro Salad with Orange Vinaigrette

5 from 1 vote

Winter Farro Salad with Orange Vinaigrette

This Winter Farro Salad with Orange Vinaigrette is filled with seasonal and nutritious winter produce, has a variety of satisfying textures, and is bursting with bright citrus flavor. With crispy farro, toasted pecans, crumbled goat cheese, arugula, radicchio and fresh orange slices, this will become a salad staple when you need something that is unique yet healthy and delicious!

Servings people

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 25

Total Time 35

Equipment

cutting board
knife
microplane zester
baking sheet + parchment paper
small bowl or jar
salad bowl + tongs

Ingredients

For the Crispy Farro & Toasted Pecans:

½ cup dry farro *
½ cup raw pecan halves **
cooking spray or olive oil
kosher salt

For the Salad:

3 oz arugula
6 oz radicchio sliced into strips (about 1/2 small head of radicchio)***
2 oranges peel & pith removed, then sliced (I like to do a mix of navel and blood oranges for color variety)
2-3 oz goat cheese crumbled (feta would be good too)

For the Orange Vinaigrette:

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
½ tbsp orange zest
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp honey or maple syrup
½ small shallot diced
salt + pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Meanwhile, cook farro to al-dente according to package instructions. Then, drain and add to the prepared baking sheet. Spray with a bit of cooking spray (or about 1 tsp of olive oil) and season with salt. Toss to coat, and then spread out on the pan - make sure to leave room for the pecans, which we will add later.
Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and let the farro cook for 10 minutes. Then, add the pecans to the remaining space on the baking sheet, spray with cooking spray (or about 1 tsp of olive oil) and season with salt. Toss to coat and then spread out so they aren't overlapping.
Return the baking sheet to the oven and let cook for another 5 minutes, until the farro is crispy and the pecans are lightly toasted. Let cool for several minutes. You can also chop up the pecans at this point if you prefer smaller chunks!
While the farro and pecans are baking, prepare the citrus vinaigrette by adding all of the ingredients to a small bowl or jar. Stir, or shake until combined and emulsified.
To a large salad bowl, add the arugula and radicchio. Pour the orange vinaigrette over top and toss to combine. Then, add crispy farro, orange slices, pecans and crumbled goat cheese. Enjoy!

Notes

*NOTE: To make this gluten free, try making crispy quinoa instead! The method is pretty much the same - cook the quinoa according to package directions first, then drizzle with oil, salt & pepper and bake at 400F for about 15-20 minutes.

**NOTE: If you're using pecans that are already roasted and salted, you can just skip the step of roasting them and add them directly to the salad. Feel free to substitute another nut, such as walnuts!

***NOTE: If you're having trouble finding radicchio, or you're just not a fan of it, you can try substituting it for red cabbage or Belgian endive. Or, just omit it altogether and instead increase the amount of arugula to about 4-5 oz.

Calories: 384kcal

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Keyword: Arugula, Blood Orange, Citrus, Farro, Goat Cheese, Orange, Pecans, Radicchio, Salad, Vegetarian, Vinaigrette, Winter Dinner

Nutrition