Mediterranean Farro Salad Bowls

These vegan Mediterranean Farro Salad Bowls with lemon tahini sauce are easy to prepare in advance so you can quickly assemble them for healthy and delicious weeknight meals. They feature farro, red onion, roasted red peppers, parsley, kalamata olives, chickpeas and a creamy tahini sauce to bring it all together. This yummy and filling dish is high in plant-based protein and fibre and packed with essential vitamins and minerals.

What is Farro?

If you’ve read my real food guide to whole grains you’ll know farro, or emmer wheat, is a delicious and healthy whole grain similar to barley. Farro is hearty, nutty and chewy and works well in salads and soups. I like stocking farro in my pantry as an alternative whole grain to brown rice, quinoa, freekeh and bulgur. As farro is a type of wheat it is not gluten-free however as an ancient unprocessed whole grain, it does contain lower levels than the refined wheat found in processed foods today.

As for its nutritional benefits, farro is essentially fat-free yet high in iron, zinc and magnesium. It’s also an excellent source of fibre and has 7 grams of protein per serving. In addition, it contains B vitamins essential for metabolic health, brain health and energy and is a good source of antioxidants such as lignans known to reduce inflammation and lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

How to Make Roasted Red Peppers

Roasted red peppers are very easy to make, don’t require any special ingredients and are a simple alternative to store-bought roasted red peppers.

To make them, all you need is a baking sheet and whole red peppers, cut in half and de-seeded. You’ll smash the red pepper halves flat, place on a baking sheet with the skin facing up and then broil them in the oven until they’re starting to bubble and blacken. This usually takes about 15 minutes.

Once they’re bubbling and starting to burn, take them out of the oven and cover them with a dishcloth. This will keep them steaming so once they cool down you can easily peep off the skin and use in any recipe you like.

You can find detailed instructions on how to make roasted red peppers here.

Mediterranean Farro Salad Bowls

These healthy farro salad bowls are filling, nourishing and full of flavour. They’re also vegan, oil-free and can be made gluten-free by using another whole grain such as brown rice. To prep these in advance, make the farro, roasted red peppers and lemon tahini sauce ahead of time and then assemble as needed.

Farro Salad Nutrition Details

These farro salad bowls are high in fibre and plant-based protein and contain a range of essential vitamins and minerals. Depending on exactly how you build your bowl, one serving is 558 calories with 69 grams of complex carbohydrates, 23 grams of healthy fats and 19 grams of protein. You’ll also be getting a whopping 17 grams of dietary fibre, 37% of your daily iron, 14% of your daily calcium and more than your daily vitamin A from beta-carotene and vitamin C.

They also contain a high amount of magnesium, manganese, folate, vitamin E and vitamin K. Epic! You can feel really good digging into this meal. If you’re interested in learning more about vegan nutrition check out my vegan nutrition guide and list of the best vegan protein sources.

Recipe Video

Prefer a visual of this recipe? Follow along as I make in the video below.

More Healthy Salads

• Chickpea Shawarma Salad
• Mediterranean Quinoa Bowls
• BBQ Chickpea Salad
• Roasted Squash Farro Salad

Farro leftovers? Use them up in this pumpkin farro porrdige!

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