Apple Farro Salad
This Apple Farro Salad tastes bright and fresh and is perfect for an easy, healthy lunch or meal prep idea! This salad is chock full of tasty components like crisp apples, creamy Feta cheese, crunchy sliced almonds, sweet dried cranberries, peppery arugula, crunchy celery, and chewy farro, all lightly tossed in a honey mustard vinaigrette. I love eating this as a meatless lunch option, but if you want some added protein it’s also super tasty with some added chopped chicken breast. I love a grain-based salad, and farro is one of my favorite grains because I love the nutty flavor and chewy texture. It reminds me of barley that way!
Not only is this Apple Farro Salad absolutely delicious, but each serving is just 224 calories or 5 WW Points on the current Weight Watchers program (or 6 Points if following the diabetic Weight Watchers plan). To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app, click here!
Serving Size
The entire Apple Farro Salad recipe for me made almost 7 cups, so I decided to list this as six servings at a rounded cup each (so a 1 cup measuring cup with a little extra on top). In my experience, that’s a satisfying portion for a lunch main course. I also like to add chopped cooked chicken breast sometimes for added protein!
Ingredient Notes/Substitutions
- Farro: I love farro, it’s one of my favorite grains. It’s a lot more widely available than it used to be, but if you’re unable to find it or you just want to use something you have on hand, barley is fairly similar and would be a good substitute.
- Apples: I recommend using a sweet and crunchy apple variety in this recipe! I used a mix of Crispin apples (the yellow/green ones) and Ruby Frost (the red ones) in the pictured recipe.
- Feta cheese: I love Feta cheese, and I had some leftover to use from making Feta and Blackberry Chicken Breasts, so it worked out perfectly to use it in this recipe. I do think another crumbly cheese like goat cheese or blue cheese would also be tasty.
- Dried cranberries: I love the sweet-and-tart flavor of dried cranberries in this recipe, but if you don’t have them or don’t like them, raisins or dried cherries would work in their place.
- Almonds: I love the crunch the sliced almonds add to this salad! I think pecans would also be tasty in this recipe. If you can’t eat nuts, feel free to omit them. You could alternatively replace them with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds if you are able to eat those instead.
- Celery: I know there are some celery haters out there, so if you’re not a fan you can definitely omit it. I do like the freshness and crunch it adds!
- Vinegar: I used apple cider vinegar in this, but if you don’t have it you can use wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar instead.
- Mustard: Feel free to use your preferred type. I’ve made this with Dijon mustard and with yellow mustard and I like it both ways!
- Optional Add-In: If you want a little more protein in this, I sometimes like to mix in chopped cooked chicken breast as well. It works great with these flavors!
More Tasty Salad Ideas
Looking for more tasty, lightened up salad recipes like this Apple Farro Salad? Check out my Warm Butternut Squash Farro Salad, Deviled Egg Macaroni Salad, Corn and Tomato Salad, Buffalo Roasted Chickpea Salad, Mediterranean Couscous Salad, Buffalo Chicken Salad, Mexican Street Corn Chicken Salad, Greek Chicken Quinoa Salad, Broccoli Salad, Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad, and so many more in the Salads category of my recipe index!
Apple Farro Salad
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, (can substitute other types)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons honey
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cups chopped apple, tossed in a little extra lemon juice to prevent browning
- 3 cups cooked farro
- 2 oz crumbled Feta cheese
- ½ cup chopped celery
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- ¼ cup sweetened dried cranberries
- 2 cups fresh arugula leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, add the olive oil apple cider vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, honey, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Whisk together until combined into a smooth dressing.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the chopped apple, cooked farro, Feta cheese, celery, almonds, dried cranberries, arugula, and parsley and stir until well combined. Drizzle the honey mustard dressing over the top of the other ingredients and then stir/toss to lightly coat with the dressing.
Notes
224 calories, 37 g carbs, 9 g sugars, 7 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 7 g protein, 5 g fiber, 179 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com) Weight Watchers Points Plus:
6 per (rounded 1 cup) salad (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info)
