This versatile fall salad is hearty and filling, with whole wheat farro, tart cherries, arugula, apples and feta cheese!
This position was created in partnership with Oregon Fruit. All opinions are ours.
Need an easy salad recipe that maximizes flavor and minimizes headaches? Try this hearty fall salad with spelt, apples and cherries! This grain salad is full of contrasts: the crunch of the apple against the chewy farro and the spiciness of the vinaigrette against the tasty feta cheese. You won’t always find cherries in a fall recipe, but use canned or dried cherries and it’s the perfect way to add flavor to the sweet cake. Ready to start?
How to make a fall salad
This Fall Sour Cherry Salad takes about 25 minutes to make. But it’s a pretty simple concept. Here’s what to do:
- Cook faro. Boil a pot of farro (or use the Instant Pot). Be sure to use pearl farro for this recipe, which guarantees a quick cooking time.
- Add the apple, arugula, cherries and feta. Be sure to use baby arugula, which has a feathery texture (regular arugula is way too strong). Can’t find canned tart cherries? Better use it dried!
- Add dressing. Drizzle the whole fall salad with a tart cherry vinaigrette.
With red and green, it is visually stunning and tastes fantastic: spicy, tart, sweet and salty at the same time. Another good thing is that it can be consumed year-round since many of these ingredients are available year-round. However, it makes a perfect fall salad or winter salad.
Point: If you like this recipe, you might also like our Mushroom Parmesan Farro! It transforms farro into an entree or bowl.
For tart cherries: Use canned or dried
We don’t usually think of canned fruit. However, we did spot Oregon Fruit canned fruit that we used for this recipe. Canned fruit is an easy way to incorporate the flavor and nutrients of fresh fruit. It is available nationwide and year-round. Oregon Fruit is packaged in the United States during the summer for maximum ripeness and flavor.
A few other great features: There are no GMOs and there is no high fructose corn syrup or BPA in the cans. Here we used canned sour cherries, which give the salad a tart note. I’m a big fan of the sour taste (my favorite drinks are margaritas or sour beer) so this one is perfect for me.
Can’t find canned tart cherries? Replace them with dried tart cherries.
How to serve this fall salad
Versatility is another thing we love about this recipe. You can use it as a side dish during a holiday dinner; Stacked on a large tray it would look lovely. Or turn it into an entree like a bowl of cereal! Just pour more into a bowl and serve with avocado toast or crackers for a hearty lunch or weeknight dinner. It can be served hot, at room temperature, or cold, making it endlessly versatile.
And finding recipes that work for many occasions is part of this fairly easy approach to cooking! We hope you find this fall salad to bring it all together for you – a simple, multi-occasion concept that looks pretty and tastes delicious.
More cherry recipes
Sour cherries are always a crowd favorite! Besides this fall tart cherries and feta salad, here are some of our favorite tart cherries recipes:
This fall salad recipe is…
Vegetarian and naturally sweet. Substitute for gluten-free quinoa.
The description
This versatile fall salad is hearty and filling, with whole wheat farro, tart cherries, arugula, apples and feta cheese!
- 1 ½ cups dry pearl farro
- 15-ounce Oregon tart cherries or ¾ cup dried sour cherries
- 2 tablespoons Dijon or stone ground mustard
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 6 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium shallot
- 1 Apple Cake
- 3 cups rocket
- 1/2 at 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (goat cheese works too)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Ground fresh pepper
- In a saucepan over high heat, bring 9 cups of water to a boil. Add farro, stir once and cook uncovered for about 20 minutes, bubbling rapidly. Try a farro grain; When the grain is plump and tender, remove the pan from the heat and pour into a colander. (If not, continue cooking and seasoning to taste until tender.) Rinse with warm water to cool slightly and shake to dry. Farro brands may vary, so adjust cooking time if needed. Or, if you have an Instant Pot, head to Instant Pot Farro.
- For the vinaigrette, drain the cherries. Finely chop 2 tbsp cherries, set aside the rest for the salad. Combine chopped cherries, vinegar, maple syrup, and mustard in a small bowl. Drizzle with oil, stirring constantly, until incorporated.
- Roughly halve or halve some of the remaining cherries. Cut the shallot into thin rings. Cut the apple into very small pieces. When the farro is ready, mix it with 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Then, in a large bowl, combine the farro, cherries, shallot, apple, arugula, feta crumble, and cherry vinaigrette. Garnish with freshly ground pepper. Taste and adjust the flavors to your liking. (If serving leftovers, drizzle a little olive oil over the salad if you find it dry.)
- Category: salad
- Method: Cook
- Kitchen: American
Keywords: Farro salad, salad with farro, farro recipes, sour cherries, arugula salad, feta salad, whole grain salads, whole grain recipes, sour cherry recipes
Looking for whole grain recipes?
Eating whole grains is so much more than multigrain bread! Along with this fall salad, here are some of our favorite grain recipes:
