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Overhead shot of a colorful green bean salad

Green Bean Fennel Farro Salad

This Green Bean Fennel Farro Salad is an easy, crunchy, incredibly flavorful healthy salad that keeps really well in the fridge for lunches or meal prep! It's filled with chewy farro, perfectly blanched, crisp green beans, thinly sliced red onion and fennel, toasted pine nuts, and fresh parsley! Everything gets tossed with a lemon dijon vinaigrette - it's completely crave-worthy!

Course Dinner, Lunch, Main, Main Course, Salad, Side, Side Dish
Cuisine Healthy, Vegan, Vegetarian
Keyword easy farro salad, easy grain salad recipe, fennel salad, green bean salad, lemon dijon vinaigrette, meal prep salad, vegetarian farro salad, vegetarian picnic salad
Prep Time 25 minutes
Servings 4
Author Molly | Spices in My DNA

Ingredients

For the salad

  • 1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 cups cooked farro*
  • 1/2 of a small/medium red onion, very thinly sliced
  • 1 fennel bulb, cored and very thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted*
  • 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus extra for serving
  • salt and pepper to taste

For the lemon-dijon vinaigrette

  • zest of 1 lemon
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Begin by blanching the green beans. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add your green beans and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until bright green. Drain and rinse under cold water for a couple minutes to cool and stop cooking (or, you could throw them in an ice bath!) Set aside.

  2. Make the vinaigrette. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, dijon, garlic, salt, and pepper until smooth. Gradually add the olive oil, whisking to combine, until smooth. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if desired.

  3. Add farro to a large mixing bowl. Add the green beans, red onion, fennel, pine nuts, parsley, and a couple pinches of salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Add the vinaigrette and toss until thouroughly combined. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if desired. Serve with extra chopped parsley.

Recipe Notes

*I like to use the quick cooking farro from Trader Joe's, because it's just that - quick! It only takes 10 minutes, and it's just as good as the stuff that takes longer to cook.
*To toast your pine nuts, add them to a dry skillet over medium-low heat, and let them toast until they're fragrant and golden brown. Watch carefully though - they can burn in an instant!
*This salad keeps really well in the fridge for a few days since it's so hearty! I find it keeps just fine all tossed together, but you could also keep the ingredients separate until you're ready to eat if you'd like!