Perfect for picnics, this easy summer farro salad is packed with veggies. Seasoned + shredded zucchini, Castelvetrano olives, parsley, juicy tomatoes and feta with a punchy harissa vinaigrette. Makes a great lunch meal prep too.

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At this risk of confirming every dietitian cliche ever, I freaking love salads. Kale salads.

Bean salads. And…perhaps the most underrated salad of them all, grain salads.

I’m sure this is because I’m vegan, but I tend to think about salads differently: a few leaves tossed with oil and vinegar isn’t gonna cut it for me. Like, ever. A salad should hold its own, whether you’re serving it on the side or it’s your lunch.

And this easy cold farro salad, loaded with fresh summer veggies like zucchini and tomatoes, will do it.

Farro is so bouncy and satisfying to chew…and by the time it’s done cooking, the rest of the salad is prepped and the counters are wiped clean, in 30 minutes or less.

It’s great for taking to the picnic, makes a great BBQ side (ahem, my tofu skewers!!) AND it also works as a meal prep salad for lunch. It keeps super well, with the farro marinating in the tangy harissa vinaigrette without drying out. 

Want more crave-worthy salads for every occasion? Grab a copy of Plant Magic, my latest cookbook!

Let’s prep this Mediterranean summer farro salad together!

There’s lots of room for flexibility here: if you’re planning ahead, you can make my high protein, marinated tofu “feta” to go on the salad…or store bought feta is just fine too!

Cook it like pasta instead, in abundant salted water and never worry about water to grain ratios again. Once I started doing this, I never looked back. 

I really wanted to make a farro salad where you didn’t have to cook or grill any of the veggies, so I experimented with salting the zucchini and it made the salad SO much better. Salting does 3 things: it gives it more of a chewy, yet tender texture that melts into salad, while eliminating the excess water that would make the salad watery aaaaaand it also seasons the zucchini so it tastes amazing. 

I don’t know if you grow zucchini, but if you do, you know how hard it is to use it all up and this salad will definitely help with that! Us garden folks gotta stick together ha ha.

Nutrition Corner: In case you’re wondering, this farro salad has about 6g protein and 5g fiber per side dish serving!

More picnic worthy summer salads:

Easy Summer Farro Salad with Shredded Zucchini

6 side dish servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 30 minutes mins

Total Time: 45 minutes mins

Perfect for picnics, this easy summer farro salad is packed with veggies.

Seasoned + shredded zucchini, Castelvetrano olives, parsley, juicy tomatoes and feta with a punchy harissa vinaigrette.

• 1 cup dry farro, rinsed and drained
• 3 packed cups grated zucchini, about 12 inch zucchini
• ½ teaspoon salt, plus more for cooking
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup parsley, curly or flat leaf, finely chopped
• ½ cup pitted Castelvetrano olives, halved or smashed with fingers
• ½ cup vegan feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 batch harissa vinaigrette

• Bring a medium pot of water to the boil on high heat. Once boiling, salt the water and add the farro. Turn down to medium high and boil until chewy yet tender, 25-30 minutes. Check after 20 minutes just in case!

• While the farro cooks, you're gonna salt the zucchini: place the grated zucchini in a fine mesh sieve over a bowl.

  Add salt and toss to coat the zucchini and let it sit 10 minutes.

• After 10 minutes, rinse the zucchini to get rid of excess salt. One handful at a time, squeeze zucchini to get the moisture out and place the squeezed zucchini in a salad bowl.

• Add the tomatoes, parsley, olives and feta to the bowl.

• Once the farro is done, drain it in a colander and give it a good rinse under cold running water to cool it down. Add to the salad bowl, pour over the harissa vinaigrette and toss to combine.

• You can serve this salad right away, or let it sit for 15 – 30 minutes to let the farro soak up more flavour.