Farro Salad plus Butternut Squash, Bacon and Cranberries

At a glance

What stands out: This farro salad celebrates fall with butternut squash, kale, and bacon, and a from-scratch apple cider dressing. It’s rich, satisfying, and nutritious.

How long it takes: 60 minutes (much of the prep can be done ahead though)
Equipment you’ll need: sheet pan, sauce pan, mixing bowl
Servings: 6

Butternut Squash Farro Salad

Texture, taste, color! This farro salad with butternut squash is pretty much the reliable taste of fall with sweet squash, salty bacon, chewy dried cranberries, and flavorful feta.

Lighter. Bright green baby kale makes you feel extra good about yourself, eating all those lighter greens. And farro – oh, how we love farro. Chewy and delightful, the farro will keep you full for hours. (If you’re not a fan, quinoa is a good stand-in.)

From-scratch dressing. This vinaigrette is infused with fall-inspired flavors. Warm cinnamon, maple syrup, and sweet apple cider tie the elements of this salad together evenly.

Make Ahead Ideas

If you start from scratch, this salad looks like it’s a time-consuming process. However, if you do a little meal prep, and have most of the components ready to go, the salad is a breeze to pull together.

Roast the squash. We like to buy a large squash, peel and cube it, and roast it all at the same time. It’s great on its own as a side dish and goes evenly in salads, grain bowls, meal bowls, and so on.

Cooking Tip

We have a full tutorial on how to cook butternut squash that includes step-by-step photos of how to peel and cut butternut squash (it can be so tricky!) if you need some guidance!

Cook the farro. To save time, cook the whole bag of farro at once. Follow the package instructions. One cup of uncooked farro will yield about 3 cups cooked. Keep the cooked farro in portion-sized freezer bags until you’re ready to use it. Cooked farro thaws quickly, making it convenient to use in salads and bowls.

Cook the bacon. Another time-saver is to cook the whole package of bacon even if you aren’t planning on eating it all. Try oven baked bacon. You can do the whole package at once; there’s no flipping and no mess on the stove. It’s pretty much the only way we cook bacon now. Cooked bacon can be refrigerated or frozen, and it thaws quickly as well.

Ways to change it

• Try a different dressing. White wine vinaigrette is straightforward to mix and goes well with this salad. Honey mustard vinaigrette would be a good option, too. A purchased salad dressing is fine, if you prefer.
• Use a different green. If you prefer spinach or another hearty green, go for it. Instead of baby kale, curly kale or lacinato kale can be subbed in. Cut it into small strips. If you have time, spend a minute or two massaging the kale with the dressing.
• Make it vegetarian. It’s straightforward to do, simply omit the bacon. The salad has plenty going for it and tastes great either way.
• Try different vegetables. Instead of butternut squash, try roasted beets, roasted turnips, roasted carrots, or roasted sweet potatoes. A combination is rich, too.

Ways to serve it

As a side dish. Pair it with cranberry chicken or baked salmon with maple mustard glaze. It would go well with slow cooker apple cider pulled pork, in fact, you could even add the pork to the salad!

As a main course: This farro salad is hearty enough to stand alone. If you wanted to add more protein to it, or make it into a bowl meal similar to this harvest chicken bowl, consider adding crispy chicken bites, thin slices of honey mustard chicken, or maple mustard baked salmon. Serve the salad with a warm apple cider muffin!

Free Meal Plan

Interested in a weekly meal plan that includes this recipe? Take a look at Meal Plan #93. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list.

Browse Meal Plans

• Yield: 6
• Prep: 1 hour
• Total: 1 hour

Ingredients

For Salad:

• 1 cup dry farro (about 3 cups cooked)
• 5 slices thick cut bacon
• 3 cups cubed butternut squash
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cups loosely packed baby kale leaves
• ½ cup crumbled feta
• ¾ cup dried cranberries (more or less, if desired)

For Dressing:

• ⅓ cup apple cider
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup (or to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt (or to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper (or to taste)

Method

1. Cook farro according to package instructions. Cool to room temperature.
2. Chop the bacon into 1-inch pieces; fry until crisp. Drain on paper towels to remove excess grease.
3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425°F. Toss cubed squash with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Spread the squash on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, stirring once, until squash is tender and lightly browned.
4. In a large bowl, mix together cooked and cooled farro, roasted squash, baby kale, feta, and cranberries.
5. In a small jar or bowl, mix together dressing ingredients: apple cider, apple cider vinegar, mustard, cinnamon, olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper. Stir or shake to combine. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.
6. Pour dressing over salad, and toss lightly to combine.

Notes

Make ahead ideas: Cook the farro up to 3 days in advance; refrigerate or freeze for up to 3 months. Squash and bacon can also be cooked ahead of time and refrigerated.

Greens: If you prefer, substitute curly or lacinato kale, cut into thin strips, spinach, or another green of your choice.