Sweet potatoes, apples & greens fill out this hearty autumn salad. With sweet, salty, crunchy & nutty elements, it's a perfect side dish or meal on its own.
I have a love/hate relationship with farro. It takes forever to make, and quinoa is quicker, but the chewy, nutty grains bring a real heartiness to this not-wimpy fall salad. The catch is that you have to pre-plan for farro – it’s easiest to make a big batch and keep it around all week. I’m not usually that organized, but I happened to have made farro the day before my Farmhouse vegetables arrived, so here we are… a farro salad with more veggies than could fit onto the subject line of this post.
Fall Salad Recipe Ingredients
This delicious salad recipe is sweet, salty, crunchy, nutty… Here’s what makes it so darn good:
- Roasted sweet potatoes, for toasty flavor and soft texture
- Peeled carrot ribbons, for a fun crisp contrast to the soft sweet potatoes
- Diced apples, for sweet fall flavor and crisp, juicy texture
- Lots of greens, for vibrant color! I mixed kale and salad greens together because that’s what I had – feel free to use one or the other if you don’t have both.
- Radishes, for a little bite and crunch
- Parsley, for fresh flavor. Thyme would be good too!
- Almonds, for crunch and extra nuttiness. Toasted pecans, walnuts, or pepitas would also be great here.
- And an apple cider Dijon vinaigrette, to tie it all together. Yum!
If you’re not vegan, crumbled feta or Parmesan shavings would be delicious here as well.
Serving Suggestions
We ate this salad for dinner, and then I ate it for lunch the next two days in a row. It’s a great one to meal prep for lunches or make ahead for holidays. You can prep all the components up to two days in advance, but for best texture, I would suggest adding the lighter salad greens at the last minute and roasting the sweet potatoes just before you’re ready to serve.
This salad would be a pretty addition to your Thanksgiving table, along with other flavorful vegetable dishes like roasted beets, green beans, and delicata squash. Of course, you can’t skip the cornbread stuffing (or regular stuffing, if that’s more your thing) and cauliflower mashed potatoes.
If you’re looking for vegetarian main dish ideas, try this stuffed acorn squash or a classic lasagna. And don’t forget the apple pie for dessert!
Looking for more farro recipes?
Try using it in fried rice, tossing it with Brussels sprouts, or serving it in a springy asparagus salad or eggplant salad.
Autumn Farmhouse Salad
- 1 cup cooked farro (see notes)
- 1 sweet potato, chopped into cubes
- A few leaves kale, chopped or torn
- 2-3 cups salad greens
- 1-2 carrots, peeled into ribbons
- 1 apple, diced
- A few radishes, sliced
- Small handful of chopped parsley
- ½ cup chopped & toasted almonds
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- optional: ½ teaspoon maple syrup or a big squeeze of orange
- Sea salt and fresh black pepper
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the sweet potato cubes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until golden brown, about 35 minutes.
- Whisk together the dressing ingredients.
- In a large bowl, lightly massage the kale with a bit of the dressing until the kale wilts down. Add the farro and mix.
- Add the greens, carrots, apple, radishes, parsley, and almonds, and toss with as much dressing as you like. Taste, adding salt and pepper as needed.
Make ahead tips: everything can be made and stored in the fridge up to 2 days in advance. For best texture, I would suggest adding the lighter salad greens at the last minute and roasting the sweet potatoes just before you're ready to serve.
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Platter and Serving Pieces from West Elm
Made this for Thanksgiving! So delicious. Held up for leftovers too.
Hi Kelly, so glad you loved it!
Had this for lunch today. So yummy and healthy and filling.
Do you have nutrition information for this recipe? I’d like to recommend it to a friend who is trying to lower her cholesterol. It seems that it would be very low in cholesterol, but I’d rather be certain.
This salad was a huge hit with my family and I’ve made it several times. Love the combination of vegetables and all the different flavors and textures.
What gluten-free grain would you recommend using in place of farro for this?
Hi Ashley, you could use quinoa or long grain brown rice.
A delicious hearty salad that’s fit for entertaining.
This was delicious. Nice and hearty, and a great way to get a lot of fresh veggies in a meal. This recipe made a good-size portion, so we were able to have it for leftovers for lunch the next day (and I love when a dinner recipe saves me from having to come up with something to make for lunch too)!
I made this last night. It was absolutely delicious. The dressing was perfect and it is so adaptable to whatever you have on hand. I had a little trouble with the farro in the rice cooker. It ended up turning into porridge for some reason. Perhaps I should have cooked it on the White Rice setting?? Luckily I had some uncooked farro leftover and was able to cook it on the stove according to package directions in 30 minutes while the sweet potatoes roasted. I was so looking to leftovers today but sadly there are none! Everyone enjoyed. Thanks for the great recipe!