Farro Salad with Radicchio, Mandarin Orange, Pear, and Fennel

This vegan recipe for farro salad with radicchio, mandarin orange, pear and fennel has wintry, Italian vibes. Basically, I wanted to make a salad where radicchio would play a starring role, and this is where we landed. It’s flavorful, hearty, makes an outstanding side dish, packed lunch, or potluck salad to share.

This recipe makes ~10 servings.

A few things…

• Sometimes to speed up the farro cooling off, I spread the warm grains on a large plate, so the heat can escape. Every now and then, I stir it.

• This farro salad with radicchio, mandarin orange, pear and fennel works well with olive oil or roasted walnut oil. I’d say that the walnut was superior in what it adds to the overall flavor, but either oil works.

• If you leave the peel on the pear, it browns during the storage of leftovers. I kind of go back and forth on peeling it. If you care about looks, peel the pear.

• Could you use a small, drained can of mandarin oranges, instead of freshly peeled ones? Probably. I can’t imagine it would impact the flavor in a negative way.

Please enjoy this delicious vegan farro salad with radicchio, mandarin orange, pear, and fennel! And make sure to check out other UVK recipes, like Mandarin Orange Salad, Pear Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing, Farro Salad with Roasted Root Vegetables, Orangy Quinoa Salad with Cranberries, Pears and Pumpkin Seeds, Vegan Pear Galette with Pecans and Fennel, and more.

Farro Salad with Radicchio, Mandarin Orange, Pear and Fennel

1 cup pearled farro

3 cups fake chicken broth (I used 1½ Edward & Sons Not-Chick’n Bouillon cubes + 3 cups water)

1 small shallot, finely chopped (OR ~3 Tbsp finely chopped shallot)

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

3 Tbsp roasted walnut oil (OR 3 Tbsp olive oil) – see note above

1 cup thinly sliced bite-size pieces of radicchio

4 whole seedless mandarin oranges, peeled and divided into segments (OR ~1½ cups peeled seedless mandarin orange segments)

2 medium pears, peeled and diced (OR ~1½ cups peeled and diced pears)

1 medium fennel bulb (white part only), small dice (OR ~1 cup)

⅓ cup chopped walnuts

⅓ cup finely chopped dried cranberries

Salt, to taste (I added ¼ tsp)

Finely chopped parsley, to top – optional

1. Add the broth to a small pot and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil. Add the farro, and then, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook covered for ~25-30 minutes or until the farro is fully cooked through. Drain and allow to completely cool.

2. While the farro cooks and cools, add the shallot and red wine vinegar to a large mixing bowl. Allow it to sit for, at least, 10 minutes.

3. Now, it’s time to assemble the entire salad by adding the walnut oil, cooled farro, the radicchio, mandarin oranges, pears, fennel, walnuts, and dried cranberries to the mixing bowl. Stir together. Give it a taste and adjust flavors, if needed (salt?). Top with parsley, if you like, and serve.