The beets and farro are cooked separately, then cooled before everything comes together. The oranges are segmented and added fresh, their juice becoming part of the dressing, added at the end. Goat cheese crumbled over the top adds a creaminess against the chewy farro and the firm beet. This is a filling salad, a proper lunch or a light dinner for two, served in one large flat bowl.
The tarragon and dill are the detail worth not skipping. Most beet salads lean on balsamic and call it done. The herbs here push it into something more interesting, brighter, more aromatic, and distinctive enough to remember.
The Case for This Salad
Farro is the ingredient that makes this a meal rather than a side salad, its chewiness and nutty flavor give the bowl substance that lighter grains like couscous or quinoa wouldn’t. Dressing the arugula first, before the other ingredients go in, means the leaves are lightly coated rather than swimming in vinaigrette, they become part of the salad rather than collapsing under the weight of everything added on top. The orange sections do two things: their sweetness balances the earthiness of the beet, and their juice releases into the dressing as you eat, brightening the whole bowl. Keeping the beet separate rather than mixing it through preserves the colors, the moment beet touches everything else, it stains it pink, which looks dramatic but loses the visual contrast that makes this salad worth putting on the table.
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Key Ingredients in This Recipe
You’ll find the complete list of ingredients and exact quantities in the recipe below.
- Beets
- Farro – quinoa, brown rice, couscous or barley are great alternatives.
- Oranges – grapefruits could be an alternative
- Arugula – spinach or the beet greens can be used as well.
- Dressing
- Goat cheese
- Tarragon
- Dill
Want to see the recipe in action? This short video below walks you through the key steps.
How to Make Beet, Orange & Farro Salad
Step 1 – Prep the key ingredients by cooking the beets (roasting in the oven, steaming or cooking on the stove), cooking the farro (according to the directions on the packaging) and sectioning the oranges.
Step 2 – Make the dressing by mixing red wine vinegar, maple syrup, and mustard. Gradually whisk in olive oil. Add chives and season with salt & pepper. Pour the dressing into a salad bowl.
Step 3 – Transfer arugula onto the dressing and mix.
Step 4 – Next layer is the beets. Decide how to cut them, in quarters, in slices, or grate them.
Step 5 – Add the cooked farro. You can mix the salad at this point or keep the major ingredients more or less separate. Beets will stain everything it comes in contact with, so I prefer to not mix the salad, preserving the colors of the arugula, and farro.
Step 6 – Divide the orange sections over the salad.
Step 7 – Crumble the goat cheese and divide that over the salad. The addition of the white cheese makes the other colors stand out. I love this effect.
- The very last thing to do is to sprinkle some fresh herbs over the salad and drizzle some of the orange juice. Tarragon and dill are great flavor additions and that extra touch of green is just the right finish for this salad. Don’t you love it?
Storage Tip
This salad can be stored for a couple of days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. However, separating the ingredients would be a wise step to take, to avoid everything becoming pink from the beets, the cheese becoming soggy and the arugula will wilt.
Alternatives & Substitutes
- Yellow beets instead of red beets. Yellow beets are slightly sweeter, but less striking in combination with the orange wedges.
- Grapefruit instead of orange, and bitter flavor instead of a sweet flavor.
- Feta cheese or Brie cheese instead of goat cheese
- Farro can be replaced by quinoa, rice, barley, couscous or millet.
Other Recipes with Beets to Try
Beet, Orange & Farro Salad
Pin Recipe FacebookIngredients
- 1 pound red beets
- 1/4 cup farro
- 2 oranges
- 1 cup arugula
- 1 ounce plain goat cheese, crumbles
- tarragon, torn
- dill, torn
For the Dressing
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chives, finely chopped
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Cook the beets (roasting in the oven, steaming or cooking on the stove). For this salad I cooked the beets in water. This will take about 30 minutes (depending on the size of the beets. Allow to cool (or not if you like them warm) and slice.
- At the same time cook the farro, according to the directions on the packaging. Allow to cool
- Segment the oranges. (NOTE 1)
- Make the dressing by mixing red wine vinegar, maple syrup, and mustard. Gradually whisk in olive oil. Add chives and season with salt & pepper. Pour the dressing into a salad bowl.
- Place the arugula into the dressing and mix.
- Add the beets and divide them over the arugula.
- Add the cooked farro. (NOTE 2)
- Divide the orange sections over the salad.
- Crumble the goat cheese and divide that over the salad. The addition of the white cheese make the other colors stand out. I love this effect.
- The very last step is to sprinkle some fresh herbs over the salad. Tarragon and dill are great flavor additions and that extra touch of green is just the right finish for this salad.
Notes
- Check out this post and I’ll show you how to get nice clean wedges of orange.
- You can mix the salad at this point or keep the major ingredients more or less separate. Beets will stain everything it comes in contact with, so I prefer to not mix the salad preserving the colors of the arugula, and farro.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.