Baked farro with tomatoes & herbs (vegan)

With hearty farro playing the starring role, you get the benefits of fiber and protein with every bite.

Plus, since it’s baked in the oven, there’s no need to babysit it while it cooks.

In this post:

If you like barley or wheat berries, you’ll love farro.

Farro doesn’t have the mainstream popularity it deserves. But for people like me who prefer a chewy whole grain, it is worthy of higher billing.

It is a plump ancient grain with a wonderfully chewy texture.

(It is wheat, so it’s not suitable for gluten-free folks.)

This recipe comes from the 10th anniversary edition of Veganomicon.

Written by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, the original version was one of the first vegan cookbooks in my collection.

(When I wasn’t cooking out of it, this 3-pound book served double duty as my first tofu press.)

With over 250 recipes in total, there’s everything from basics to lengthy cooking projects.

Some of my favorites include chickpea cutlets, samosa stuffed baked potatoes, salt and pepper tofu, hot sauce glazed tempeh, and today’s baked farro recipe, of course.

Here are the ingredients you will need to make this recipe.

Oil: Oil is used to sauté shallots & garlic + to oil the baking dish. Olive oil is recommended, but it can be replaced with any neutral-flavored cooking oil you enjoy.

Farro: For this recipe, you’ll need uncooked farro. Look for it with other whole grains in the grocery store, like rice or barley.

Depending on how it has been processed, farro cooking times vary a little. Pearled farro has the shortest cooking time. Whole farro has the longest.

Semi-pearled farro strikes the middle ground with part of the bran removed and a shorter cooking time than the whole variety.

You can use any kind for this recipe. But if you’re using pearled or semi-pearled, you may be able to cut the cooking time by 10 or 15 minutes. Pull it out of the oven to check doneness.

Farro is pretty forgiving. And it doesn’t get overdone easily.

Produce & pantry staples: Garlic, shallots, parsley, and walnuts.

Seasonings: Bay leaf, dried oregano, dried thyme, and salt.

Vegetable broth: It can be replaced with water. Or use water + vegan bouillon.

Can of diced tomatoes: Don’t drain. You’ll need the juices too.

Nutritional yeast: This inactive yeast adds cheesiness, richness, and umami. Look for it at natural grocery stores, Trader Joe’s, or online.

For more information, check out this called, “What is nutritional yeast?”

Lemon zest: When using a lemon for zest, I recommend opting for organic lemons. A Microplane zester is my go-to tool for zesting.

Here’s how to make this recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

1. Sauté shallots and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add a bay leaf as well as farro that has been sorted & rinsed.

3. Pour in vegetable broth and canned tomatoes with their juices. Bring to a rapid simmer. Turn off the heat & add oregano, thyme, and salt.

4. Remove the bay leaf. Then stir in parsley or basil & nutritional yeast.

Pour farro mixture into oiled baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Using a mortar & pestle or food processor, pulse or pound the following into crumbs:

• Walnuts
• Nutritional yeast flakes
• Salt
• Lemon zest

Top the farro with the walnut topping & drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Bake uncovered for ten more minutes to brown.

This toothsome grain dish is great with roasted vegetables, sliced tomatoes, and/or a simple salad.

Here are some more side dish ideas for cooked farro:

• Avocado caprese salad
• Grilled Portobello mushroom
• Sautéed kale with garlic
• Roasted cabbage
• Roasted delicata squash
• Cashew creamed kale
• Broccolini with garlic & kale
• Red wine mushrooms with garlic
• Roasted cauliflower
• Air fryer green beans
• Roasted fennel with vegan parmesan cheese

Keep any leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator. The flavors will continue to meld over time making leftovers even more delicious.

It will last four or five days in the refrigerator. It also freezes well.

Put any cold leftovers in a freezer-proof container. When you’re ready to use it, thaw in the refrigerator and reheat in the microwave.

📖 Recipe

Baked farro with tomatoes and herbs (vegan)

Author: Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero

5 from 2 votes

Rich and cheesy tasting without a lick of cheese (and with plenty of nutritional yeast), this comforting and easy tomato and herb-drenched baked farro casserole may bump your favorite pasta bake down a notch or two.

Farro is a rustic, chewy variety of whole-kernel wheat rich in protein and fiber, and usually stocked in nice groceries with other heirloom grains, such as quinoa, or look wherever Mediterranean pastas and rices are sold.

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 6 people

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Mediterranean, Vegan

Keyword: casserole, family style

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 2 cups uncooked farro
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ ½ cup finely chopped shallot
• ▢ 1 bay leaf
• ▢ 2 cups vegetable broth or water
• ▢ 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes with juices (do not drain)
• ▢ 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried thyme or basil
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt or more to taste
• ▢ ½ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley or fresh basil
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

For the topping:

• ▢ ¼ cup chopped walnuts
• ▢ ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

• ▢
  Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil.
• ▢
  Sort through the farro to remove any broken grains and rinse in a colander.
• ▢
  In a large saucepan over medium, saute the garlic and shallot in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 2 minutes to soften the shallot.
• ▢
  Stir in the farro and the bay leaf and saute for another minute, then pour in the vegetable broth and the tomatoes. Increase the heat to high and bring to a rapid simmer. Cook for about 2 minutes.
• ▢
  Turn off the heat and add oregano, thyme, and salt. Remove bay leaf. Taste and season with a little more salt, if desired (if using water, you may want to), then stir in the parsley and nutritional yeast.
• ▢
  Pour the farro mixture into the prepared baking dish and smooth the top. Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the farro has absorbed almost all of the liquid.
• ▢
  Pulse together the topping ingredients, except the olive oil, in a food processor (or pound with a mortar and pestle) into coarse crumbs.
• ▢
  Take the casserole out of the oven, remove the foil, and cover the top evenly with the walnut topping. Drizzle those 2 tablespoons of olive oil on top and bake for 10 minutes to lightly brown the top of the casserole.
• ▢
  For best results, allow the farro to sit for 10 minutes to cool slightly and firm up a bit. Serve warm; this casserole tastes even better the next day after the flavors have blended a bit more.

Notes

If you’d prefer, you can cook this dish in a Dutch oven or other casserole-style pot that can be used on both the stovetop and oven. (In that case, you can skip the step of oiling the baking dish.) Simply move it from the stovetop to the oven to bake at the appropriate time. Cover with a lid or foil.

Farro comes in three varieties – pearled, semi-pearled, and whole. Any of them will work for this recipe. Whole farro takes the longest to cook, which is what’s shown here. If you’re using pearled or semi-pearled, you may be able to cook it 10 or 15 minutes less. Just take a bite to check doneness. If it is pleasantly chewy, it’s ready, and you can move on to adding the walnut topping.

Excerpted from Veganomicon, 10th Anniversary Edition: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Copyright © 2017. Available from Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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Nutrition

Calories: 374kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 707mg | Potassium: 309mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 300IU | Vitamin C: 0.7mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 2.6mg