Learn how to cook farro on the stovetop. It’s such a delicious, versatile, and hearty grain. I know you’re going to love it!
Farro is an ancient grain with wonderful texture and flavor. It’s also easy to cook. Here I’m explaining how to cook it on the stove. Scroll down to read more about farro and tips on cooking it, or click here to jump down to the recipe.
- Video: How To Cook Farro
- What is Farro?
- Do You Need To Soak Farro Before Cooking It?
- Do You Need To Rinse Farro Before Cooking It?
- How Much Farro To Cook
- How Much Water To Use
- How Long To Cook Farro On The Stove
- How To Reheat Farro
- Other Ways To Cook Farro
- Recipes Using Farro
- Podcast Episode About Cooking Farro On The Stove
- How to Cook Farro on the Stove
Video: How To Cook Farro
What is Farro?
Farro is an ancient grain that’s been around forever. Longer than any other grain, in fact. It’s believed that it is the grain from which all others derive. Farro is high in protein, fiber, and B Complex vitamins and it’s pretty low in gluten.
When cooked, farro looks a bit like barley but it has a chewier texture. That chewy texture remains even after long-cooking so it’s great in soups and stews where it never gets soggy. That chewy texture also makes for tasty salads. You can pretty much take any pasta salad recipe and turn it into a farro salad recipe successfully.
Do You Need To Soak Farro Before Cooking It?
No. You can speed up the cooking time for farro by soaking it in cool water. But honestly, since it only takes about 30 minutes to cook farro without soaking it first, I don’t usually bother with this step. it’s more annoying to get it soaking and have it taking up fridge space than it is to let it cook for the full time. But that’s just me. If you’d like to soak it and reduce the cooking time, you can. Here’s how:
To soak farro: Measure it into a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add enough cold water to completely submerge the grain. Put the lid on the pot and refrigerate for 8-24 hours. Drain off the liquid. Then, when using the recipe below, you will only cook the farro for 10 minutes instead of 30 minutes.
Do You Need To Rinse Farro Before Cooking It?
No. If you’re cooking farro on the stove, you don’t need to rinse it first. I will admit though that I often do anyways. It’s a habit I have from cooking quinoa and from cooking millet, where you rinse the grains to remove any dust, and that’s when you would typically look through to make sure that there isn’t anything there that shouldn’t be there.
However, if you’ve purchased your farro from a modern grocery store and it’s in a sealed package, you don’t need to rinse it. The exception is if you’re cooking farro in the Instant Pot. As with cooking rice in the Instant Pot, when cooking farro in the Instant Pot it’s important to rinse it first so that the grains are well-separated and dampened.
How Much Farro To Cook
A standard portion of farro is 1/4 of a cup uncooked. It nearly doubles in size once cooked, so that will be about 1/2 cup cooked.
If I’m making the farro as a side dish, I’ll typically start with 2 cups uncooked, which then will feed my family of four for two meals. If I’m making a big pot of soup, I’ll also cook about 2 cups, and that ends up being a good amount of farro for a nice pot of farro soup.
How Much Water To Use
It’s better to think of cooking farro on the stove like cooking pasta on the stove, rather than like cooking rice. That is, the water is not going to be fully absorbed into the grain. Instead, like pasta, the grain will soak up some water but a lot of the water is there to keep everything moving. At the end, there will be water remaining in your pot, so you will pour the water and cooked farro through a sieve or colander to drain it.
So then, unlike rice, there’s not really a ratio of how much water to use when cooking farro on the stove. If I’m cooking 1 cup of farro, I’ll add it to about 4 cups of boiling salted water. So that’s essentially my medium-sized saucepan filled three-quarters full with water. If I’m cooking 2-3 cups of farro, I’ll fill my largest pot, the one I use for a pasta dinner, and bring that up to a boil before adding the farro.
How Long To Cook Farro On The Stove
There are different kinds of farro out there (whole grain, pearled, semi-pearled, and different varieties too) and it’s not always easy to tell which kind you have. This means that cooking times aren’t exact. However, in general in North America, the farro sold in stores is pearled. The brand that I buy is Bob’s Red Mill’s and it is also pearled. These cooking times will work for this type and should be what you need to know.
You’ll be bringing a pot of water up to the boil and then salting it. To that, you’ll add the uncooked farro. Bring it back up to a boil and then reduce the heat a bit so that it’s at a nice strong simmer. Cook until softened, about 30 minutes. If you had previously soaked the farro, then it only needs to cook for about 10 minutes.
Then you’ll drain off the liquid by pouring the farro and water through a sieve or colander. Note that the liquid is perfectly good to use in soups or as part of a sauce, much as you would pasta water. In fact, my recipe for Farro With Cream Cheese And Spinach has you use a bit of the cooking liquid to thin the sauce down.
How To Reheat Farro
Just add a bit of water (1 tablespoon per 2 cups of cooked farro) and loosely cover it. Microwave it for 45 seconds at a time, stirring in between heats, until heated through. If reheating it on the stove, you’ll add enough water so that the farro can be easily stirred. Cook uncovered over medium heat, stirring regularly until it is heated through. Drain and serve.
Other Ways To Cook Farro
Just like rice and other grains, there are a variety of ways that you can cook it. Here are my favorite ways to cook it:
Recipes Using Farro
These are my three favorite recipes that use farro.
And for more delicious side dishes, check out all of my side dish recipes over here (there are more than 100 of them to choose from!
Enjoy! – Christine xo
Podcast Episode About Cooking Farro On The Stove
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this farro, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintHow to Cook Farro on the Stove
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Learn how to cook farro on the stovetop. It’s such a delicious, versatile, and hearty grain. I know you’re going to love it!
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup farro
- 1 Tbsp. butter or olive oil (optional)
Instructions
- Measure the water into a large sauce pan. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the salt and stir.
- Add the farro, stir, and then bring it back to a boil. Reduce heat to a strong simmer and cook until softened, about 30 minutes.
- Pour the farro and water through a colander or sieve.
- Mix cooked farro with butter or olive oil, if using.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
This post originally appeared in January of 2014 and was completely revised in May of 2016 and then again in January 2020.
Susan P. says
I cooked farro for the first time about 2 years ago and love it! I make it as a side dish like rice or use like noodles underneath a protein with sauce. I’ll have to try these recipes since they look delicious.
Christine Pittman says
Fantastic, Susan!
Deborah Waddell says
Will have to try farro.
Christine Pittman says
Let us know what you think, Deborah!
Sarah L says
Thanks for the info on farro. I’ve never even noticed it in the store. I’d use it first in soups.
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Sarah!
Pat says
Is Bob’s Red Mill pearl or non-pearl Farro? Will be cooking some for Charlie Bird’s Farro salad this Thanksgiving…cannot tell from packaging what type it is. Thanks much.
Christine Pittman says
Bob’s Red Mill is pearled farro, Pat. I think they should make that clearer on the packaging too! Happy Thanksgiving!
Madeleine Yeh says
Thank you. I was reading a pumpkin farro risotto and planning to make it. I needed a more in depth explanation of how to cook farro in general . I wanted reassurance that farro could be cooked without presoaking, and alternate ideas in case I wanted to use the slow cooker. This was just what I needed and it helped me cook my farro succesfully. I am trying to get out of my cooking rut and you have helped me do so.
This article was very clear and informative.
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Madeleine! Always nice to get out of a rut and try something new.
Sarah Blackburn says
Farro stuffed peppers are the best!
Rut says
Haven’t attempted cooking farro yet, but just about ready too. The type I have is pearled farro. Do I need to soak it overnight or just soak it ? I can’t figure that out from reading all the comments.
Thanks for your help,
Ruth
Christine Pittman says
No soaking required. I think the instructions in the post are clear about this. Have a look.
Kat says
I’ve had farro as a breakfast cereal at a restaurant in NYC…so delicious, so nutty, so toothy. It’s delicious with all the things you’d have with porridge, so cream, honey or maple syrup, fruits, whatever. So it’s not just suited to savoury things!
I cooked it for the first time tonight in my panasonic fuzzy logic (expensive and programmable) rice cooker. It has programmes for each type of rice, like jasmine, brown, sticky, etc., along with settings for mixed grains, steam, porridge, etc. It makes bang-on perfect rice every single time. So this time, I used the “mixed grains setting”. I used the amount of water they recommended. Not quite cooked enough. So I put it back in and probably cooked it for another 20 minutes, in five and ten minute increments, having added a bit more water each time. So no way it would cook on a white rice setting…FYI… Anyway, it’s finally done and delicious. Next time I’ll experiment some more. I think the way to go it just put it on a timer, likely 45 minutes on the “quick cook” setting. It will be worth the trouble to figure this out. It was Bob’s Red Mill farro. DELICIOUS!
Nanci says
Ididn’the read all the comments, but I Cook my Farro, if us in as a grain alone in my rice cooker. I also cook other grains such as barley, quinoa, wheat berries etc. Works like a dream!
Christine Pittman says
Nanci, I’ve never tried this. Great idea!
Henry says
Can you replace rice and use Fargo in places on a gumbo
Christine Pittman says
Yes, you can use cooked farro anywhere that you have cooked rice. However, rice and farro cook at different rates and with different amounts of liquid so you cannot just add raw farro where you would have added raw rice without making adjustments.
Cathe says
Thanks for the great tips on how to cook farro. I just found a recipe for roasted asparagus and scallion salad that is tossed with cooked farro that is tossed with a dressing – all of it is served on top of arugula. It looks beautiful and now I know it will be perfect! Thanks!!
Michelle Boor says
Hi Christine, I have a quick question that I hope you can answer. I’m going to cook farro for the first time and I was wondering if I can put it in my rice cooker. I am terrible at making rice and have only been able to successfully cook it if I use my rice cooker, so I was wondering if I can take the same shortcut and play it safe with my farro.
Thank you for your time
Christine Pittman says
Michelle, I have never tried it but I’m betting it would work perfectly. The only issue is the amount of time and the amount of water. I’d say put it in for as long as you would normally put white rice using the same amount of water. Then check it regularly and see if it is softened and if the water is absorbed. You can always add more water and more time. Make note of the amount of time and water needed and then you’ll know for next time. And I’d love it if you’d come back here and let us all know as well!
Mommer says
HI! Just found this page after buying some farro yesterday. My farro is imported from Italy, and all the instructions are in Italian! What’s more, it doesn’t look like your’s in the picture. I bought it at an Italian market attached to my favorite restaurant, and I even asked the sales person if this was “normal, regular farro” ! After doing some interweb research – aha! I have WHOLE farro, and the stuff you have, and have apparently been using is PEARLED farro. And it seems that it’s not always clearly stated on the packages, even if it is in English! The difference is the whole farro still has the bran / husk on it, and takes longer to cook, hence the SOAKING step is needed. Pearled farro has the bran knocked off and cooks in 20 min. Think about typical rice versus wild rice – how wild rice takes forever to cook, and may need to be drained when its done. It appears it’s like that – I will find out today when I make it, and plan on plenty of time before dinner so it’s done! : )
Christine Pittman says
Wow! Thanks for the extra info!
Susan Broughton says
Thanks so much for doing a posting about Farro. I have never tried it but have been curious about it for some time. I am a diabetic and am always looking for low gluten or gluten free recipes that I can substitute for something that I am not suppose to have. Thanks again for the information on Farro!
Anne says
I haven’t tried farro yet, but after reading your post, I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting some soon. I love salads that use grains as a base and incorporate chopped veggies, so that’s probably what I’d make with farro first.
Christine L. says
The first time I tried farro was as part of a dish served at the retirement luncheon for a former colleague. It was served risotto style as an accompaniment to chicken cordon bleu and fresh steamed vegetables. Thank you for the recipes! I’ll try using farro at home now ….
Candice says
I have never cooked farro myself but looking forward to trying it. I would like to attempt a farro risotto like dish.
Mireille says
I love farro and the product line also!
DONNA KIEVER says
Never tried it but i would love to . I would love to try a hot savory dish!
amanda says
I love Bob’s Red Mill! Just made some bread with their Dark Rye Flour yesterday! Would love to try Farrow as I am always looking for rice and starch replacements!