Instant Pot Farro

Learn how to cook farro in the Instant Pot. It’s ready really quickly and is exactly the right texture every time.

What is Farro?

Farro is an ancient grain that’s been around possibly longer than any other grain. It might even be the grain from which all others derive.

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 and in other dishes. 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?

No. You can speed up the cooking time for farro by soaking it in cool water. However, since farro cooks pretty quickly in the Instant Pot, it’s not a necessary step.

Do You Need to Rinse Farro?

Yes. When cooking things like rice in the Instant Pot, it’s very important to rinse the grains first. This not only rinses off the dusty outer film that can be on the grains, but it also serves to separate the grains from each other. That separation allows them to cook more evenly and will stop your electric pressure cooker from giving you the dreaded Burn Notice. That happens when the machine detects something too hot touching the inner metal of the pot and turns itself off. This can happen if you don’t rinse your grains.

Farro, like rice, therefore needs to be rinsed before you cook it in the Instant Pot. But don’t worry, this is an easy step. Simply measure your farro into a fine mesh sieve. Then, run cool tap water over the contents of the sieve for a minute or two, tossing or stirring the farro a bit to make sure it is all dampened. Finally, shake the excess water off of the farro and dump the rinsed farro into the pot of your pressure cooker.

How Much Farro To Cook In The Instant Pot

A standard portion of farro is 1/4 of a cup uncooked, and it tends to nearly double in size, so that will be 1/2 of a cup cooker per person. I typically cook 2 cups of farro at a time, and then have enough for 2 meals for my family. If I’m making a big pot of soup, then that ends up being the right amount to stir into there as well.

How Much Water To Add

I’ve seen various recipes call for a little under double the amount of water than you have farro when cooking it in the Instant Pot. That small amount of water seems to work very well when cooking rice in there, but I’ve had varied success with farro, and so I don’t advise that.

Instead, I’ve had the most success with the amount recommended directly on the package of Bob’s Red Mill’s farro (the brand I use), where they say to use 3 cups of water for every 1 cup of farro when cooking it in a multi-cooker like the Instant Pot. So that would be 1 cup of uncooked farro, 3 cups of water, and then I also add 1 teaspoon of salt. If cooking 2 cups of farro, I use 6 cups of water but just 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt.

When the farro finishes cooking, there will be excess water in the pot. You simply drain that off. Note that the drained off water is fine to use as you would use pasta water. In fact, in my side dish recipe for Farro with Cream Cheese and Spinach, the cooking liquid is used to thin the sauce a little bit.

How Long To Cook Farro In The Instant Pot

To cook farro in the Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker or multi-cooker, you’ll measure in the rinsed uncooked farro, three times as much water, and some salt. Give it a stir. Then put the lid on and turn the valve to Sealing.

Cook the farro on high pressure for 12 minutes. The pressure cooker will heat up and get up to pressure and then it will pressure cook for 12 minutes. When the 12 minutes is up, turn the valve to Venting and do a quick release. Drain off the water and serve.

How To Reheat Farro

Since farro cooks so quickly in the Instant Pot, it’s often ready before I need it. If this happens, drain off the water and then leave the cooked farro in the Instant Pot set to Keep Warm for up to 30 minutes.

If the farro gets cold or is refrigerated, you can heat it in the microwave. 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.