Simple Farro Recipe with Cream Cheese and Spinach

This Farro Recipe with cream cheese and spinach is as simple as it is delicious. This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill.

My favorite kind of food is delicious, hearty and healthy all at once. I think that’s why I’ve fallen in love with farro. It really meets my criteria for a favorite food. I love eating it and I feel good eating it. That’s why I came up with a simple but delicious farro recipe that everyone will love.

For this easy side dish, you cook the farro using any method you’d like. Then you mix it with a touch of cream cheese and some chopped fresh spinach and serve hot.

See? Farro really is delicious, hearty and healthy. You’ve gotta love that!

If you haven’t cooked farro before, don’t worry. It’s really simple, kind of like rice. Here are instructions for how to cook farro using three different methods (stovetop, oven, slow cooker).

When it comes to farro, you don’t have to soak it before cooking but that does reduce the cooking time a bit. But even without soaking it can be ready in about 30-40 minutes so it’s not that big a deal.

I do always rinse farro before cooking it. I’m actually not sure why I do that. It’s become a habit. I know that for some grains, like quinoa, it makes a big difference for flavor. In that case, there is sometimes a fine unnoticeable bitter-flavored powder on the grains that I know I prefer to rinse off before cooking. So I rinse my quinoa and now I rinse other grains that I’m not as familiar with just in case.

If you’re looking for more farro recipes, I have an entree that I bet your whole family will love. It’s a meatball recipe with farro and rosemary rolled right into the balls. Even my son loves them and he is not a big farro fan.

If you’re looking for a gateway to your family trying more grains, this meatball recipe is definitely one to try:

And now, here’s my Cream Cheese and Spinach Farro Recipe:

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Simple Farro Recipe with Cream Cheese and Spinach

This delicious farro recipe is a great side dish with almost any protein. It's creamy and healthy, and delicious, too!

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups farro
• 4 cups water, stock or a mixture of both
• salt
• 1 cup packed fresh spinach, chopped
• 3 Tbsp. cream cheese or 1/3 fat cream cheese
• pepper

Directions:

1. Measure the farro into a fine mesh sieve and rinse with cold water. Drain. You can then cook the farro according to any of the methods outlined here. I'm giving instructions for the stovetop method.
2. Transfer farro to a medium sized pot that has a lid. Add the water or stock and ¼ teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil over high heat.
   Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes, until it is softened but still chewy. If there is liquid remaining in the pot, drain it off or save it to add to a soup, stew or sauce.
3. While the farro is still hot, stir in the spinach, cream cheese and a pinch of salt and of pepper. Taste. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

What’s your favorite hearty but healthy side dish? Head over to the Cook the Story Facebook Page and post about it. Or scroll down to leave a comment here.

Looking for more farro recipes? Here are some tasty-looking ones that I found online:
Farro, Kale and Butternut Squash Gratin from Land O’Lakes

Mediterranean Farro Salad from Bob’s Red Mill

Baked Farro Risotto from 101 Cookbooks

Spicy Japanese Farro Salad from The Tomato Tart

Disclosure: Bob’s Red Mill provided the box of different grains for the giveaway mentioned in this post and also a similar box for me. All opinions are my own.