Dry farro cooks directly in the oven along with fresh vegetables, herbs, and chickpeas in this vegetarian farro bake. This recipe is packed with nutritious ingredients and makes a hearty dinner. Vegetarian, vegan-optional.
After using farro in this farro salad a few months ago, I knew that I had to give farro the "dump & bake" treatment and turn it into a farro bake.
This farro casserole highlights summer produce, pantry staples, and chewy pearled farro. Just like with my rice and bean bake and black bean quinoa casserole, the farro is added to the oven uncooked.
The result is a comforting, tomato-based bake topped with asiago-crusted sliced zucchini and a balsamic glaze. This is a great recipe for that transition between summer and fall, when summer produce is still in season but the cozier feelings of fall meals are calling to you.
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Similar recipes: Quinoa Pesto Bake, Red Lentil Casserole, Cheese Rice Casserole
Recipe summary
- Simple: This recipe has a lot of ingredients, but it's overall pretty easy to make. Because this is a dump-and-bake recipe, the dry pearled farro bakes directly in the oven. The other main steps include slicing vegetables and stirring together ingredients in the baking dish.
- Flavorful: Dry herbs, tomatoes, and a balsamic glaze create a rich and hearty base for the farro to cook in.
- Veggie-packed: This casserole features bell pepper, zucchini, tomatoes, and fresh sweet corn!
- Balanced: This bake is on the hearty side! It is balanced with farro, fresh vegetables, protein from chickpeas, and fats from cheese.
Ingredients
- Pearled farro: It is important that you choose pearled or quick-cook farro, not regular farro. Pearl farro cooks much more quickly and generally requires less cooking liquid. Many grocery stores don't label farro as either pearled or whole, but you can tell the difference by checking cook time. Pearled farro cooks in 15 to 20 minutes, whereas the whole farro takes about 40 minutes to cook.
- Can of diced tomatoes and vegetable broth: This creates the base that the farro cooks in. I recommend Better than Bouillon for the best flavor, but any vegetable broth works in a pinch. Even water works, but I recommend adjusting the seasonings and salt if using water in place of broth.
- Vegetables: Choose one ear of fresh corn, a red or orange bell pepper, and zucchini. Except for the zucchini, the vegetables are interchangeable, so feel free to use whatever veggies you have on hand.
- Herbs: Dry basil, oregano, and parsley create the herby base reminiscent of tortellini soup.
- Asiago cheese: This is a super flavorful cheese similar to Parmesan. I recommend buying a block and shredding the cheese yourself. Replace with vegan feta or mozzarella to make the farro bake dairy-free.
- Pumpkin seeds: Fully optional but highly recommended. This adds a nice crunch to the topping. Choose roasted pumpkin seeds for the best flavor.
- Balsamic glaze: Don't skip this ingredient! While you can make homemade balsamic glaze using balsamic vinegar, I find it easiest to just buy balsamic glaze at the store. Trader Joe's has a great one.
Step-by-step photos
Even though dump-and-bake recipes are all about decreasing prep time, I always recommend simmering the cooking liquids before adding them to the baking dish. This ensures quicker cooking time when the farro bake is in the oven.
Start drizzling a sauce pot with a small amount of oil, enough to bloom the herbs in. Add the dry herbs and tomato paste. Cook for just 30 seconds to a minute, stirring consistently. This enhances the flavor of both the herbs and tomato paste.
Stir in the tomatoes (with juices) and vegetable broth, along with the remaining seasonings. Bring to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat.
Meanwhile, add the rinsed farro, chickpeas, diced bell pepper, and corn to a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Pour in the simmering broth. Stir to combine.
Cover tightly with foil, an oven-safe lid, or an upside-down baking sheet. Bake at 375F for 25 to 30 minutes.
The farro should be mostly cooked at this point, but note that the bake will still be a little brothy.
Remove from the oven and top with the sliced zucchini and asiago cheese. Return to the oven to bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until the zucchini is golden and the casserole is less brothy. Enjoy!
Cooking tips
- Baking dish: A 9x13-inch baking dish is my go-to size for large casseroles like this. The oval dish in the pictures is of a similar size. Anything similar in size should work as long as there is at least a half-inch remaining for the farro to expand.
- Too brothy? This casserole isn't sliceable like other casseroles on the blog. If you find that it is too brothy for your taste, simply bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes to evaporate extra broth. Stirring in additional cheese will also help "glue" the ingredients together and make a more sliceable casserole.
- Slice the zucchini very thinly. This ensures that it cooks within 15 to 20 minutes and that it becomes golden instead of just softened.
Storage tips
Leftovers: Let cool to room temperature before refrigerating. Keep for 3 to 4 days.
Reheating: Reheat individual servings in the microwave. To reheat the entire casserole, place it in the oven at 325 degrees F for 20-30 minutes, or until warmed through. Cover with foil if the casserole starts to dry out too much.
Freezing: I have not tried freezing this farro bake, but I have had success with similar recipes.
More easy meals to try
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Recipe
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Farro Bake
Ingredients
Farro Bake
- 1 and ½ cups pearled farro see note #1
- 2 teaspoons olive oil divided
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dry basil
- ½ teaspoon dry parsley
- ½ teaspoon dry oregano
- 2 and ¼ cup vegetable broth
- 14.5 ounce can diced fire-roasted tomatoes with juices
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 ear sweet corn shucked and kernels sliced off
- 1 medium red bell pepper diced
- 15 ounce can chickpeas drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup fresh chopped parsley (optional)
- balsamic glaze to taste
Zucchini Topping
- 1 medum zucchini
- 1 and ½ cups shredded asiago cheese divided
- ¼ cup roasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse the farro well in a fine-mesh sieve. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Heat a medium sauce pot over medium heat. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Once hot, add tomato paste, basil, parsley, and oregano. Bloom for 30 seconds to a minute, stirring frequently.
- Stir in the vegetable broth, tomatoes with their juices, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Bring to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat.
- Meanwhile, add the shucked corn kernels, diced pepper, chickpeas, fresh parsley, and rinsed farro to a lightly oiled 9x13 baking dish. Stir to combine.
- Add the simmering broth to the baking dish. Stir to combine. Cover tightly with foil, an upside-down baking sheet, or an oven safe lid.
- Transfer to the middle oven rack. Bake at 375F for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven when the farro is mostly cooked. It will still be a little brothy.
- While the farro bakes, slice the zucchini into very thin half-moons. In a medium bowl, toss with ½ cup shredded asiago cheese, pumpkin seeds, remaining 1 teaspoon oil, and salt & pepper to taste.
- Stir the remaining 1 cup of asiago into the farro bake. Top with the zucchini, spreading it out so that pieces don't overlap too much.
- Return to the oven to bake, uncovered, for an additional 15 to 20 minutes. The farro bake is ready when the zucchini is golden and the farro is cooked through but still chewy.
- Remove from the oven. Top with a drizzle of balsamic glaze, to taste. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Pearled farro cooks more quickly than regular farro. Do not use regular farro, as it will affect cook time. If the package of farro isn't labeled as pearled, check the cooking instructions. If it says 15-20 minutes, it's pearled farro. If it says 30-40 minutes, it is regular farro.
- Leftovers: Let cool to room temperature before refrigerating. Keep for 3 to 4 days.
- Reheating: Reheat individual servings in the microwave. To reheat the entire casserole, place it in the oven at 325 degrees F for 20-30 minutes, or until warmed through. Cover with foil if the casserole starts to dry out too much.
Barbara Abbate says
Yummy! Easy. Flexible. I didn't have tomatoes paste, bell pepper, garbanzo beans or fresh parsley so I skipped those. I added kidney beans, a chopped onion, some diced garlic, and a few handfuls of ripped spinach and some garlic chopped garlic scapes. I am dairy free so I made the topping without cheese but added a bit of nutritional yeast.
Cassidy Reeser, MS, RD says
Those swaps all sound great! Thanks for the review!
Sandie says
We are not vegetarians, but I do try to incorporate a vegetarian dish into our diet every Monday. I did use regular farro. I cooked it for a bit before baking it. Turned out perfect. Didn’t have Asiago cheese. Used the cheese I had in the refrigerator. Definitely will make again. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Cassidy Reeser says
I'm so happy to hear my recipe was enjoyed for meatless Monday! Thanks for the review.