I am SO excited to share today’s recipe with you!! This blueberry farro feta chicken salad is perfect for meal-prep lunches throughout the week. It’s bursting with an explosion of different textures, colors, and tastes. I’m confident you will love this recipe!

I am a big fan of having a giant, meal-size salad for lunches during the week. BUT, not some lettuce/tomato/ranch dressing situation that keeps you full for 0.5 seconds. If you’re having a salad for a meal, it should be a balance of all three macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat, and protein) to keep you feeling full and satisfied.

The farro, corn, and blueberries provide carbohydrates (and fiber!), chicken and feta provide protein, and the vinaigrette dressing provides heart-heathly fats from olive oil. This salad is also a texture-lover freak’s DREAM. We have chewy farro, crunchy broccoli and red onion, salty and creamy feta, tender arugula, and sweet juicy blueberries.

I love meal-prepping on the weekends to have healthy meals ready to go during the busy weekdays. While a lot of salads don’t last long if prepped ahead of time, the ingredients in today’s recipe keep quite well in the fridge for 4 days (if stored correctly). This makes it perfect to make ahead of time to have lunches ready to go to take with you to work during the week! It’s so easy to divide up all of these ingredients into separate containers all at once while you have everything out.

So what exactly is farro, anyways?

Farro is an ancient grain  filled with protein and fiber. Just ¼ cup (dry) serving of farro provides 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber!! Pretty impressive for a grain. I highly recommend trying it in this recipe. It adds a perfect chewiness and texture, and is hearty while still being able to absorb the yummy goodness from the lemon Dijon dressing. You can usually find farro next to the rice in grocery stores. Bulk bins may also have it if you want to buy a smaller quantity. You could also substitute quinoa or brown rice if that’s what you have on hand.

Optimal storage to maintain freshness

So mason jars. They may seem like just a trend, but honestly I find them so practical to store salads to maintain freshness. Obviously if you poured the dressing over the greens ahead of time, this salad wouldn’t last up to 4 days. BUT, we have a method for layering the ingredients:

-Lemon Dijon dressing

-farro

-broccoli

-corn

-red onion

-blueberries

-chicken

-feta

-arugula

Layering the ingredients in this way allows the farro to soak up the yummy flavor of the lemon Dijon dressing, while keeping the arugula fresh on top.

So, what are your thoughts on meal-prepping? Have you tried it before? I’d love to hear your thoughts below, and let me know if you try this recipe!  🙂

5.0 from 3 reviews

Blueberry Farro Feta Chicken Salad

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

This blueberry farro feta chicken salad is perfect for meal-prep lunches throughout the week. It’s bursting with an explosion of different textures, colors, and tastes. I’m confident you will love this recipe!

Author: Audra's Appetite

Recipe type: Lunch, Dinner, Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• For the salad:
• 2 cups cooked farro (cooked according to directions on package)
• 2 cups chopped broccoli
• 1 cup corn
• 1 cup red onion, diced
• 1 heaping cup fresh blueberries
• 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 lb. cooked chicken breast, shredded or diced
• 5 ounces arugula (or spinach)
• Salad dressing:
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cook farro according to directions on package. Meanwhile, cook chicken breast (grilled, baked, etc). Leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken also work great here.
2. In a small food processor, add all ingredients for dressing and blend until combined.
3. Layer approximately 2 tablespoons salad dressing, ½ cup cooked farro, ½ cup broccoli, ¼ cup corn, ¼ cup red onion, ¼ cup blueberries, 1 ounce feta cheese, 3-4 ounces cooked chicken breast, and about 1 packed cup arugula to jars.
4. Makes 4 mason jar salads. Store in fridge for up to 4 days.

3.5.3251