Arugula Farro Salad with White Beans and Pesto

Last Updated: May 29, 2025 · By Jessie Johnson · This post may contain affiliate links; if you buy something we'll earn a commission at no cost to you.

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This hearty arugula white bean salad features farro, shaved parmesan cheese, and canned cannellini beans. With a quick, flavorful pesto vinaigrette!

I make some version of this easy, flavorful salad almost every week. It's quick, colorful, and easy to customize.

The most time-consuming step here is cooking the farro, but that's easily done ahead of time: I like to meal prep a big batch in advance and keep it in the fridge to throw in salads all week long.

This is a very loose recipe, and it's super forgiving. Adjust the amount of each ingredient to suit your tastes, add protein or extra veggies to make it a bit heartier, or top it with a handful of garlic toasted breadcrumbs for a bit of texture.

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Ingredients overview
Variations and Substitutions
Step by step instructions
FAQs
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments & Reviews

Ingredients overview

Scroll to the recipe card below for a full ingredients list with exact quantities.

Farro is an ancient grain with a sweet, nutty flavor and chewy texture. Make the farro fresh and serve it warm (similar to our sweet potato spinach salad), or cook it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until you need it.
Fresh arugula is the bright, peppery star of the show here. Swap it for spinach or kale if you like.
Shaved parmesan adds a salty note and a bit of texture. Note: Strict vegetarians should look for parmesan cheese made without rennet.
Canned cannellini beans add fiber and protein to this salad. Rinse and drain them before using. Chick peas or butter beans also work here.
A quick pesto dressing uses store-bought basil pesto, lemon juice (fresh or bottled - both fine!), and extra virgin olive oil.

Variations and Substitutions

Add protein. Grilled salmon or chicken, meal prepped chicken (try our slow cooker shredded chicken or dutch oven pulled chicken), leftover steak, crispy bacon, or baked garlic shrimp all go well with this salad.
Swap the farro for quinoa, barley, brown rice, or orzo.
Use a different dressing. This salad is also tasty with this balsamic vinegar dressing for spinach salad, a lemon tahini dressing, red wine basil vinaigrette, or a lemon dijon vinaigrette (find our go-to version in this lemon arugula salad).
Add toppings. Sliced shallots or red onion, toasted breadcrumbs, croutons, toasted nuts, hard boiled egg, sun-dried tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, and sliced red bell pepper are all tasty additions here.
Swap the parmesan for feta cheese, goat cheese, or crumbled cotija cheese.

Step by step instructions

Cook the farro

Cook farro according to package directions; set it aside while you prep the rest of the ingredients.

Add the farro to this salad while it's still warm (à la our sweet potato spinach salad) or let it cool completely before assembling this salad recipe.

Meal Prep Tip: Make a batch of farro at the start of the week, let it cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge until you're ready to use it!

Make the dressing

Shaking pesto vinaigrette in a mason jar.

Add pesto, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon juice to a small mason jar, along with a pinch of kosher salt. Attach a tight-fitting lid, then shake to emulsify until you have a smooth dressing. Set aside.

Questions about this dressing? Learn more in our full post on how to make pesto salad dressing.

Assemble the salad

Tossing arugula salad with pesto dressing.

Add baby arugula, drained beans, and cooked farro to a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the top, then toss to combine.

Top with shaved parmesan and a few turns of fresh cracked black pepper. Add any other toppings you like (we love adding a sprinkle of toasted garlic breadcrumbs, as seen in the photo below!)

Salad topped with toasted garlic breadcrumbs.

FAQs

What should I serve with this salad?

This grain salad pairs well with all kinds of other recipes!

Serving this arugula pesto salad as a side dish? Pair it with a hearty pasta recipe (we love this spicy tomato pasta, a roasted red pepper pasta bake, or this creamy pesto gnocchi) or protein (try our honey glazed trout, lemon garlic chicken, some seared tuna, or salmon with strawberry salsa).

Serving this salad as a main dish? Add a loaf of crusty bread (or small batch bread!) on the side, pair it with our summery farro salad, or whip up some easy herb biscuits.

Should I serve this salad warm or cold?

We typically serve this lemony arugula and white bean salad cold, with cooked farro that has been prepped in advance and refrigerated.

But the great thing about grain salads (and bean salads!) is that they work well hot OR cold!

If you serve this salad with warm farro, keep in mind that the tender arugula will start to wilt quite quickly. If you don't want wilted greens, you can use kale or spinach instead (similar to our warm sweet potato spinach salad).

What kind of pesto should I use?

We've tested our pesto dressing recipe with Rao's Homemade Basil Pesto*, DeLallo Simply Pesto* (* = pictured below), and Buitoni Basil Pesto from the grocery store, all with good results!

Two jars of pesto.

We've also tested this dressing with some of our favorite homemade pesto sauce recipes, including:

- Arugula Pesto
- Garlic Scape Pesto
- Cilantro Pesto
- Pea Pesto
- Leftover dill pesto from this carrots and labneh dish

Keep in mind that different types of pesto can vary widely in flavor and thickness.

Use this dressing recipe as a jumping-off point, then add extra lemon, olive oil, salt, or pepper and adjust as necessary to suit your tastes and achieve the right consistency.

Can I make a creamy dressing instead?

Yes! For a creamy pesto dressing, add a tab of mayonnaise or Greek yogurt to the vinaigrette. Adding a creamy product will give you a slightly thicker dressing; you may need to add an extra splash of lemon juice or olive oil to achieve a drizzle-able consistency.