What is Farro?

If you’re looking at this Tuscan Farro Soup recipe for the first time, you might be wondering what farro actually is. Farro is an ancient form of wheat that has a slightly nutty taste and chewy texture. It’s full of fiber and gives a hearty quality to soups, salads and grain bowls. You can find farro in most natural groceries or even online. It’s very easy to cook because you don’t need to worry about a water:grain ratio. Just cook it in a lot of water and then strain when it has reached its perfect chewiness. In this recipe, the farro just cooks in the soup, soaking up all the delicious flavors of the other ingredients. 

Ingredients for Farro Soup

Those other ingredients are all very simple and basic, as in most Tuscan recipes. You’ll need onion, carrots, garlic, a bulb of fennel, some tomatoes, white beans and vegetable stock. Though the ingredients are simple, perhaps because the ingredients are all so simple, it’s important that you use the best quality ingredients you can. Those ingredients, like the vegetable stock and tomatoes are going to provide most of the flavor for this soup so make sure you use brands that you like. 

How to Make Farro Soup

This soup starts the way all soup recipes start – sweating the vegetables, adding the spices and then toasting the farro lightly once the vegetables have started to soften. Then you simply add your best quality tomatoes (I’m partial to fire-roasted) and vegetable stock and let it simmer for about 30 minutes, until the farro is tender but still chewy. Then tip in a can of white beans and a couple handfuls of greens. 

Add Leafy Greens

I used beautiful greens from my local market stall – a gorgeous mix of braising greens – but you can use spinach, kale, or chard. Simmer the greens just long enough to wilt them in the hot soup. How long will depend on the greens you are using – the heartier the green, the longer it will take. 

How to Store Farro Soup

This soup freezes really well, making it a perfect meal to keep in your freezer for that rainy day when you need a warm hearty bowl of something. It will also keep in your refrigerator for up to a week. The farro will continue to absorb liquid, so you might want to thin it with water or more stock when you go to re-heat it. 

More Delicious Soup Recipes

If you like this Tuscan farro soup, here are some others that you might like:

• Tuscan Bean Soup with Tomatoes and Spinach
• Tuscan Chicken and White Bean Soup
• Lentil Soup with Tomatoes and Fennel
• Chicken Vegetable Soup
• Beef Barley Soup
• Cream of Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

There’s a whole world of soups that can be a whole meal in a bowl!

Tuscan Farro Soup