Fennel Apple Salad

My favourite Fall Chopped Salad!

This Fennel Apple Salad is Fall’s answer to a chopped salad and it is so easy to throw together. A little chopping, a little tossing, a little whisking. Done! And you can make it ahead of time!

Hearty, chewy farro (possibly my fave salad ingredient of all time) gets tossed together with chopped fennel, chopped apples, celery, chickpeas, onion, feta and a whole whack of herbs. It’s all tossed with crunchy pepitas and a honey-lemon-Za’ataar dressing that is easy to make and to-die-for good.

Doesn’t it just sound like fall in a bowl?

I came up with this salad for two reasons.

One, I love salads. I could live on salads. Salads are my life.

And two, because a mini vacay out to wine country requires a bit of a detox ok? 

And listen, I’m all for a good detox as long as it doesn’t involve eliminating coffee because that is never ever ever going to happen.

And let’s make it taste good to ok?

If I’m honest there’s no detox required to make this… I’d quite happily live on it anytime. Chewy Farro, sweet apples, fennel, lots of herbs and a zippy, tasty dressing. It’s a party of textures and flavours, which is everything I want in a salad.

Also goes very well with white wine. In case you’re not detoxing…

Fennel Apple Salad. Ingredients, tips, variations.

• Fennel – fennel is not that common and you might be wondering “what does fennel taste like?”. I like the way they describe it here. It’s crunchy almost like celery, but with a slightly licorice like taste that is really unique but absolutely delicious.
• Farro – farro has the most amazing texture that’s hearty and pleasantly chewy. If you want to you can use cooked short grain brown rice as a substitute, or even wild rice, or wheat berries.
• Fennel Apple Salad Recipe Variations:
• Fennel Pear Salad: sub out the apples for sweet, ripe pears. Such a good variation.
• Fennel Apple Salad with Cauliflower: to amp up the veggie factor add in a cup or so of grated cauliflower.
• Nutty Fennel Apple Salad: add in a handful of toasted chopped pecans and slivered almonds as well as a handful of dried cranberries.

Fennel Apple Salad. How to make it.

The biggest effort you’ll make here is cooking the farro and here’s a great article on how to do that perfectly.

Next is a bunch of chopping which is precisely what makes this a chopped salad. Ideally you want everything in pieces that are roughly the same size. This provides you with the best characteristic of a chopped salad in my eyes… the ability to shovel it in with a spoon, shamelessly.

Once you’ve got your farro all ready to go you can mix up the dressing and it’s super simple. Just whisk together some extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice, Za’atar, honey and S&P to taste. Pro-tip: you usually always need more salt than you think, so taste, whisk, and taste again.

Now take all of your other ingredients: farro, fennel, apple, celery, onion, chickpeas, mint, parsley, feta and pepitas and toss them into a large bowl. Add in the farro and then drizzle the dressing over everything. Mix really well and dig in.

Recipe-ish…

Let me know what you think!

If you like this Fennel Apple Salad Recipe then I think you would love my Sautéed Butternut Squash with Cinnamon Honey & Chili Recipe. It’s one of my very favourite Fall recipes because it’s good all on it’s own… but even better piled on top of ricotta toast!

I think you’ll also love my Kale Apple Salad – with Spicy Maple Nuts & Bacon It’s such a good fall dish and perfect for a cozy autumn meal.