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cooked farro in an instant pot
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5 from 2 votes

Instant Pot Farro

Instant Pot farro creates beautiful, consistent results with a totally hands-off process. Here's how to achieve a variety of textures for use in salads, soups, and risotto-style dishes.
Prep Time5 minutes
Additional Time20 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: Grains
Cuisine: American
Keyword: instant pot farro
Calories: 89kcal
Author: Carolyn Gratzer Cope

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (200 grams) whole or semi-pearled farro (see note 1)
  • 1 ½ to 3 cups 350 to (700 ml) water or broth (see note 2)
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon (14 grams) butter or olive oil

Instructions

  • Place farro in a bowl and cover with warm water. Soak for 20 minutes.
  • Drain in a fine-mesh sieve, discarding soaking liquid.
  • Place farro into a 6- or 8-quart Instant Pot along with broth or water, salt, and butter or olive oil.
  • Position the lid and set the vent to sealing position.
  • Cook on manual, high pressure. For firm farro, cook for 7 minutes. For softer farro that retains a great bit of chewiness, cook for 10 minutes. For soft, creamy farro that resembles risotto, cook for 15 minutes.
  • Allow the pressure to release naturally.
  • Stir and serve or use in recipes.

Notes

  1. When shopping for farro in the U.S., it can be hard to know exactly what you're buying. Even premium brands labeled as "whole" are typically semi-pearled. This includes Bob's Red Mill and Rustichella d'Abruzzo. It's not worth worrying about — just know that you may need to experiment a bit to learn how your brand works in the Instant Pot, and consider finding a brand that you like and sticking with it. I've done my best to calibrate the cooking times here for semi-pearled farro, but your mileage may vary.
  2. For firm farro to use in salads, use a 1.5:1 ratio of liquid to grains by volume (so 1 ½ cups of liquid per up of dry farro). For a nice, plump grain that still retains a bit of chewiness, great as a side dish or for adding to soups, use a 2:1 ratio (so 2 cups of liquid). For risotto-style farro, use up to a 3:1 ratio to yield a luxurious, creamy result without much bite left — or use a little less if you prefer a more toothsome texture.
  3. In a 6- or 8-quart Instant Pot, you can double the ingredients without making any further changes. The IP will take a bit longer to come up to pressure, but you don't need to do anything differently.
  4. Farro keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge for a week.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 | Calories: 89kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 394mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g