Fonio Salad with Roasted Carrots and Radishes

Cooked fonio is mixed with roasted carrots and radishes, butter beans, toasted cashews, and fresh herbs from the garden. This vegan and gluten free salad is delicious, filling, and simple to bring together!

One of my favorite type of meals to make in any season is a grain salad. Simply toss everything together in a bowl and you’re good to go! I especially love making grain salads with fonio because it cooks up in a little over 5 minutes. For this autumnal version, I combined cooked fonio with roasted carrots and radishes, creamy butter beans, toasted cashews, lemon juice, and some fresh garlic chives and lemon basil from the garden. It’s seriously so good and so easy to bring together!

Grab these Ingredients to Make Your Fonio Salad

• Fonio – this creates the base of our grain salad. You’ll combine uncooked fonio with some water and a bit of olive oil or vegan butter. You’ll simmer for just about a minute, then remove it from the heat and cover it. It’s ready to use in the recipe after just 5 minutes!
• Radishes and Carrots – these make up the veggie component in the salad. I love a mix of carrots and radishes because their flavors balance each other so beautifully. We’ll do a simple roast on these with olive oil and sea salt until they’re tender and just beginning to caramelize around the edges.
• Fresh Herbs – this recipe relies on the fresh flavor of herbs to take it to the next level. I used a mix of garlic chives and lemon basil from my garden but dill, parsley, cilantro, onion chives, and sweet basil would also be equally delicious. Use what you have!
• Cooked Butter Beans – these add a creamy element as well as some protein to the salad. Feel free to use any cooked bean you like in their place, but I love that they have a more neutral flavor that doesn’t distract from the other ingredients.
• Toasted Cashews – add a lovely, nutty flavor and crunch.
• Lemon – adds a brightness and punch to the salad that lifts all of the flavors.
• Olive Oil – this will help us roast the veggies and add a bit of flavor to the fonio.
• Sea Salt – seasons and balances flavors.

How to Cook with Fonio

Just in case you’ve never come across it, fonio is a type of millet that is naturally gluten free and most commonly grown in West Africa. Fonio grains are incredibly small but when they are cooked, they have a fluffy texture similar to couscous. Fonio has a nutty flavor similar to millet and is incredibly versatile.

Here’s how I cook it: combine your fonio and water in a 1:2 ratio in small pot. So, if you’re cooking 1/2 cup of fonio, you’ll add 1 cup of water to the pot. I like to add a tablespoon or so of olive oil or vegan butter to the pot as well. Set the pot over medium heat. Once it comes to a simmer, continue to stir it for about 30-60 seconds until the fonio has thickened and it looks like most of the water has been absorbed. Then, remove it from the heat, cover it, and let it sit 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, fluff it with a fork and it’s good to go!

Substitution Notes

• Fonio is less common to see in the store, so if you don’t have access to it, you can use 1 1/2 to 2 cups of cooked millet or quinoa in its place.
• Feel free to use any combination of root veggies you like in place of the carrots and radishes.
• Any cooked white bean will work in place of the butter beans: navy, cannellini, etc.
• Don’t skip out on the fresh herbs! I went with what I had in my garden but any of the following will work really well in the recipe: parsley, dill, cilantro, sweet basil, onion chives, and tarragon.

If you love fonio, I recommend trying my fonio bowl with garlicky kale and roasted carrots. I pair it with a cilantro mint yogurt sauce that is lip-smacking delicious!

Want to see how easily this recipe comes together? You can watch it here!

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