The double Olympic champion recorded a last lap of 50.89 seconds, a pace fit for a 400m race, as he come home in 14 minutes and 10 seconds on Saturday.
Roared on by another noisy home crowd, albeit of around 10,000 at Gateshead International Stadium rather than the 80,000 at the Olympic Stadium, Farah went straight from second gear to fifth to claim victory. An inferior field simply had no answer.
He crowned a day on which Great Britain claimed five wins to sit third out of 12 in the standings.
There were victories too for Jessica Judd in the 800m, Perri Shakes-Drayton in the 400m, Eilidh Child in the 400m hurdles and the men's 4x100m team as the hosts recovered from a slow start.
All five took the maximum 12 points to leave the team on 181 after 21 of 40 events, with Russia on 194 and Germany leading on 195.
None were quite as eye-catching as the undoubted star of the show, though.
Too good: Mo Farah celebrates winning the 5000m at the European Team Championships in Gateshead
By a distance: The double Olympic champion left the rest of the field trailing in his wake in Gateshead
That his last lap in the London 2012
5,000m final -52.9s - was an indication of just how impressive this
final 400m was, although it is important to note the overall pace of
today's race was pedestrian by comparison. Farah's clocking was almost
half a minute slower than last summer's gold medal-winning time.
The 30-year-old said: 'I had a text from (coach) Alberto (Salazar) this morning to just wait as late as possible.
'I wasn't allowed to do anything, wasn't even allowed to go to the front, but I was tripping over as the race was so slow, so I went to the front, ran as easily as possible and went from the bell.
'I went hard. He (Salazar) said just go, don't build up.'
The 30-year-old said: 'I had a text from (coach) Alberto (Salazar) this morning to just wait as late as possible.
'I wasn't allowed to do anything, wasn't even allowed to go to the front, but I was tripping over as the race was so slow, so I went to the front, ran as easily as possible and went from the bell.
'I went hard. He (Salazar) said just go, don't build up.'
Stunning: Farah ran a blistering final lap inside 51 seconds at the European Team Championships
It meant Farah got back to winning
ways after he could only finish second behind Kenya's Edwin Soi when he
was troubled by a stomach virus at his last race in Eugene at the start
of the month.
The Arsenal fan appeared, though, more excited by his task tomorrow of captaining an Arsenal Legends team in a charity match against a World Refugee XI at Barnet's Underhill Stadium.
Farah's victory in the third last track event of the day was the first by a British man after the women had got the team firmly back on track.
Team captain Shakes-Drayton ran a European leading 50.50 to further add to her dilemma over whether to stick with the hurdles or concentrate on the flat for the World Championships.
Instead it was Eilidh Child who earned an equally dominant victory over the barriers as she smashed her own Scottish record with 54.42, winning by well over half a second.
The Arsenal fan appeared, though, more excited by his task tomorrow of captaining an Arsenal Legends team in a charity match against a World Refugee XI at Barnet's Underhill Stadium.
Farah's victory in the third last track event of the day was the first by a British man after the women had got the team firmly back on track.
Team captain Shakes-Drayton ran a European leading 50.50 to further add to her dilemma over whether to stick with the hurdles or concentrate on the flat for the World Championships.
Instead it was Eilidh Child who earned an equally dominant victory over the barriers as she smashed her own Scottish record with 54.42, winning by well over half a second.
Mobot: Farah celebrates his victory with his iconic celebration
It was an 18-year-old from Canvey Island who sparked the recovery, though. Judd had to miss her school leavers' ball to run here and the sacrifice paid off in style as she looked hugely impressive in winning the 800m.
Backed by a vocal home support down the home straight she held off the challenge of Russia's Ekaterina Sharmina to win in 2:00.82.
Judd, the world junior bronze medallist, said: 'All my friends were giving me grief for not going to (the ball). I was like, "Well watch me on the TV" and they did, so I'm just happy I won now. I just came and tried my best and I won, I can't believe it.
'I was hanging on, I could hear the crowd screaming, they were cheering me the whole way, but this was a different kind of scream, this was a panic scream. I was dipping (for the line) about 50 metres out, but I did it. I am just so happy.'
Leader: British team captain Perri Shakes-Drayton ran a European leading time of 50.50
Baton Kings: (left to right) James Dasaolu, Adam Gemili, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and James Ellington
The Welshman, who had to settle for second behind German Silvio Schirrmeister in 49.39, said: 'I made too many mistakes technically and I'm not fit enough to get away with the mistakes I made.'
There was even worse news for Holly Bleasdale in the pole vault as she failed to record a height, failing her three attempts at 4.25m and revealing afterwards she was struggling with an Achilles and a back problem.
Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford had to settle for third place with 8.02m.
Elsewhere, there were second-place finishes for Nigel Levine in the 400m, Charlie Grice in the 1500m and Laura Weightman in the 3,000m.
