Kale Salad with Butternut Squash is a fall salad for you that is perfect for the holidays.
Kale Salad with Butternut Squash:
In this salad recipe, chopped kale is tossed with roasted butternut squash, blue cheese, pomegranate seeds and a honey-cider vinaigrette. It’s such a simple salad, but it’s so good that I could eat the entire thing! And it’s so pretty and colorful that I love to serve it over the holidays.
The Everyday Squash Cook
This recipe comes from The Every Day Squash Cook by Rob Firing, Ivy Knight and Kerry Knight. I’m completely enamored with this cookbook! It’s full of recipes that utilize all kinds of varieties of squash.
Here are a few of the pages I have tagged to make very soon: Butternut “Bacon,” Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Pumpkin and Brie, Spaghetti Squash Soup with Coconut Milk and Ginger, Roast Chicken Stuffed with Squash and Wild Rice, Spinach Salad with Acorn Rings and Warm Bacon Vinaigrette, Creamy Acorn Squash Polenta, Zucchini Refrigerator Pickles, Squashsicles, Butternut Brownies, and Zucchini- Walnut Loaf with Lemon Glaze. Doesn’t it all sound AMAZING??
If you’re kind-of afraid of kale or if you think you don’t like it… give kale a chance! If you’re not happy with the texture of raw kale, toss the salad with the dressing and give it some time to “marinate.” The dressing will soften the kale, and you can then taste the salad and declare, “I love kale!”
The roasted squash and the sweet and tangy dressing are a perfect pairing with the kale. The strong, wonderful flavor of blue cheese and the sweet pomegranate seeds round it all out. Have I told you how much I love this salad?!
Substitution suggestions:
- Substitute feta cheese for the blue cheese
- Substitute dried cranberries for the pomegranate seeds
- Substitute chopped red leaf lettuce for the chopped kale
I’m going to add chicken to this and call it a main dish salad for dinner tonight. I’ll make it again for Thanksgiving, and I’ll make it again for Christmas because of its extreme festive-nature.
Here are a few more recipes using kale that you might like to try:
- Roasted Garlic Kale Hummus
- Berry and Bacon Kale Salad with Blackberry Jam Vinaigrette
- Butternut Squash Soup with Kale
- Garlic Bacon Kale
- Butternut Squash and Kale Soup with Fresh Herbs and White Beans
- Baked Kale Chips
If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you will find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.
Kale Salad with Butternut Squash
Ingredients
VINAIGRETTE:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
SALAD:
- 3 cups trimmed and thinly sliced kale
- 1 cup cubed and roasted butternut squash (follow the Tips below)
- ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese
- ¼ cup pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries
Instructions
MAKE THE VINAIGRETTE:
- Combine all of the vinaigrette ingredients in a jar, seal with a lid and shake to combine. Set aside.
MAKE THE SALAD:
- In a large bowl, toss together the kale, squash and blue cheese. Toss with the vinaigrette. Divide the salad among serving bowls and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries? before serving.
Notes
- If you are preparing this recipe as GLUTEN-FREE, I'd sub feta cheese for the blue cheese unless you're sure that your blue cheese is gluten-free. Be sure to use a brand of Dijon mustard that is know to be GF too.
- To roast the squash: Preheat the oven to 400℉. Cut, seed and peel your butternut squash. Carefully cut the squash crosswise into ¾-inch slices, and then cut those slices into cubes. Lightly coat the squash with olive oil and a big pinch of salt. Spread squash evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn cubes over and roast or an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until tender.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Outstanding salad. Thank you for keeping it simple and letting the fresh ingredients shine! The dressing will be one of my go-to’s in the future. The only deviation i made from the recipe was to use dried cranberries instead of pomegranate seeds since they are out of season right now.
Butternut squash is one of my all time favorite foods. I was looking for a new salad recipe and this one has a lot of wow factor with all that color. I love the look of it. I’m going to make it tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.