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Who says salads are only for warm weather? This Kale Butternut Squash Salad is made with fresh kale, roasted butternut squash, and candied pecans tossed in a homemade horseradish dressing. The flavors are perfect for fall and winter when you’re craving a seasonal salad.
This delightful butternut kale salad makes for a great side dish for the holidays, or add some protein and enjoy it as a meal. The combination of flavors is perfect for the colder months, especially if you serve the roasted butternut squash warm. Everyone will be begging you for this recipe, especially the horseradish dressing.
If you like butternut squash recipes, you will love my butternut squash breakfast bake and butternut chicken chili!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Not Another Boring Salad: This kale salad with butternut squash is anything but boring. The bold flavors of the butternut squash, roasted pecans, and horseradish dressing make this a unique and delicious dish that everyone is going to love.
- Winter Flavors in a Salad: When you think salad, you probably think of a light dish that’s perfect for warm weather, but this salad captures the flavors of winter. Butternut is a winter squash, and kale hits peak season in the late fall, plus the spicy flavors of horseradish make this a great winter salad.
- Delicious, Low-Calorie Horseradish Dressing: The homemade horseradish dressing is the star of this salad! Horseradish is pungent, spicy, and packed with flavor, so you don’t need a lot of extra ingredients with it to make a delicious dressing.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Kale: You’ll need to wash the kale, remove the stems, then cut the leaves into ½” pieces so they are bite-sized and easier to chew.
- Butternut Squash: Peel a fresh butternut squash and chop it into 1-inch pieces so they roast thoroughly and evenly. You can also thaw frozen butternut and cut it down to size.
- Horseradish: This is a root vegetable; it looks similar to the root of ginger. If you can’t find fresh horseradish, you can purchase a jar of prepared horseradish, but be sure it is gluten-free and not loaded with excessive added ingredients.
- Lemon Juice: The acidity in fresh lemon juice helps lighten and brighten the salad dressing.
- Pecans: You’ll want to use raw, unsalted pecans since you’ll be seasoning and roasting them for your salad.
- Egg White: The egg white will help the seasonings and sweetener stick to the pecans for candying them.
- Zero Calorie Sweetener: Use your favorite zero-calorie sweetener like Truvia, monkfruit, or stevia to candy the pecans.
- Seasonings: Give the pecans an extra spicy flavor by adding paprika, cinnamon, and cayenne before roasting them.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations & Dietary Modifications
- Add Grains: Bulk up this salad by adding some grains that are high in protein and fiber. Quinoa, brown rice, barley, or wild rice are all options that taste fabulous paired with kale and butternut.
- Turn It Into a Meal: This butternut squash and kale salad makes a great lunch or dinner if you pair it with some chicken, salmon, or beans for added protein.
- Mix in More Veggies: Add more roasted winter vegetables like carrots, beets, brussels sprouts, or other leafy greens to smash even more flavor into this delightful salad.
- Add Cheese and Toppings: If you want a little more flavor or a different texture, you can add a bit of crumbled goat cheese, feta cheese, dried cranberries, or pomegranate seeds to your salad.
How to Make Kale Butternut Squash Salad
This cozy roasted butternut squash and kale salad is warm and flavorful with a little spicy kick. It has several different components, but they don’t need to be prepared all at once. You do need to roast the butternut and the pecans, so preheat your oven to 350° F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 1: Roast the Butternut Squash. Add the chopped butternut squash to the baking sheet and spray it with cooking spray. Bake the squash for 45 minutes at 350° F until the outside caramelizes and turns golden brown along the edges.
Step 2: Prepare the Pecans. While the butternut cooks, whisk the egg white in a bowl until it turns frothy. Mix the zero-calorie sweetener, paprika, cayenne, cinnamon, and salt into the egg white, then add the pecans to the bowl and stir to coat them in the mixture.
Step 3: Bake the Pecans. Spread the prepared pecans in a single layer on the other prepared baking sheet and bake them at 350° F for 25 minutes.
Step 4: Prep the Dressing. Whisk together the horseradish and lemon juice in a bowl. Then slowly drizzle the oil into the mixture as you whisk. Salt and pepper to your taste.
Step 5: Combine the Salad. Once the butternut and pecans are roasted, the kale is chopped, and the dressing is mixed, add all of the components to a large bowl and toss them together. Enjoy right away so the kale doesn’t get soggy! It’s great for lunch with a high fiber protein smoothie to make a full meal.
Expert Tips
- Massage the Kale: Break down the tough texture of the kale by massaging the chopped leaves in a bowl with olive oil and salt. This process tenderizes the greens and cuts the bitter flavor. If you don’t think you like kale, you probably haven’t tried well-massaged kale!
- Make Some Parts in Advance: There are several moving pieces in this recipe with the butternut squash, pecans, and salad dressing. You can roast the butternut squash a day or two ahead of making the salad. The same goes for the pecans and the dressings. Just store them in the refrigerator in airtight containers for 2-3 days.
- Store Components Separately: I don’t recommend storing the fully dressed salad because the kale and other ingredients will turn slimy. Store each component separately and combine the amount you want to eat instead of combining the whole thing.
Serving Suggestions
This kale and butternut squash salad is not your average, boring salad! It is full of different textures and flavors from the kale, roasted butternut, crunchy pecans, and spicy horseradish dressing. Any dinners where you serve this salad, everyone will beg you for the recipe! It’s so cozy and delicious.
- Use your leftover chopped vegetables in other butternut squash and kale recipes, like butternut squash hash and turkey kale enchilada soup.
- Make this salad as the first course for a dinner party and serve it with pork chops wild rice casserole.
Recipe FAQs
If your kale is still so tough and bitter, then you didn’t massage it enough. You need to massage it for about 5 minutes until it starts to darken, soften, and shrink in size.
Kale can absorb a lot of dressing. If your salad seems too dry, try adding some extra dressing or just a little drizzle of more oil.
If your baking pan is too crowded, the butternut isn’t cut into a uniform size, or you don’t add the cooking spray, then it won’t brown along the edges and caramelize.
More Delicious Winter Salad Recipes
If you tried this Kale Butternut Squash Salad recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below.
Kale Butternut Squash Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 2 bunches Kale, stems discarded and leaves cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 cups Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
For the Dressing:
- 1 ½ teaspoons Horseradish
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
For the Pecans:
- 2 cups Pecans, raw, unsalted
- 1 Egg White
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
- ¼ cup Zero Calorie Sugar, like Truvia, Monkfruit or sugar of choice
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add butternut squash and spray with cooking spray.⅓
- Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake 45 minutes at 350 F until roasted and tender.
- While the butternut squash cooks, whisk the egg in a medium bowl until frothy. Then add the sugar, salt and spices. Add pecans and stir to coat with mixture.
- Spread the pecans in a single layer on a separate baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven 25 minutes and flip once half way through.
- While the pecans are roasting whisk together mustard, lemon juice and honey in a medium bowl. Drizzle the oil slowly into the mixture as you whisk until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- To assemble the salad, place sliced kale in a large mixing bowl, add butternut squash, pecans and dressing. Toss to combine and eat!
Notes
- Add the kale to a bowl with some salt and olive oil after cleaning and chopping it. Use your hands to massage the leaves until they darken, get softer, and shrink in size. This makes the kale less tough and bitter and easier to digest.
- Save some time and roast your butternut squash and pecans a day or two in advance. Then you can massage the kale, mix up the dressing, and your salad is ready to go.
- Don’t store the fully dressed salad together, or it will turn slimy. Instead, only toss together what you need and store each component in the refrigerator separately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I must make this!!!
Hope you like it!