Topped with roasted butternut squash dressed in a low-calorie dressing & accessorized with candied pecans this Winter Kale Butternut Squash Salad With Candied Pecans will warm you up with health!
Hope you’re having a great start to your week! I don’t know about you, but I kinda struggle getting enough greens in my meals during the winter. Something about a salad just doesn’t sound that enticing when it’s cold outside. I always look to warmer, bulkier foods for my meals. I don’t even like in place that’s that cold either. I can’t imagine living somewhere with real cold weather what I’d be eating. I’ve discovered that a warm salad can fill you up in the winter time as equally as a bulkier meal and be something you crave too.
This Winter Kale Butternut Squash Salad is equally delicious cold or warm. The dressing is very light. It doesn’t overwhelm the salad like most do, which is something I love about it. I can’t stand it when you get a salad that’s drenched in dressing and you can’t taste the flavors. I actually think this salad tastes even better the next day after the flavors have mingled. Kale yeah!
You might not like kale now, but you will after you eat this. I’ll be the first to admit kale has never been a favorite of mine. It’s too grimy, tough, hard to chew, makes my stomach grumble and has a distinct, funny taste. One or all of the above are my excuse(s) for not eating this powerhouse veggie. I don’t even like it in juices. A few weeks ago, I took a cooking class at Sur La Table and we made this kale salad. I fell in love. Of all the dishes, this was by far my favorite. So no, this isn’t an original recipe created by yours truly but it was just too pretty not to photograph and share with you.
Honestly I like photographing the food more than eating it sometimes. I must’ve taken 50 pictures of this dish. It was so darn pretty and the lighting was perfect too. Unfortunately all my picture taking is gonna need to be addressed soon as my photo storage is running out on the cloud and on my computer.
I need to start backing them up on an external hard drive and deleting off my computer. They’re making my computer run slow and it’s only a year old. Still amazes me how much my photography has changed in just a year.
But back to this Winter Kale Butternut Squash Salad, we can’t overlook the star of the show…the spiced pecans. They’re perfectly seasoned with a bit of spice and a bit of sweet. They taste just like candy. I could eat them all day by the handful. I lightened mine up by using baking stevia which way less calories than brown sugar which is what the original recipe calls for.
I’ve tried it both ways and can tell you, you won’t notice the difference either way so depending on your goals pick a side and go with it. Even if you salad isn’t your thing, you’ll wanna pin the recipe just to make the pecans. If only the web smellovision and food sharing, I’d hand you handful to try right now. Enjoy the recipe!
- 2 bunches kale, stems discarded & leaves cut into ½ inch pieces
- 1 butternut squash (~2 cups), peeled, seeded & cut into ½ inch pieces (I buy mine pre-cut)
- 1½ tsp horseradish
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp walnut oil (or substitute canola oil)
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2 cups raw unsalted pecans halves
- 1 large egg white
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ¼ cup stevia baking sugar (substitute brown sugar)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- Preheat oven 350 degrees
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper of silicone mat
- Add butternut squash & spray with cooking spray
- Transfer to the oven and bake 45 minutes until roasted
- Meanwhile in a medium bowl whisk the egg white until frothy
- Then whisk in the sugar, salt & spices
- Add pecans & stir to coast with mixture
- Spread pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat
- Bake in the oven 25 minutes & stir once
- While pecans are cooking whisk together mustard, lemon juice & honey in a medium bowl
- Drizzle walnut oil slowly as you whisk until combined
- Add salt & pepper to taste
- To assemble place sliced kale in a large bowl, add butternut squash, pecans & dressing
- Toss thoroughly to combine
Do you eat salad in the winter? Are you fan of kale?
I’ve been kind of obsessed with butternut squash lately! I love the horseradish in here great addition. Thanks for linking up with us again this week!
I’m kind of obsessed with all squash all the time. The only one I haven’t tried is acorn. Not sure if I’d like it.
This dressing looks like one I’m going to have to try. Horseradish? Yes where do I sign up for that. Sadly I’m not a walnut fan I just can’t get into them but a hearty salad with butternut squash is a winter go to for me.
This salad has pecans actually.
What a delicious combo, love it! You know I’m a kale fan!
I just became one!
Wow, this looks delicious and I have all the ingredients to whip it up this afternoon! Thanks for sharing!!
Hope you have a chance to try it.
This salad looks delicious! I just picked up some pecans at the store this weekend so may be trying this soon! PS – I love finding other Megans in the world, though I’m a Meghan w/ an H!
Megan is a unique name. 🙂 Glad to meet you too!
We were on the same wavelength today! This sounds like my kinda salad, I love everything in it, and love that you made them spiced pecans! YUM! Thanks for joining us, have a wonderful monday!
Great minds think alike!
I LOVE kale and butternut squash together! This salad sounds so good!
Thank you Giselle!
I have had a butternut squash laying around for a few months that I need to use. Baking squashes always seems like such a daunting task for me but this recipe looks like it’s totally worth the effort!
That’s why I buy pre-cut. 1000x easier. Enjoy the recipe!
Yum! I can’t wait to try this! At first I thought it was a salad I enjoy regularly but it isn’t! I don’t add spices to my pecans and I don’t add a dressing, just evoo, or omit and add feta. I bet my husband would love this with the horseradish!
Hope you love it!
Yum this looks amazing! Your photography is awesome – this dish is stunning. I love the dressing to – who would have thought to add horseradish!! Pinning!
Thanks! What’s crazy is you can’t even taste the horseradish.
Pinned it! Looks so good.
Thank you!
OMG this salad looks so good! Definitely saving it to try out.
Hope you try it. It’s so yummy!
I am drooling over these photos! I don’t like horseradish (plus it’s not vegan)…any suggestions for a substitution?
Dijon mustard would work for vegans.
I love kale and the horseradish sounds very unique! Will have to pin to try it out later. Thanks for the recipe!
Hope you get to try it!
I dream of butternut squash however I think I ate wayyyyyy too much 2 days in a row last week, to the point that I had severe stomach pain! My digestive life = A MESS!
Yikes, hope that gets better soon so you can eat it again. But that IS a lot of squash girl!
Omg that’s a very beautiful salad! But kale is not sold anywhere where I live 🙁 I know it’s weird and I love Kale but it’s just impossible to find…
That is weird. The salad would be just as delicious with another green.
Just stumbled across your blog from the Busy Mondays linky party. So glad I did! Your food pictures and recipes have me salivating! Would love for you to stop by my baking blog to say hello x
Thanks for popping by! Loved your spinach tarts.
Wow, what a gorgeous salad! And gorgeous photos, too. Thanks so much for joining us at FF and Everything Else. Have a wonderful weekend!
You too! Thank you!
I’m loving this recipe! Especially the pecans. 🙂 I hope you can stop on by and share this or any other recipe with us on Five Friday Finds!
This looks really colorful and full of lots of things I know I like so can imagine they are good together. The cpiced pecans sound great too!
I must make this!!!
Hope you like it!