Honey, garlic, and seasoned salt make this warm kale butternut squash salad extra flavorful. I toast the brown rice to give this warm salad a nutty flavor and added burst of fresh pomegranate arils. With less than 10 ingredients, you have a gourmet fall or winter salad that is perfect as a side dish or easy dinner.
The ultimate fall side dish has arrived!
This warm kale butternut squash salad can be served as a warm salad or festive side dish to a holiday meal. I love to serve it alongside of my slow roasted turkey, honey roasted ham, or slow-roasted beef tenderloin.
The beauty is it's vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and super flavorful. So it will make every one of your guests happy. As a bonus, this salad uses less than 10 ingredients and is bursting with seasonal vegetables.
Make this for a healthy dinner salad during squash season, or make it at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a great dish to take to a holiday potluck.
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Sautéed butternut squash and kale
For the holidays, there's nothing better than stovetop side dishes. The oven is usually full of prime rib or slow roast turkey.
I sauté the butternut squash in a skillet, so there's no need to use the oven to roast it. This keeps the oven available to all of those long roasting meats as well as other oven baked side dishes.
Everything, including the kale and rice, gets cooked on the stove and leaves the oven open for those whole wheat dinner rolls and apple pie!
Ingredients in a butternut squash and kale dish
Toast brown rice and add it to a mixture of sautéed butternut squash and kale for this delicious recipe. Here's what goes into it:
- Brown rice - Use long grain brown rice for the best texture and results. You'll need water and kosher salt too.
- Olive oil - You can use an olive oil for sautéing, or avocado oil.
- Butternut squash - Peel and cut it into ½-inch pieces, or purchase peeled squash and cut it into smaller pieces. You'll need about 3 cups, or 1 pound.
- Garlic - Just one clove of garlic adds wonderful flavor. You can use garlic powder in a pinch.
- Seasoned salt - I love the mixture of flavored a seasoned salt offers. Use Redmond Real Salt seasoned salt, or Lowry's.
- Honey - The little bit of honey brings out the sweetness of the squash.
- Kale - Classic curly kale, with the stems removed is great here. If you buy a bag of chopped kale, just remove the tough stem pieces.
- Black pepper - Adds a hint of flavor and heat. For more of a kick, swap for red pepper flakes.
- Pomegranate arils - The bright, sweet, juicy arils add color and a burst of flavor. You can swap them for dried cranberries roughly chopped.
How to make a warm kale butternut squash salad recipe
- For the Rice: In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, toast the dry brown rice. Stir frequently, until the rice is hot, fragrant and some pieces will be toasted with darker brown spots, about 2 minutes.
- Immediately add water, reduce heat to medium-low and cover pan. Simmer rice until tender and liquid is absorbed, about 40 minutes. Set aside.
- For the Kale and Squash: In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add butternut squash, garlic, and seasoned salt. Cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until squash is tender, 7 to 10 minutes.
- Uncover the squash and add honey. Remove from the pan and transfer to a large serving bowl.
- Add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet over medium-high heat. Add kale, and black pepper. Cook until kale is just wilted and softening, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Stir in ½ of the pomegranate arils and garnish with the remaining. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Tips for kale and butternut squash salad
If you're serving this recipe as a salad, I prefer it to be served as a warm salad.
Similar to a brown rice grain bowl, you'll toss all the warm ingredients together and top it off with crisp and juicy pomegranates.
Since the rice plays an important role in this salad, adding texture and flavor, I toasted it to create a rich nutty taste. You can do this with any grain to add some flavor, it's a great chef tip!
The beauty of a warm salad with kale is that you can really serve it warm or at room temperature. Kale's sturdy texture is perfect for this.
Most warm salads must be eaten quickly before the greens get super wilted and soggy. Not this one!
Kale and butternut squash FAQs
It depends on the method of cooking. Blanching kale in boiling salted water takes about 5 minutes. If you are sautéing kale in a skillet it will take 3 to 8 minutes to become tender, depending on the heat. Roasting kale in the oven takes 15 to 20 minutes at 375ºF.
Toasting brown rice doesn't change the cooking time significantly. This just adds more flavor to the kernel of rice itself before it is fully cooked.
Kale is a hearty green with a medium flavor. It pairs well with sweet and robust flavors and vegetables.
Kale goes well with:
• squash
• tomatoes
• grains
• bell peppers
• dried fruit
• root vegetables like beets and carrots
You can make this kale and butternut squash with cranberries as a sweet and tangy swap for pomegranates.
Use the same amount of sweetened, dried cranberries. This means you can make this warm salad even if you can't find fresh pomegranate arils, or don't want to take the time to peel a pomegranate.The flavor is so similar. Other dried fruits would also work: try chopped apricots, currents or golden raisins.
Rice is gluten-free, so this side dish salad is gluten-free.
If you choose to swap another grain for the brown rice you will need to check whether it is gluten-free or not.
Use a nonstick skillet and first brown the squash over medium high heat in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan with a lid and allow to cook again until the squash is tender, about 7 to 10 minutes.
More stovetop side dishes:
- Caramelized Pearl Onions
- Flavored Mashed Potatoes
- Carrots Glazed in Brown Sugar
- Skillet Green Beans and Artichokes
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📖 Recipe
Warm Kale Butternut Squash Salad
Ingredients
Toasted Brown Rice
- ¾ cups brown rice (not short grain)
- 1¼ cups water ((SEE NOTE BELOW))
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Kale and Butternut Squash
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and cut into ½-inch pieces ((3 cups diced squash is 1 lb))
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- ¾ teaspoon Lowry's Seasoned Salt
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 10-ounce bag chopped kale
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup pomegranate arils (plus more for garnish)
Instructions
For the Rice
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, toast the dry brown rice. Stir frequently, until the rice is hot, fragrant and some pieces will be toasted with darker brown spots, about 2 minutes.
- Immediately add water, reduce heat to medium-low and cover pan. Simmer rice until tender and liquid is absorbed, about 40 minutes. Set aside.
For the kale and squash
- In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add butternut squash, garlic and seasoned salt. Cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until squash is tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Uncover and add honey. Remove from pan, transfer to a large serving bowl.
- Add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to skillet over medium-high heat. Add kale, and black pepper. Cook until kale is just wilted and softening, 3 to 5 minutes. Add rice and kale to butternut squash and stir to combine.
- Stir in ½ of the pomegranate arils and garnish with the remaining. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Thanksgiving Recipes
Tara Teaspoon
I’ve been in food publishing for over 25 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television, food brands, & advertising. With two cookbooks under my belt and thousands of my recipes at your fingertips, I hope you'll be inspired to spend more time in the kitchen!
Recipe by Tara Teaspoon. Photos by Darianne Edwards. Updated September 2023.
Britney says
The colors in this dish are beautiful, and it's such an easy recipe to add to hectic holiday menu! Thanks Tara!
Mia says
I was not a real fan of kale until I tried this dish! It is glorious!
Megan Palmer says
This looks delecious!