Fall Kale Salad | Roasted Butternut Squash, Apples, & Maple Tahini Dressing

Kale haters, this is your opportunity to exit the page. If you don’t want to hear the virtues of kale extolled, then turn around immediately. You’ve been warned! Homegrown kale is the base of this warm fall kale salad, accompanied by a sweet and tangy maple tahini dressing, tossed with wild rice, gorgonzola, roasted apples, butternut squash, and dried cranberries.

Since kale is a tried and true standout in the garden, lasting long past your first frost, you’ll be able to enjoy glorious kale salads well into autumn. Kale also stores well in the fridge for a few weeks so if you’ve harvested a bunch, or stocked up at the grocery store or farmers market, fret not.

Fall Kale Salad

This salad is loaded with warm wild rice, roasted butternut squash and apples, and drizzled with a maple tahini dressing. Just what the weather calls for!

5 from 1 vote

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Course Salad

Servings 4 salads

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 half butternut squash peeled and chopped
• 2 honeycrisp apples cored and sliced
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• A few dashes of sea salt and pepper
• 1 bunch lacinato kale finely chopped (can remove stems if you want but I like them!)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 2 oz gorgonzola cheese
• 1 cup cooked wild rice
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp brown grainy mustard
• ½ cup maple
• ½ cup EVOO
• ¼ cup ACV
• ¼ cup tahini
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Toss cubed butternut squash and apples in olive oil, maple syrup, salt, and pepper, then transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Roast for 30-35 minutes until tender, tossing once halfway through. Remove from oven and let cool while assembling salad.
• Whisk mustards, maple syrup, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, tahini, and salt and pepper together in a small bowl. This makes leftovers, so you’ll have more for leftovers!
• Mix kale, gorgonzola, wild rice, roasted butternut squash and apples, cranberries, and dressing together and enjoy!
• Optional: Top with crushed nuts of your choice — walnuts would be fantastic but alas, I didn’t have any on hand while making this!

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

This fall kale salad was inspired by a yummy fall salad from Two Peas and Their Pod

My favorite kale variety to grow is ‘Black Magic’ lacinato kale (also known as dinosaur kale) — I first saw it while staying at Scribner’s Lodge in the Catskills in New York. Look at this beautiful bed chock full of it!

If you haven’t tried this variety before, give it a whirl. I purchased my seeds from Johnny’s and have been really pleased with the production for the past couple of years. Kale is an essential garden item for me — and so far this year I haven’t had to purchase kale since March.

If you’re considering starting a garden, think about what you like to eat most and focus on growing those things first. They’ll taste better, you can grow different varieties that you won’t find in stores, and you’ll be delighted to see that freshly picked produce lasts much longer than what you are used to buying.

Some other kale varieties that I grow and love are:

• ‘Scarlet’
• ‘Redbor’
• ‘Red Russian’
• ‘Winterbor’
• ‘Premier’

If you try this fall kale salad, let me know! Leave a comment or a rating — I’d greatly appreciate it.