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Lee Funke
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Make this farro salad with kale and butternut squash for a healthy, delicious dinner that’s made with whole grains and tons of veggies.
This yummy kale salad is nutrient-packed and vegetarian and one of the besthigh-protein vegetarian meals out there.
Farro Salad with Kale and Butternut Squash
Get ready for the fall kale salad of your dreams ladies and gents. This hubba hubba massaged kale salad is made with roasted butternut squash, roasted chickpeas, yummy farro, pumpkin seeds, dried cherries, and all of the goat cheese you could ever imagine.
why you’ll love this farro salad
- It’s a whole meal, not just a salad.
- The flavors are amazing.
- You get so many textures in one salad.
- This farro salad is packed with nutrients.
Featured Ingredients
- farro: whole grain, vegan, and high-fiber
- pumpkin seeds: great texture and healthy fats
- dried cherries: whole food, no-added-sugar, all-natural sweetness
- goat cheese: super creamy and healthy fats
- butternut squash: creamy, flavorful, and a great fall vegetable.
If you’d like to keep this meal vegan, no worries! You can substitute the goat cheese for vegan cheese or no cheese at all. Easy peasy.
how to
massage kale
Never skip the step of massaging your kale before tossing it in this farro salad. Trust us.
Make It
How to Roast Butternut Squash
Let’s chat about all things butternut squash. Butternut squash is a super intimidating vegetable (actually fruit!). Since it has seeds, it’s actually considered a fruit (WHATTT?). It’s just so large and hard and difficult to cut. So? What does that mean for you? No fear! We actually have an excellent, in-depth guide that teaches you…
- how to cut butternut squash
- how to cook butternut squash
What I’m trying to say is, if you are also intimidated by butternut squash like I once was, it’s not so bad. You just need to give it a little extra TLC in order to make it scrumptious and perfect for this kale salad.
Kale Salad Dressing
The last thing you need for this vegetarian meal is an easy kale salad dressing! Since there are already so many amazing parts of this salad, we wanted to keep things pretty simple.
- olive oil
- red onion
- garlic
- dijon
- maple syrup
- balsamic vinegar
- lemon
If you would like to mix things up and make a different dressing, check out all of our dressings. We have lots of different options.
how to
roast butternut squash
Dig into how to prepare butternut squash for many different recipes.
learn more
FAQ
What is farro salad made of?
This farro salad is made with massaged kale, butternut squash, pepitas, goat cheese, and a balsamic dressing.
Can you eat farro cold?
Yes, you can eat farro cold or warm.
Do you peel butternut squash before you cook it?
For this recipe, we peel the butternut squash before we cook it. However, you can cook butternut squash with the skin on.
What else can I add to this salad?
This salad would be delicious with other roasted vegetables like sweet potato, asparagus, green beans, or carrots. Feel free to get creative and add whatever ingredients you’d like.
Storage
Store this salad in an air-tight container for up to 7 days. Generally, we would not recommend dressing the salad before storing it in the refrigerator, but his salad keeps well with the dressing.
More of our Favorite…
Salad Recipes
- Apple Burrata Salad
- Black Bean Couscous Salad
- Golden Roasted Cauliflower and Quinoa Salad
- French Carrot Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
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Farro Salad with Kale and Butternut Squash
This farro salad is tossed with butternut squash, pepitas, goat cheese, and perfectly massaged kale.
Prep:15 minutes minutes
Cook:35 minutes minutes
Total:50 minutes minutes
Fat 18
Carbs 64
Protein 16
Yield: 6
Print Rate
Ingredients
Butternut Squash + Garbanzo Beans
Farro
- 1 cup farro rinsed
- 2 cups broth or water
Dressing
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup red onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves peeled and minced
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Squash + Garbanzo Beans
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Peel and chop your butternut squash using this tutorial.
Then, place chopped squash on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss. Place in the oven and bake at 375ºF for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and add garbanzo beans to the pan. Toss to make sure garbanzo beans are coated with olive oil and spices.
Place back in the oven at 375ºF and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Once cooked, remove from oven and set aside.
Farro
While squash and beans are baking, bring broth to a boil overhigh heat and then add farro to the broth.
Lower heat to low and cover. Let farro simmer for 20-30 minutes or until farro has expanded and become al dente.
Remove from heat, fluff with a fork, and set aside.
Dressing
Heat a medium skillet over medium/high heat. Add olive oil.
When olive oil is fragrant add onion and garlic. Let saute in olive oil for 1-2 minutes.
Turn heat to low heat and let olive oil, garlic, and onion simmer for 10-15 minutes. Then remove from heat and let cool.
Add all ingredients for the dressing into a mason jar, close tightly, and shake until all ingredients are combined.
Salad
Add chopped kale to a large mixing bowl and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt. Massage kale with your hands for 2-4 minutes to break down the kale until it becomes tender.
Prepare salad by adding the rest of the salad ingredients to the kale along with the butternut squash mixture and farro.
Top with salad dressing, toss, and enjoy!
Watch It
Nutrition facts
Calories: 468kcal Carbohydrates: 64g Protein: 16g Fat: 18g Fiber: 11g Sugar: 16g
Author: Lee Funke
Similar recipes:
Roasted Butternut Squash and Blackberry Harvest Salad
Homemade Butternut Squash Puree
Instant Pot Butternut Squash
Butternut Squash Breakfast Hash
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About Lee Funke
Lee is the founder of Fit Foodie Finds and based in Minneapolis, MN. She started this website in 2010 as a way to share her love for real food and wellness. The internet has changed so much since then and so has Fit Foodie Finds. Today we're a female-run recipe website publishing hundreds of tried and true recipes developed and tested by our team.
4.9 21 votes
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Jane
Posted on 1/10/2024
Fantastic salad to make for lunches for the week. Nice and filling. Didn’t feel like taking the time to heat the ingredients for the dressing. I just threw all the ingredients for dressing in a blender and it was still wonderful (I did double the amounts of dressing ingredients b/c it didn’t seem like I would have enough dressing otherwise for the amount of kale). Will definitely be making this again and again.
Reply
eliza
Posted on 6/21/2022
Recipe Rating :
sooooo good, the dressing is *chefs kiss.*
Instead of kale I used spinach and it was just as great. Also added fresh chopped basil and substituted goat cheese if you’d like to try! If not the goat cheese, I highly recommend at least adding the basil. Also, cooked some steak making sure to marinade it at least 30 minutes prior and absolute flavor bomb every bite. My boyfriend is obsessed!
Last edited 1 year ago by eliza
Reply
Emily Richter
Posted on 6/21/2022
Reply to eliza
Oh wow, we’re blushing! Thanks so much for this review Eliza <3
Reply
Kristin
Posted on 10/3/2021
Recipe Rating :
Love the idea of this salad but I wanted to point out that you have farro listed as being gluten free and it is not gluten free, it does contain wheat.
This could be very dangerous to someone with an allergy or Celiac.
Reply
Lee Funke
Posted on 10/3/2021
Reply to Kristin
Hi there! I think it was just listed in the description of the recipe card, so I just removed that. Thanks for calling that out!
Reply
Leah
Posted on 11/8/2021
Reply to Lee Funke
Thanks for updating this! I have celiac and I LOVE this recipe. I use quinoa (which is GF) instead of farro and the recipe works great with that substitution.
Reply
Gabriella
Posted on 3/2/2021
Recipe Rating :
Literally the best salad of any kind I have ever had!
I make the dressing and keep it on the side for leftovers so the kale doesn’t get soggy.
Recipe has a bit of components and take some patience but its SO worth it. I crave this salad almost everyday and never get tired of it. The dressing and goat cheese are game changers!
1
Reply
Dee
Posted on 2/15/2021
Recipe Rating :
Made as is – huge crowd pleasure. Made my husband into a kale lover.
Reply
Julie
Posted on 2/6/2021
Recipe Rating :
Excellent! I subbed the dried fruit for pear and pomegranate and also used toasted butternut squash seeds. Excellent flavor and texture! Thank you!
Reply
Shontell Booth
Posted on 12/30/2020
Farro is not gluten free and it shouldn’t say it is in the recipe 🤨
Reply
Posted on 12/22/2020
Recipe Rating :
This was a great recipe! I loved the unique salad dressing.
Some modifications I had to make were:
Skip the chickpeas, pepitas and dried cherries
Add toasted pecans and dried cranberries
It was delicious and good as a meal because of the farro I think.
Thank you!
Reply
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