This Warm Kale Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash, balsamic vinaigrette, grilled chicken and sugared roasted pumpkin seeds is the best kind of comfort food perfect for cool autumn evenings!
This post is brought to you in partnership with Litehouse Foods! Although I’ve been compensated for my time, all opinions are 100% my own.
You all know I love my comfort food and that means good hearty and delicious meals. While we do make a lot of salads in my household, hubs is usually the salad guru and I am the grill master. However, when I do make a salad, I want it to stand out, I want it to be different from all other salads and I want it to fill me up and make me feel like I’m not really eating a salad, but something good, delicious, hearty and comforting. Which is what this crazy yummy salad delivers!
I made this incredible salad using Litehouse Organic Balsamic Vinaigrette which I used two ways. First I marinated my grilled chicken in the balsamic vinaigrette for about half hour, which basically tenderized it a bit before grilling it. I also used the balsamic vinaigrette for making the dressing for the salad which I mixed together with some sautéed shallots and garlic.
I’ll admit that there are a few steps to this salad, but trust me when I tell you each and every step is totally worth it. Yes, you can skip the roasted butternut squash with brussels sprouts, or you can skip the chicken or roasted pumpkin seeds, but then you’d miss out on all the things that make this salad great.
I love roasted butternut squash and it’s so easy to make. If you hate peeling it and cutting it up, you can use the frozen one, or I know some grocery stores now carry it all cleaned up and cut into pieces. That will certainly save you some time. But I would totally go to the trouble of roasting it in all those great spices. I also added some brussels sprouts only because I love roasted brussels sprouts, but this is totally optional.
The roasted pumpkin seeds with brown sugar and butter are truly out of this world. While they’re amazing in this salad, I love to make these just on their own and snack on them. So. Good. Just try them, you’ll thank me.
I love adding some grilled chicken to this salad, and the chicken is so flavorful from being marinated in the balsamic vinaigrette, but it’s up to you if you add it. I actually grilled this on a grill pan on my stove top, so it was really easy, didn’t have to heat up the grill or anything. You could even just cook it in a skillet.
But let’s talk about kale for just a minute. I personally am not a huge kale fan mostly because whenever I eat it at a restaurant I feel like I’m choking on it. I have found out a way to make it so that I love to eat it and that is I give it a nice massage. I actually learned about this trick from my mother in law who makes a killer cabbage salad, and she massages the cabbage in some olive oil and salt until it’s nice and tender.
Which is why I now do the same to my kale, first I like to chop it really nice and small then give it a good massage for about a minute with some good olive oil and a bit of salt. You will end up with nice and tender kale. So worth it.
And lastly, all that’s left to do to this salad is assemble it all together and add some great feta cheese for saltiness and some craisins for a bit of sweetness. My husband who is quite the picky eater said that this was the best salad he’s ever had. Trust me, that was the biggest compliment I ever got. He couldn’t stop eating it, and those roasted pumpkin seeds were the bomb. Not only is this salad so incredibly delicious, it’s so filling, you will actually walk away from the table feeling like you ate a huge steak and potatoes. I think that’s a good thing.
If you love kale, try out my Kale Salad With Blueberry Vinaigrette!
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
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Warm Kale Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash
Ingredients
For Roasted Butternut Squash
- 1 butternut squash peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes (about 2 lbs)
- ½ lb brussels sprouts (optional)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- ½ tsp black pepper or to taste
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg ground
- ½ tsp garlic powder
For Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
- 1 cup pumpkin seeds deshelled
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg ground
- 2 tbsp brown sugar packed
- ⅛ tsp salt or to taste
For Grilled Chicken
- 1 lb chicken breast skinless and boneless
- ½ cup Litehouse organic balsamic vinaigrette dressing
For Dressing
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 shallots chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¾ cup Litehouse organic balsamic vinaigrette dressing
- ¼ cup water
For Warm Kale Salad
- 8 cups kale chopped small
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup feta cheese crumbled
- ½ cup craisins (dried cranberries)
Instructions
For Roasted Butternut Squash
- Preheat your oven to 400 F degrees.
- In a large bowl toss all the ingredients for the roasted butternut squash together. Place the butternut squash onto a large baking sheet and bake for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the butternut squash is golden brown.
For Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
- In a medium size bowl toss all the ingredients for the roasted pumpkin seeds together and transfer them to a baking sheet, spreading them so that they are in a single layer. Bake for about 10 minutes (still at 400F) or until they start to brown.
For Grilled Chicken
- Place the chicken breasts in between 2 pieces of plastic wrap (or in a ziploc bag) and beat it with a mallet until it's about 1 inch in thickness. Don't beat it too long and make sure you don't tear the meat. Place the chicken in a shallow bowl or plate and pour the balsamic dressing over it, turning the chicken around to coat it on both sides. Let the chicken marinate for about half hour to an hour.
- Grill the chicken breasts. First brush some olive oil on the grill grates, then place the chicken and grill without moving, until the chicken starts to get grill marks and starts to brown. Turn over the chicken and finish cooking. Do not slice the chicken right away, cover it with aluminum foil and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before cutting it.
For Dressing
- Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes or until the shallots are translucent and the garlic is aromatic.
- Whisk in the vinaigrette and water and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat.
Assemble the Salad
- In a large bowl add the kale, olive oil and salt. Toss the kale really well with the olive oil and salt. I also like to rub the kale with my clean hands, giving it a good massage for about a minute. This will make the kale more tender.
- Add the roasted butternut squash, roasted pumpkin seeds, crumbled feta cheese, craisins, prepared dressing and toss everything well together. Slice the chicken and place over the top of salad. Alternatively you can toss the chicken in with the rest of the salad.
Okay this was SO worth the effort, best salad I’ve ever made.