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 best high-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.
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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.
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.
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.
Farro Salad with Kale and Butternut Squash
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 over high 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!
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!
Oh wow, we’re blushing! Thanks so much for this review Eliza <3
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.
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!
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.
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!
Made as is – huge crowd pleasure. Made my husband into a kale lover.
Excellent! I subbed the dried fruit for pear and pomegranate and also used toasted butternut squash seeds. Excellent flavor and texture! Thank you!
Farro is not gluten free and it shouldn’t say it is in the recipe 🤨
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!
This was a hit at Thanksgiving!! Loved it so much.
This was so yummy!
OMG this salad is everything I need in a salad!!!!! It’s percent and so nutrient filled!
A great one to kick off fall, Katy Baker 😀
After a trip to a farmer’s market, with the purchase of 2 bunches of kale, I started looking for recipes and since I already had a butternut squash this one was chosen.
It was delicious. We used it as a full “bowl” meal as it has protein, veggies and fruit included. Next time I make this, I may use frozen squash cubes, and do part of the prep earlier in the day.
Love this recipe! I was able to prep several of the ingredients in advance so it came together very quickly for dinner. The flavor combinations are on point!
My favorite butternut squash recipe, for sure!
This is my all time favorite! I use 1/2 white balsmic Yummy!
When I make this again, which I will, I’ll sub sweet potatoes for the squash. I hate peeling and cubing butternut squash and I think the texture of baked sweet potatoes would be great here. But, my goodness, this was delicious. I’m a little obsessed with farro and always looking for new ways to use it and this was excellent. A++ for the dressing, especially.
Girl, I feel you about butternut squash! I’ve made this with sweet potatoes and it’s super simple and you get a similar flavor!
Farro is NOT gluten free!!!! It is a species of wheat.
Wasn’t there a recipe that had this base but also added chicken thighs? I loved that recipe and can’t find it. Let me know if I’m making this up lol.
Hmmmm that might have actually been an old recipe that we removed from our site. SO SORRY!
Making this for a friend (and myself), but subbing quinoa, as farro is not gluten free and that’s a restriction of hers. The recipe looks great and I think quinoa will be a great sub.
This was delicious! I cut out the red onion in the salad because the salad dressing had a lot. Very yummy! I didn’t need all of the dressing.
We enjoyed this delicious main dish salad yesterday. I made it for a community gathering so there would be a healthier option to go with the meat heavy meal friends were making. It got rave reviews. It is reminiscent of the kale super food salad at wholefoods, which I also really enjoy. Thanks for sharing.
Great recipe; love the textures and flavors, but farro is not gluten free!