Name: Kale salad with pumpkin, goat cheese and warm honey red pepper dressing.
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 200 grams kale; 100 grams quinoa; 100 grams soft goat cheese; 500 grams pumpkin; 1 red chili pepper; 30 grams honey; 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 5 tbsp olive oil

Kale is one of those perfect winter vegetables that is easy to transform into an easy winter kale salad with pumpkin and quinoa. Easy to make and can be eaten both warm and cold.

Winter kale salad with pumpkin

For me a kale salad is the best thing to make in the winter months. It’s super easy although the roasting of the pumpkin does require a bit of time. For the kale I use curly kale. While I am also a fan of lacinato kale (also called cavolo nero or dinosaur kale) when I make a raw kale salad I always go for the curly kale as I think that works best. I made this delicious vegan kale salad before as well as this kale salad with blue cheese. I love easy salads anyway. Some of my favorites include an easy cobb salad, pasta salad with steak or Belgian endive salad with tomatoes.

When you buy the kale already chopped you can use it straight from the package. If you got the whole leaves you might have to remove the kale stems, as those can be a little bit harder.

Ingredients for the kale salad with pumpkin

What you need for the kale salad

Curly kale
quinoa
goat cheese
pumpkin
red pepper
honey
apple cider vinegar
olive oil – since the olive oil goes directly into the salad I use extra virgin olive oil here

Other possible additions to the salad would be sunflower seeds, red onion, pine nuts or pumpkin seeds. I love sprinkling some dried cranberries or raisin over the salad and adding a chopped apple is also quite tasty. I also regularly add some dijon mustard to the dressing or fresh lemon juice.

Preparing the salad

Now once you’ve assembled everything the most time will be taken up by the roasting of the pumpkin. So get that into the oven first. Then cook the quinoa according to package instructions, drain and let it steam a bit.

Then take a large bowl and add a few big handfuls of the kale into the bowl. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of the olive oil, the apple cider vinegar and some salt flakes. Now go in with your hands and massage the kale until it starts to wilt and the kale leaves become shiny and glossy. That’s when you know the salad is almost ready.

Crispy quinoa

The fun part of this salad is that you also bake the quinoa in the oven until it is really nice and crispy. That gives a whole different meaning to the kale salad. Mix it with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and spread it on a baking tray in a thin layer. Make sure to stir the quinoa once every 10 minutes or so to prevent it from burning. If you want to know all the ins and outs of preparing quinoa?

Mix the kale in with the roasted pumpkin and divide with the goat cheese over a large plate. Add the dressing and sprinkle the crispy quinoa over the top. Delicious salad to eat for dinner but can also easily be eaten cold the next day.

5 from 1 vote

Kale salad with pumpkin, goat cheese and warm honey red pepper dressing.

Prep time 10

Cooking time 40

Total time 50

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2 people

Ingredients

Metric – Us customary

How to make the kale salad

Preheat the oven to 200˚C/400˚F. Cook the quinoa as directed on the package.
Put the kale in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt and rub this into the leaves with your hands. Massage the kale quite vigorously for about 1 minute so that it really softens. Softening also takes some time so leave the kale and continue with the remaining steps.
Cut the pumpkin into pieces (for an orange organic pumpkin you can do it with the skin and all, for a butternut pumpkin you need to cut off the skin) and place on a baking tray, stir with two tablespoons of olive oil and bake the pumpkin until soft in about half an hour.
Spread the quinoa on a baking tray lined with baking paper and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Bake these in the oven for about half an hour too, until the quinoa is really brown and crispy. Every 10 minutes, you should briefly stir the quinoa and pumpkin.
Cut the red pepper into thin rings. Put the honey together with the rings in a pan and gently heat. It does not have to boil but simmer for a while so that the red pepper becomes a little like spicy candy.
Divide the kale, pumpkin and goat’s cheese over a nice large plate. Add the dressing generously and sprinkle the crispy quinoa on top at the end. Delicious as a warm salad but it is also delicious cold the next day. Enjoy!

Simone

Nutrition Information per portion:

Disclaimer:

The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.

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