If you make Winter Wild Rice Salad, I can promise you everyone will be begging you for the recipe. If you’re looking for a new healthy dish to start the new year off right or just want to embrace those seasonal flavors, you’re going to love this salad. It is vegan, dairy free, gluten free, and super customizable. If you are a Certified-Salad-Lover, buy my salad cookbook with 100+ incredible salad recipes and delicious dressings! If you love this nourishing salad, try my Quinoa Broccoli Salad, Meal Prep Salad with Orzo, or my Adzuki Farro Salad with Creamy Peanut Dressing next!
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Notes on Ingredients
- Butternut squash: You can buy pre-chopped butternut squash for a time-saver or buy a whole one, peel and chop it into cubes. Sweet potato also works great in this salad.
- Wild rice: Any rice or grain would work–brown rice, farro, quinoa, etc. Use leftover rice and make Easy Vegan Fried Rice next!
- Vegan feta: Adds such a great creamy and salty element to this salad. I like the Violife brand.
- Kale: Serves as the base of this salad. It won’t get soggy! You can substitute it for another green like arugula or spinach, but the salad won’t hold up as well. For a lettuce-free salad, make my Adzuki Farro Salad!
Please take note that this is important information about the ingredients used in this recipe and the FULL recipe with measurements and details can be found DOWN BELOW (scroll to it) in the recipe card.
How do you make Winter Wild Rice Salad?
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and roast the butternut squash.
- Cook the wild rice according to bag instructions.
- Quickly pickle red onion, chop the kale, and crumble the feta.
- Mix together the dressing.
- Add the squash, wild rice, kale, feta, onions and pistachios to a large salad bowl. Pour the dressing on top of the salad and toss.
- Enjoy!
- Step 1: First, roast the butternut squash and cook the wild rice.
- Step 2: Then, pickle the onion, chop the kale, and crumble the vegan feta.
- Step 3: Add everything together to a large and mix together the dressing. Pour the dressing on top.
- Step 4: Finally, toss well to combine and enjoy!
Commonly Asked Questions
This salad will keep for up to three days in an airtight container in the fridge. You can dress it and let it sit in the fridge–don’t worry, it won’t get soggy because kale holds up so well!
Really any type of kale will work for this salad. I like dinosaur or curly kale. You want a green that won’t get soggy once the dressing is poured on.
You can use a different type of squash like kabocha or delicata, or even a diced up and roasted sweet potato.
Yes! Any type of grain will work with this salad.
If you cannot have nuts, you can leave out the pistachios and substitute them for sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds. The dressing is naturally nut-free!
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Extra Helpful Tips
- Roast the butternut squash and rice first so you can prepare the other ingredients and the dressing while it is cooking.
- If you want to save time, use pre-chopped butternut squash.
- Pickling the onions gives the salad extra flavor. This can be done ahead of time. Make a big mason jar of them to keep in your fridge!
- When cutting the kale, first rip it off the stems and toss out to avoid having hard bites of the stem.
How to Store
Store this salad in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
If you tried this Winter Wild Rice Salad or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 5-star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Winter Wild Rice Salad
Equipment
- 1 knife
- 2 small bowls
- 1 mixing bowl large
- 1 baking sheet for roasting butternut squash
- 1 pot for cooking wild rice
Ingredients
- 1 cup wild rice make according to bag instructions
- 1 head kale curly, chopped
- ¼ cup pistachios shelled
- ½ cup feta vegan
- ½ cup red onions
- apple cider vinegar for soaking red onion
Butternut Squash
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 butternut squash about 2 cups cooked, cubed and roasted
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- sprinkle salt and pepper
Dressing
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon tahini
- pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Dice the butternut squash and add to a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes until golden brown and tender.
- Cook the wild rice in a pot according to bag instructions.
- Quickly pickle some red onion by slicing it and adding it into a small bowl covered in apple cider vinegar. Let them sit for 5 minutes.
- Cut up the kale and crumble the feta.
- Make the dressing by adding all ingredients to a bowl or mason jar and mixing.
- Add the squash, wild rice, kale, feta, onions and pistachios to a large salad bowl. Pour the dressing on top of the salad and toss.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Roast the butternut squash and rice first so you can prepare the other ingredients and the dressing while it is cooking.
- If you want to save time, use pre-chopped butternut squash.
- Pickling the onions gives the salad extra flavor. This can be done ahead of time. Make a big mason jar of them to keep in your fridge!
- When cutting the kale, first rip it off the stems and toss out to avoid having hard bites of the stem.
Kelsey says
This was a delicious and substantial salad! Thank you so much for the recipe. It was my first time picking onions- super easy! I will be doing this much more often now. I used a mix of rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and water for the onions, but will try with all apple cider vinegar next time.
kelly says
another hit, Danielle! thank you for this tasty recipe!
Marie says
This was sooooo good! I used Follow Your Heart vegan feta cheese, and it was incredible!
Allie says
Great recipe! Overall found it a bit dry, I needed to double the amount of dressing! Otherwise perfect salad!
Jordan Stacy says
This salad is so good. I make it for meal prep for work lunches during the week and it holds up so well with the kale. Saving this recipe to make again!