Wild Rice Salad with Kale and Orange Dressing
Wild rice shines in this hearty and flavourful wild rice salad recipe featuring butternut squash, pomegranate, kale and orange vinaigrette.
About this Salad
This wild rice kale salad makes a beautiful side dish that’s sure to shine on your holiday table.
You’ll love the chewy texture and nuttiness of the rice paired with tangy pomegranate, crunchy nuts, roasted squash and zippy orange vinaigrette.
It’s easy to make for an everyday vegetarian meal or for the holiday season, pairing well with other sides like roasted golden beets, easy vegan stuffing or sautéed green beans.
For vegan main dishes, it pairs well with chickpea meatloaf, vegan veggie pot pie or lentil shepherd’s pie or cozy soups like lemon lentil soup.
The salad is versatile and easy to customize too, from apple to feta, pecans to almonds, dried cranberries to apricots, you can mix and match to make this salad your own.
Ingredients
- Wild Rice: Use your choice of wild rice. You can substitute brown rice or a wild rice blend. If you have extra, you could use it for this Stuffed Butternut Squash with Wild Rice and Kale, Cauliflower Wild Rice Soup or Edamame Broccoli Wild Rice Salad.
- Butternut Squash: You can substitute any variety of winter squash such as kabocha squash or acorn squash but butternut squash is perfect here.
- Kale: You can use any variety of kale but I like Tuscan (dinosaur) kale because it’s a bit more tender and mild than other varieties. Black or curly kale would be good too. You can substitute baby spinach or arugula.
- Green Onions (Scallions): Green onion is milder than other varieties of onion but for more punch, you can use red onion or shallot.
- Pomegranate: Perfect for their sweet, tart flavour and crunch. You can substitute cranberries or raisins, or chopped dried cherries, dates or apricots.
- Pistachios or Pumpkin Seeds: Use shelled chopped pistachios, toasted pumpkin seeds or substitute walnuts, almonds, pine nuts or pecans.
- Orange: You’ll need an orange to make the fresh orange juice and orange zest. You can substitute lemon juice and lemon zest for a variation on the orange dressing.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: Apple cider vinegar is nice for the dressing but you could also use white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar.
- Maple Syrup: You can substitute agave syrup or honey.
- Dijon Mustard: Any dijon mustard or grainy mustard works well.
- Oil: A good quality extra-virgin olive oil is best for the dressing but you can use any cooking oil for roasting the squash.
Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete list of ingredients with measurements and detailed instructions.
Variations & Additions
- Crunchy celery makes a nice addition. Add up to 1/2 cup thinly sliced.
- Nuts: Use pistachios, slivered almonds, toasted cashews, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts or pumpkin seeds. Toast them for extra flavour if you like!
- Grain Salad: Swap any cooked grains for the wild rice, such as farro, brown rice, barley or freekeh.
- Try halved grapes or diced apple instead of or in addition to the pomegranate.
- It’s still yummy without the butternut squash if you want to make a simpler wild rice salad.
- Cheese. Try crumbled goat cheese or regular, store-bought vegan feta or tofu feta for a topping.
- For alternative dressings, try maple dijon tahini dressing or balsamic dressing.
- Serve with orange segments on top for a pretty presentation.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Cook the Wild Rice
Rinse the wild rice in a pot, bowl or through a fine mesh strainer before cooking.
To cook the rice on the stovetop, cover the wild rice with water in a large pot and add about 1/2 tsp salt. Bring it to a boil then cover and reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 40-50 minutes until the rice is tender. Drain it well, shaking off any excess water.
I suggest spreading the rice out on a rimmed baking sheet to cool while you prepare the rest of the recipe but this step is not required.
Step 2: Roast the Squash
While the rice cooks, preheat the oven to 425 F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper (optional) and prepare the squash for roasting.
Cut the top and bottom off, peel then cut it in half so you have the top and bottom half. Cut each of those in half in lengthwise so you now have 4 portions. Scoop the seeds and pulp out of the bottom pieces, then dice it all up.
Spread the squash on the baking sheet and toss with the oil, cumin, cinnamon and a pinch of salt and pepper. Roast it for 20-25 minutes until the pieces are tender and golden.
Step 3: Make the Orange Dressing
To make the orange dressing, add all of the dressing ingredients to a large bowl and whisk until it’s fully combined.
Step 4: Mix the Salad
Add the cooked cooked wild rice, squash, green onion, kale, parsley and half of the pomegranate arils to the mixing bowl with the salad dressing and mix it all up.
Reserve the extra pomegranate arils and pistachios for serving on top (you can also just mix these in, totally fine!).
Quick Tip: To remove the arils from the pomegranate, cut it in half so you have the top and bottom pieces. Hold each half over a bowl and hit the sides with a wooden spoon. Keep tapping around the edges and top until all of the arils fall out.
Serve right away as a main dish or side salad, topped with the remaining pomegranate and pistachio or pumpkin seeds.
Recipe FAQs
Sure! You can use any brown rice you like as a substitute for wild rice or you can use a wild rice brown rice blend.
It can be either! If you’re serving it right away, enjoy warm, otherwise, chill in the fridge for even better flavours the next day! After storing, it can be enjoyed cold, at room temperature or reheated in the microwave. I like it warmed up bit.
Yes. The wild rice and dressing can be made the day ahead and stored in a container in the fridge for easy prep, or the whole salad can be mixed and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
If you’re making the wild rice salad for a special occasion, I would suggest making it no more than 1 day in advance so it’s nice and fresh. The flavours are even better the next day so feel free to make it in advance if serving for Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.
This salad is not suitable for freezing.
More Hearty Salads
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to the comment section to leave a star rating and review.
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Wild Rice Salad with Orange Vinaigrette
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 4-6
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A delicious salad featuring hearty winter ingredients like kale, pomegranate and squash.
Ingredients
For the Wild Rice Salad
- 1 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed (200 g)
- ½ medium butternut squash, cubed (4 cups/600 g)
- 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil (10 mL)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- salt and black pepper
- 4 cups finely chopped kale (75 g)
- 5 green onions, thinly sliced
- ½ cup parsley, chopped (20 g)
- 1 pomegranate, seeded
- ¼ cup pistachios or pumpkin seeds (40 g)
For the Dressing
- 1 fresh orange zested & juiced
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (30 mL)
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (15 g)
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- ⅓ cup olive oil (43 g)
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cook Wild Rice: Cover the rinsed rice with water in a large pot and add about 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 40-50 minutes until the rice is tender. Drain well. If you have time though not required, spread the drained rice on a baking sheet to cool while you prepare the rest of the recipe, otherwise drain well and then add to the salad in step 4.
- Roast Squash: While the rice cooks, on a parchment-lined baking sheet (optional to line with parchment), toss squash with 2 tsp oil, cumin and cinnamon. Season with salt and pepper. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20-25 min, shaking the pan half way through, until tender and golden.
- Make Dressing: In the bowl you plan to mix the salad in, add the orange juice, 2 tsp orange zest (avoid bitter white pith and use outermost peel only), maple syrup, Dijon and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk well to combine.
- Toss Salad: To the bowl with the dressing, add the cooked and cooled wild rice (it’s ok if it’s still warm), roasted squash, kale, parsley, green onions and half the pomegranate. Season with salt and pepper, then toss to combine.
- Serve: Sprinkle pistachios or pumpkin seeds over top, along with remaining pomegranate and serve.
Notes
Dressing can be made 1-2 days ahead. You can cook rice 1-2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
Serves 4 as a main dish, 6-8 as a side dish. Nutrition facts are for 6 servings.
To remove the arils from the pomegranate, cut it in half so you have the top and bottom pieces. Hold each half over a large bowl (there will be some spray from the juices) and hit the sides with a wooden spoon. Keep tapping around the edges and top until all of the arils fall out, squeezing a little to loosen them.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6th of salad
- Calories: 331
- Sugar: 9 g
- Fat: 18 g
- Carbohydrates: 41 g
- Fiber: 6 g
- Protein: 8 g
So delish! My first time trying wild rice & it was great. I used cranberries instead of pomegranate.
Love, love, loved it. We will definitely be making this one again. Thanks for another yummy recipe!