Description
Looking for an autumnal or winter salad to warm you up? Try this Candied Pecan Butternut Squash Salad for a nourishing and filling meal.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup black rice
Candied pecans:
- 2 cups raw pecans
- ¼–½ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Butternut squash cubes:
- 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Dressing:
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- sea salt, to taste
Topping:
- 1 cup chopped green onion
- 2 cups arugula (optional)*
Instructions
- In a large pot, boil two cups of water with one cup of black rice. Turn down heat to simmering for 40 minutes with pot lid on. Remove from heat and leave lid on for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork once rice is cooked.
- While rice is cooking, preheat oven to 400 F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Toss raw pecans with maple syrup and sea salt and spread out on baking sheet.
- Roast pecans for 10 minutes and set aside.
- Place butternut squash cubes on a baking sheet, and toss with avocado oil and sea salt.
- Roast for 20 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together avocado oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, ginger powder and sea salt.
- Assemble your salad in a large mixing bowl: Add in cooked rice, candied pecans, roasted butternut squash and toss with dressing.
- Top with chopped green onions.
- Serve warm. Add salad to the top of arugula, if desired.
Notes
- You can play around with spices for these sugared pecans and make spiced pecans or cinnamon pecans.
- You can add some grass-fed butter to your pecan recipe to make praline pecans.
- You can use a leafy green of your choice or just eat this “salad” with the rice, sans greens.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 45 min
- Category: Salads
- Method: Oven, Stovetop, By Hand
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 197g
- Calories: 549
- Sugar: 19.6g
- Sodium: 593mg
- Fat: 36.3g
- Saturated Fat: 3.6g
- Unsaturated Fat: 32.7g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 55.2g
- Fiber: 6g
- Protein: 6.5g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
