Butternut Squash Black Rice Salad

This fabulous Butternut Squash Black Rice Salad is healthy, fresh and bursting with bright flavor. A simple lemon-olive oil dressing ties it all together with pizazz!

This Butternut Squash Black Rice Salad has everything going for it! It can be made ahead, it's super healthy, amazingly delicious and a real beauty! A win, win, win, win!

I shared a post yesterday on How to Cook Black Rice. If you don't know about black rice, you can read all about it in yesterday's post. It's the base for this delicious Butternut Squash Black Rice Salad that includes slivers of tender butternut squash, chopped dried cranberries, toasted pecans, diced red onion and a beaucoup of fresh herbs. There's also a simple lemon dressing and an optional (beautiful!) garnish of pomegranate arils.

It's one of those dishes that's "more than the sum of its parts". All the ingredients, on their own, are great, but put them all together and the equation is transformed from ordinary to extraordinarily DELICIOUS! You may have noticed that the individual components of this salad are all chopped/diced fairly small (even the dried cranberries). This gives you a little of each in every bite, which creates a fabulous burst of flavor in your mouth.

Chopping the butternut squash in fairly small pieces also makes the prep for this salad shorter. The squash is simply sautéed in a pan with a splash of olive oil. It's tender and ready to roll in right around 10 minutes.

I love that much of this recipe can be made ahead. Also, the salad keeps well for several days in the refrigerator and makes great leftovers or a wonderful side for just about any entree.

Because this Butternut Squash Black Rice Salad holds up so well it's perfect to take to a party or get together with family or friends. Just bring the pecans and pomegranate seeds separately and add them before serving.

The easy way to remove pomegranate seeds

And speaking of pomegranates, don't be intimidated by them! We have a post that shows exactly how to remove the seeds, no fuss, no mess, no water! It's w-a-a-a-a-y cheaper to do it yourself than to purchase the ridiculously expensive little packets of pom seeds that are often not very fresh!

Put black rice, butternut squash, dried cranberries, pecans on your shopping list. You'll also need one lemon for the dressing. Serve the salad on its own or with any grilled or roasted entree. We've enjoyed it with grilled chicken and steak. I know it will also be wonderful with pork, salmon and shrimp. It's one of those salads I'll be making again and again. I think, once you taste it, you will too!

Café Tips for making this Butternut Squash Black Rice Salad

• This recipe calls for dill, mint and parsley. Feel free to change up the herbs. Fresh basil would be wonderful, as would cilantro in lieu of dill or parsley. You could also use all dill, parsley or cilantro. You want the total to be 1-1¼ cups of fresh herbs.
• Mint adds a really nice touch, but I wouldn't do any more than ¼ cup as the flavor would be too strong.
• If you're in a hurry, it's fine to purchase the pre-cut packs of butternut squash. The pieces will be too large though, so cut them up a bit before cooking.
• Don't worry about cutting the butternut squash into uniform-size pieces. Part of the beauty of this salad is the random size slivers.
• Dried cranberries can be a bit of a pain to chop as they get stuck on the knife with every cut. But if you spray the knife with a bit of cooking spray or rub it with an oiled paper towel, voila! The problem is totally eliminated!

If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review! It's so helpful to other readers to hear other's results and ideas for variations.

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Butternut Squash Black Rice Salad

Chris Scheuer

This fabulous Butternut Squash Black Rice Salad is healthy, fresh and bursting with bright flavor. A simple lemon-olive oil dressing ties it all together with pizazz!

5 from 3 votes

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Servings 8

Calories 167

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Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

.5x1x2x

• 1 recipe black rice, see Best Way to Cook Black Rice recipe

For the dressing:

• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon honey
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the butternut squash:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups diced butternut squash
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the pecans:

• 1 teaspoon butter
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

To finish the salad:

• ½ cup dried cranberries
• ½ medium red onion, finely diced
• ½ cup finely chopped fresh dill
• ¼ cup finely chopped fresh mint
• ½ cup finely chopped Italian, or curly parsley, see Café Tips above in the post
• ⅓ cup pomegranate arils or seeds, optional

Instructions

 

For the dressing:

1. Combine olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper in a small jar and shake well. Set aside.

For the butternut squash:

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium-large skillet. Add the chopped butternut squash and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until squash is tender but not mushy. Remove from heat and transfer to a medium-size bowl.

For the pecans:

1. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel. Heat 1 teaspoon butter in the pan over medium heat until melted and bubbly. Add the pecans and kosher salt and reduce heat to low. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the nuts are toasted and fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. For the dried cranberries:
3. Spray a sharp chef’s knife with cooking spray to coat. Place the cranberries on a cutting board and chop into small pieces.

For the salad:

1. Combine the black rice, butternut squash, chopped dried cranberries, red onion, herbs and half of the toasted pecans in a large bowl. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the dressing and stir to combine.
2. Transfer to a serving bowl or platter and sprinkle with remaining toasted pecans and pomegranate arils. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

See Café Tips above in post for more detailed tips and instructions.

Nutrition

Calories: 167kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 1gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 336mgPotassium: 199mgFiber: 2gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 3963IUVitamin C: 13mgCalcium: 29mgIron: 1mg

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Course: Main, Salad, Salad Dressing, Side

Cuisine: American

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