Healthy and nutrient-packed Quinoa & Butternut squash salad in a jar recipe. Perfect for a healthy meal-prep option any day of the week!
I don’t know about you but I love salads, but after a while having the same old salad can become boring and end up making you turn to less-than-healthy choices. So I’ve decided to make a series of posts to make a salad jar for every week day.
If this Quinoa & Butternut squash salad jar isn’t for you, you might like my Thai Jar Salad, Fattoush Salad jar, Healthy Potato based salad jar or even a Mexican inspired Jar Salad.
What I love about this salad jar recipe is that you can prepare this quinoa and butternut squash salad in a jar in advance and keep it refrigerated for up to 4-5 days. Plus, I love adding carbs into my salad and butternut squash is the perfect mix of sweet and savoury.
What’s needed:
For the salad:
- Cooked quinoa (see below for detailed)
- Kale, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes
- Purple radish or your favourite radish
- Butternut squash slices
For the salad dressing:
- Olive oil, lemon, garlic
For the quinoa:
- Quinoa
- Homemade vegetable stock
- Coconut oil
The Steps:
Choose a jar big enough to contain all the ingredients. My jar is 750 ml. Make sure it’s clean and dry before you fill it up.
To prepare your quinoa, you begin by rinsing it very well under running water. Make sure to do this for at least 30 seconds. This helps remove any bitterness when cooking.
Once the quinoa has drained well, you can toast it with the coconut oil until you hear it sizzle. Then, add the vegetable stock and bring it to boil. Once it is boiling, cover the pot, reduce the heat and let it simmer. Do check the packaging for cooking instructions – my quinoa simmered for about 25 minutes, but you might have to simmer it for longer.
After you are done cooking, you need to remove it from the heat, keep it covered and let it steam for 5 extra minutes.
To prepare the butternut squash, you just need to slice it, brush it with a bit of olive oil and season it with salt and pepper to your liking.
Then bake it at 180ºC (fan-assisted oven) for 35 minutes. It’s best to turn over the slices mid-time. This makes them crisp on the outside and perfectly soft in the inside. Yumm!
To prepare your dressing, grind or finely chop the garlic clove then add it to the olive oil and lemon juice. Whisk well.
Then massage the dressing onto the kale. It’s best to use your hands so you can make sure to get the dressing on every kale leaf.
To prepare the rest, you just need to chop the pepper and slice the radish.
The cherry tomatoes can stay whole. You are now ready to assemble the salad jar.
Fill up your Quinoa & Butternut squash salad jar by layering the different ingredients. The quinoa goes first, then the peppers. You can then add the radish and cherry tomatoes. Add the butternut squash slices and top it all with the kale.
Keep refrigerated and consume within 4-5 days.
The detailed Recipe:
Quinoa and Butternut Squash Salad in a Jar
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup cooked quinoa (see below)
- 3/4 cup kale
- 1/2 bell-pepper
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup purple radish or your favourite radish
- 1 cup butternut squash slices
For the salad dressing:
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium-sized lemon
- 1 garlic clove
For cooking the quinoa
- 2 cups quinoa
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tBsp coconut oil
Instructions
- Choose a jar big enough to contain all the ingredients. My jar is 750 ml. Make sure it's clean and dry before you fill it up.
- To prepare your quinoa, you begin by rinsing it very well under running water. Make sure to do this for at least 30 seconds. This helps remove any bitterness when cooking.
- Once the quinoa has drained well, you can toast it with the coconut oil until you hear it sizzle. Then, add the vegetable stock and bring it to boil. Once it is boiling, cover the pot, reduce the heat and let it simmer. Do check the packaging for cooking instructions - my quinoa simmered for about 25 minutes, but you might have to simmer it for longer.
- After you are done cooking, you need to remove it from the heat, keep it covered and let it steam for 5 extra minutes.
- To prepare the butternut squash, you just need to slice it, brush it with a bit of olive oil and season it with salt and pepper to your liking.
- Then bake it at 180ºC (fan-assisted oven) for 35 minutes. It's best to turn over the slices mid-time. This makes them crisp on the outside and perfectly soft in the inside. Yumm!
- To prepare your dressing, grind or finely chop the garlic clove then add it to the olive oil and lemon juice. Whisk well.
- Then massage the dressing onto the kale. It's best to use your hands so you can make sure to get the dressing on every kale leaf.
- To prepare the rest, you just need to chop the pepper and slice the radish. The cherry tomatoes can stay whole.
- Fill up your Quinoa & Butternut squash salad jar by layering the different ingredients. The quinoa goes first, then the peppers. You can then add the radish and cherry tomatoes. Add the butternut squash slices and top it all with the kale.
- Keep refrigerated and consume within 4-5 days.
Nutrition
To save this quinoa & butternut squash salad in a jar recipe for later:
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