Butternut Squash Kale Orzo

Butternut Squash Kale Orzo, a super tasty fall orzo with kale, roasted butternut squash, pickled shallots, smokey tempeh bacon, and pumpkin seeds. Perfect cold or warm!

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🥬 Ingredients

I usually list out all of the ingredients for each recipe here, but this was a bit of a doozy so I’m going to sum up the components of this salad below so you can understand what goes into it. Then you can see all ingredients needed below in the recipe card.

• Orzo: the foundation of the salad, orzo is a small rice-shaped pasta; you can find gluten free orzo, if needed
• Kale: the leafy green foundation, we’re massing the kale with the tasty dressing
• Roasted butternut squash: we’re roasting up squash until it’s golden brown and then adding to the salad or a sweet and savory mix
• Pickled shallots: we’re quick pickling shallots by slicing them super thin and then soaking them in a mixture of apple cider vinegar and maple syrup
• Tempeh bacon: we’re crisping up tempeh in a pan and flavoring it with a sauce that tastes like smokey bacon (I also have a full separate recipe for this if you’d like to use it on other dishes)
• Pumpkin seeds: a bit of crunch
• Maple sage vinaigrette: a tasty fall flavored vinaigrette with apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, chopped sage leaves, and a bit of dijon mustard

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🥣 How to make (step-by-step photos)

1️⃣ Step One: Quickly pickle the shallots

First things first, let’s quickly pickle the shallots in a vinegar and let them while you’re preparing the other ingredients so they have time to soak up the flavors.

To do this, combine apple cider vinegar and maple syrup in a small bowl, stirring to combine. Then add thinly sliced shallots to the bowl, making sure the shallots are covered in the vinegar.

Then set aside while cooking the other ingredients.

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2️⃣ Step Two: Roast the butternut squash

Next, it’s time to roast the butternut squash and we’ll let that cook while we’re prepping the other ingredients.

To do this, first preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Then add the butternut squash to a sheet pan, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Then roast the squash about 30 minutes, tossing periodically to cook on all sides. While the squash is cooking, start on the other ingredients.

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3️⃣ Step Three: Cook the orzo

Next it’s time to cook the orzo! Follow your orzo packaging directions, but most often this means bringing water to a boil and the cooking the orzo for about 8 minutes before draining the water.

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4️⃣ Step Four: Make the tempeh bacon

Next it’s time to make the tempeh bacon! First you’ll whip up the sauce by adding soy sauce, maple syrup, liquid smoke, apple cider vinegar, smoked paprika, and garlic powder in a small bowl.

Then you’ll heat a small amount of oil in a large pan over medium heat and crumble the tempeh into the pan. Cook 3-5 minutes or until tempeh has dried, then pour the sauce over the tempeh. Toss the tempeh in the sauce and cook 5 minutes more, or until the tempeh is crispy.

👉 WANT TO SEE ALL TEMPEH BACON STEPS? Check out my full tempeh bacon bits recipe.

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5️⃣ Step Five: Make the dressing

We’re almost there! The final step before building the salad is to make the tasty dressing.

You’ll do this by combining olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, dijon mustard, chopped sage, and salt and pepper in a small bowl and whisking to combine.

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6️⃣ Step Six: Build the salad (finally!)

It’s finally time to build the salad! To do this, get a big salad or mixing bowl and add the kale and dressing (massaging the kale for a minute to get it nice and soft).

Then you’ll add the orzo, the squash, the tempeh bacon, the pickled shallots (after you drain off the vinegar), and the pumpkin seeds.

Toss everything to combine and enjoy!

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👩‍🍳 How to meal prep and store

This is is a great sturdy pasta (or is it a salad?) that can be made once at the top of the week for quick meals, or you can prep the ingredients ahead of time to make it easier to put together later.

• How to ingredient prep: Prep the pickled shallots up to 7 days ahead of serving. Prep the tempeh bacon up to 5 days ahead of serving. Prep the squash and the dressing up to 3 days ahead of serving. Cook the orzo up to 2 days ahead of serving.
• Meal prep: Make the entire salad and store up to 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
• Refrigerator storage: Store in an airtight container for up to 4-5 days in the fridge.
• Freezer storage: I do not recommend freezing as the orzo pasta texture won’t hold up.
• Reheat instructions: Serve cold, or reheat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, stirring to heat evenly. You can also reheat in a pan but you’ll need a small amount of oil or water to keep it from sticking to the pan.

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