Happy baked salad season! You heard me. Baked salads are in, especially in the fall and winter. It’s like fall and winter vegetables are begging to be baked – and that’s where this Baked Kale Salad with Crispy Quinoa comes in. This salad has everything: tons of vegetables, a warm dressing and spicy crispy quinoa to mix into every bite. It’s amazing healthy while still being uniquely satisfying, and it’s one of my favorite kale salad recipes to make in the fall and winter months.
This recipe is a take on this agrodolce slaw recipe I made recently, using sweet agrodolce as a zippy dressing to oven-baked kale and cabbage. Everything for this recipe is cooked in the oven, and it comes out amazingly cozy and easy. Read on for more on how we’re turning this baked kale salad into the best part of warm salad season!
Table of contents
- Ingredients you will need for this baked kale salad
- Tools and equipment you’ll need for this kale salad recipe
- The best way to make crispy cabbage
- How to oven roast your kale
- Tips and tricks on how to make crispy quinoa
- How to make the agrodolce sauce
- How to plate and serve this kale salad and crispy quinoa recipe
- FAQ
- Looking for similar recipes?
Ingredients you will need for this baked kale salad
So this salad is vegetable-packed, but to be honest, I think all salads should be. Here are all the ingredients you need for this baked salad:
- 12 stalks lacinato kale
- 1 small head of green cabbage
- 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 small red onion
- 2 sage sprigs
- 1 rosemary sprig
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons chili oil of choice, I like calabrian chili oil, Brightland’s chili oil or Momofuku chili crunch
- Olive oil as needed
- Salt & pepper to taste
Tools and equipment you’ll need for this kale salad recipe
The tools for this recipe are minimal, but they are super important if you want to make the best baked kale salad. Here’s what (and why) I recommend having:
- 2 large baking sheets – There are three things you are baking in this recipe, but you’ll only need two sheets to get the job done. This is good because #1: less dishes and #2: less space is taken up on your counter. I suggest using two large baking sheets for this recipe, instead of a bunch of small ones.
- 1 small pan or saucepan – Size matters with this tool, too. You are making a very small agrodolce sauce, and instead of using a cumbersome pan to heat up your honey and vinegar, I suggest a small 8″ saucepan or a butter warmer to do this job.
The best way to make crispy cabbage
Now, I’m pretty confident I have the best way to make crispy cabbage in the oven. It does take some time and some heat, but the result is always golden brown and delicious.
**Please note, cabbage is a vegetable, and just like most vegetables, it is high in moisture. So unless you are battering it and frying it, the cabbage won’t have the same crisp that other foods might have. This means some pieces will get gold and crisp, while others will be soft and cooked through. Both will create a truly delicious baked salad!
The best way to make crispy cabbage is to crank your oven up to 450°F, coat the cabbage lightly in avocado oil and salt and pepper, and then let it roast for 20-23 minutes. You’ll be amazed at the results!
How to oven roast your kale
Kale is similar to cabbage, but it requires a lot less time. It’s a more tender green, so kale has a tendency to burn. When making this recipe, add the kale in at the end of the baking time for the cabbage. This means the kale will bake at 450°F for about 5-7 minutes – this baking process works for kale chips too!
When both of your vegetables are fully roasted – add them to a bowl to get tossed together. Having both of these creates a dream team of winter and fall vegetables!
Tips and tricks on how to make crispy quinoa
Crispy quinoa is one of my new favorite toppings, especially on a baked kale salad. Quinoa provides a good mixture of protein, carbohydrates, as well as texture in this salad and you can’t do this recipe without them.
But how do you make crispy quinoa? Great question. You essentially are taking cooked quinoa and “toasting” it so the edges get nice and crispy. Making the quinoa a perfect crunchy snack. Here are my main tips on how to do this:
- Make sure the quinoa is lightly coated in some kind of oil – this will help the crisping process immensely. The water evaporates from the tops of the quinoa, allowing some oil to enter and create that perfectly desirable crunchy texture.
- Give the quinoa room to breathe on the pan. In order for the quinoa to get crispy, it needs to let moisture evaporate. If it is piled too close together, the quinoa will steam instead of bake which does not bode well for our crispness.
- Toss the quinoa about halfway through baking. This will make sure every grain gets a chance to be perfectly toasted for this baked kale salad.
How to make the agrodolce sauce
Agrodolce is quickly becoming my favorite fall condiment. To make this, you just need a small saucepan and a few minutes. This is a sage and rosemary-infused agrodolce, but you can make a classic one if you want, it’s up to you!
To make a quick agrodolce, first thinly slice the red onion and place it in a bowl. Then whisk together the honey and water. Put the pan or small pot on medium heat and add a small splash of oil. Add in the sage leaves and the rosemary sprig. Pour in the honey mixture, it should fizz slightly, and stir until it thickens slightly, about 1 minute. Add a pinch of salt and the vinegar. Stir again and let the mixture simmer slightly for 1-2 minutes. Remove the sage and rosemary and pour this over the red onion. Stir to combine, and that’s it!
How to plate and serve this kale salad and crispy quinoa recipe
This recipe is best served with the agrodolce and vegetables messily mixed together and then piled with a huge topping of quinoa. This is the one salad recipe where it’s encouraged to go heavy on the crunch. No need to skimp on croutons here! And when it’s mixed all together? This salad is simply divine.
FAQ
This will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge! It will also last up to 6 months in the freezer.
I suggest storing this in an airtight container such as tupperware or some kind of meal prep containers. You can also wrap it in the original serving bowl with cling wrap. Store any leftovers in the fridge or freezer.
You will have to rub some oil into the kale, but you don’t need to massage it the same way you would with raw kale. This is because the heat from the oven will break the fibers in the kale down the same way that massaging it would.
Looking for similar recipes?
Here are a few vegetable-forward recipes I’ve been loving lately:
And that’s everything for this Baked Kale Salad with Crispy Quinoa recipe!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Baked Kale Salad with Crispy Quinoa
Equipment
- 2 large baking sheets
- 1 small pan or sauce pan
Ingredients
- 12 stalks lacinato kale
- 1 small head of green cabbage
- 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 small red onion
- 2 sage sprigs
- 1 rosemary sprig
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons chili oil of choice I like Calabrian chili oil, Brightland’s chili oil or Momofuku chili crunch
- Olive oil as needed
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Cook your quinoa per package instructions, or in a rice cooker with a 2:1 ratio of water to quinoa.
- Remove the core from the cabbage, then thinly slice the cabbage and kale. Spread them out evenly on separate baking sheets, one for cabbage, one for the kale.
- Drizzle both the kale and cabbage with avocado oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the cabbage at 450°F for 20-23 minutes or until golden and slightly crisp. For the last 5-7 minutes of baking, add in the kale to bake. Remove both vegetables from the oven and turn the oven down to 375°F.
- Add the quinoa to a baking sheet and cover with chili oil. Season with salt to taste and toss. Roast this for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through until the qunioa is slightly golden and lightly crisp.
- While the quinoa is baking, make the agrodolce dressing. Thinly slice the red onion and place it in a bowl. Whisk together the honey and water. Put a pan or small pot on medium heat and add a small splash of oil. Add in the sage leaves and the rosemary sprig. Pour in the honey mixture (it should slightly fizz), and stir until it thickens, about 1 minute. Add a pinch of salt and the vinegar. Stir again and let the mixture simmer slightly for 1-2 minutes. Remove the sage and rosemary and pour this over the red onion. Stir to combine.
- Toss together the kale, cabbage and red onion agrodolce. Pile this generously into a bowl.
- When the quinoa is out of the oven, sprinkle it liberally on top of the salad and serve warm!
Hi! This recipe sounds delicious. I cannot handle spice. What do you recommend in place of the chili oil?
This was soooo good! Ate the leftovers cold for lunch and it was still delicious! Definitely making again.
I’m so thrilled you liked it – thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and comment!
What can we sub for chili oil? Can’t do spicy
I don’t have a perfect substitute because the heat really balances the sweetness, but my best recommendation is regular olive oil (to keep the crispiness!) salt, pepper, and dried rosemary & thyme for extra depth!
Toasted sesame oil would be mighty flavorful without any heat.
I have the same question, any answers?
Can you eat this the next day cold?
Yes! I do it all the time and it’s pretty delicious.
This warm salad is delicious! The highlight of our Thanksgiving meal! Seriously, so yummy! The sage and rosemary infused dressing is amazing!
So excited to make this next week! If I’m making it to take to work – should I add the dressing as I make it or keep it separate until I’m ready to eat? Thank you!
I’d actually add the dressing before! These greens hold up nicely to it, so they’ll just get better as they store in the fridge 🙂
You said serve warm, but also this will keep up to 5 days in the fridge. Do you recommend reheating it somehow after keeping in fridge? I’m wondering if I can make ahead for a party and still serve warm. Thanks!
I typically eat the leftovers chilled, but you can reheat in a microwave! If you don’t add the quinoa before storing (which I recommend) you can reheat in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes.
This recipe is absolutely delicious! Ridiculously easy to make for how good it tastes!!!
I’m so glad you liked it!
My husband is not a big cabbage fan but my daughter tried this recipe and says I’ll love it! Whst do you suggest I could add yo it or serve it with to help my husband like it?
Is he open to any other kind of leafy green like swiss chard? If not, I’d say you can just do kale and another roasted vegetable in there to add to the volume of the recipe!
So good!
Made this for dinner tonight, and my partner and I both LOVED it. He couldn’t stop saying “I would order this at a really nice restaurant.”
I was a little intimidated by the agrodolce, but this whole recipe was so easy. I had a fun time making it and it’s going into our recipe rotation for the fall.
Thank you for the great recipe!
Made this yesterday and OMG….soooo good. I packed it away to have for lunch for the rest of the week. Did I mention how good this was? Can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thanks for sharing!
As a self-proclaimed kale and quinoa hater I have no idea what prompted me to give this recipe a try but I’m so glad I did! The roasty cabbage! The tangy onions! The spicy crunchy quinoa! I should’ve cut the kale thinner but even the kale! Perfect fall WFH lunch.
I’m so glad you liked it!! Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review <3
Went to make this and realized we are out of quinoa. Any thoughts on a last minute substitute? Would short grain brown rice work? Maybe I’ll just toast some breadcrumbs. Can’t wait!
I am so sorry I missed this until now! Quinoa is my preferred grain but really any grain should be able to get crispy enough for this recipe!
I did this with thyme and sage because I didn’t have any rosemary on hand, and my husband was like “this kind of tastes like stuffing” and he is absolutely right. Can’t tell you how pumped I about it. This is a building block I’ll be riffing off of all winter.
OK stuffing is the ultimate winter food so this is the ultimate compliment – I’m so thrilled you liked the recipe!
Question…I can only find bagged kale so how many cups is 12 stalks? Thanks!
I’d say about 5-6 cups of packed kale, it’s quite a lot!
Saw this and knew it would be a perfect lunch for a fall day but was disappointed. Way too many things going on with flavors and crunch. The onions were overpowering. I would’ve preferred the kale un roasted. I did like the taste of the agrodolce and would probably make it again but on a raw kale salad with butternut squash and pumpkin seeds for the crunch.
THIS WAS AMAZING!!!! Added some baked cod on top and was the perfect meal. It felt so fancy and professional though was super easy and not much clean-up required!
YAY this makes me so happy! I’m so glad you liked it!
I knew I would loved this recipe from the moment I saw it on Facebook. I made this last night and it was amazing! This dish is delicious and filling! I was disappointed that I couldn’t eat more last night and couldn’t wait to have it for breakfast 🤣. I warmed it in the microwave and it was just as good as last night. I made a few additions to accommodate the meat eaters and toddlers in my house so I roasted thin slices of sweet potatoes (like potato chip thin) with the cabbage and thin slices of pork that I marinated in red wine vinegar and gojuchang. I will 100% make this again and recommend it to everyone who will listen. 😁
Made this for me and my omnivore boyfriend. He never had kale or cabbage before, and he loved it! He went back for seconds and ate the leftovers too! I also thought it was completely delicious!
I feel like I live off of your recipes, and maybe two others at this point in my life. All of the whole foods have completely re-inspired my pantry and I’ve yet to make a meal from you that has not been 10/10. The flavors are always spot on and easy to swap out if necessary.
For this, I didn’t have brussels sprouts, but I had sweet potatoes, so I did that and added rave apples sliced, super thin and then I topped it with crumbled goat cheese. Absolutely incredible!
This sounds amazing! I’m so glad you made it!
Ok, i can’t follow a recipe to a T because I’m a little bit crazy…but I made this with broccoli in lieu of the cabbage (because I’d had it roaming the fridge for 2 weeks), and I didn’t have rosemary but added tarragon to the sage in order to make the dressing. I added some roasted pumpkin and some feta cheese and I can say I enjoyed every single bite of this for lunch today. Amazing! That crispy quinoa is going to be a weekly staple from now on. Yummm!!! Thanks for this wonderful recipe (I will make as is sometime, for sure!)
I’m so thrilled you made it (in your version of course!) Thank you for taking the time to leave such a lovely comment.
This was so good! I was tasting it as I was making it and wasn’t sure I would like it but the end result with everything together was perfection!
I’m so happy you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and review <3
This was easy and really delish. I’ll definitely make it again. The whole family loved it!
I’m so thrilled everyone liked it! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a review 🙂
Any ideas for someone who can’t have quinoa (or chilis for that matter)? Autoimmune disease sucks because this sounds so so so good but I would be regretting it for weeks.
Is farro an option? Or does it have to be gf? Bulgur wheat is another fantastic choice for crisping up, and for the chili oil, you can omit and add regular evoo to your grain, then season with salt, pepper and a bit of dried rosemary and thyme for flavor!
This recipe sounds heavenly but as a diabetic I really shouldn’t eat honey. Do you know if I could replace honey with Stevia? Also I am ultra sensitive to capsaicin (any kind of hot peppers, oral or even topical) and it seems to be absolutely everywhere now so thanks so much for the suggested substitutes.
Just made this and it is so simple and delicious! Will definitely be making again soon
So glad you liked it! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment <33
I can’t wait to make this but I am not supposed to have honey. Is there a good plant based alternative (monk fruit/stevia)? The consistency is what I question when I think of what I can use.
Girl!
Yesss!
This was quite delicious!
Hubby and I enjoyed every ingredient and flavor! Looking forward to trying many more of your recipes😻
Thank you!
I’m so thrilled you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating/review!
I *love* this concept!! (And I also love overcomplicating recipes😬) Followed the recipe in terms of the cabbage & kale and seasoned with TJ’s umami seasoning, quick-pickled red onions. Had a kabocha squash so roasted half to add to the salad. Did not have quinoa for maximum micro crouton satisfaction *sob* so used almond slivers and topped with leftover chili oil from a Szechuan restaurant. Dressed the salad with a miso+sesame paste+maple+leftover rice vinegar from pickled onions+minced ginger. Added furikake (roasted seaweed seasoning sprinkle). All that to say, I’m digging the the baked salad idea. It’s going to happen many, many more times in my kitchen. Thank you for birthing this into the world!
This sounds delish & I am excited to try it! Just wanted to point out that I think it’s incorrectly tagged as “vegan”, but it includes honey, which makes it not vegan. An easy substitute would be maple syrup or agave.
Beautiful flavors, and a light yet filling salad. It was loved by my entire family, including two children. I used a cup of quinoa, and there was plenty of dressing for all of it.
So glad you made it, and I’m equally glad everyone liked it!
This is so good! My husband and I are getting bored with our regular cold salad, I added some lentils on my quinoa to add more protein. Then topped everything with almond nuts and avocados. It was a hit. We both loved it. Gonna make more for work lunch!
Made this last night for dinner. OMG it was so good. So happy I have leftovers. Had some salmon as well, the married perfectly together. Even my kids liked it.
I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review 🙂
Wayyyyy too sweet. I’m so sad! I couldn’t even eat the salad because it was so sweet. I think I would maybe make a red wine vinaigrette before cooking instead, this sauce was just too much honey/sugar. Such a shame because the vegetables are beautiful on their own and we’re so tasty along the way. Beautiful looking recipe though. Sorry to say the negative part.
Did a spin on this by added some other ingredients into our warm salad but WOW this was amazing !!! Also turned my boyfriend onto kale finally and he legit gave the meal a 9.8/10, which says a lot for him. he was in love and told me to stop talking so he can fully enjoy every bite haha
AMAZING DISH, now a staple in our weekly meals!!
so good, so simple, so seasonal, yet also so tasty
YAY this makes me so happy! Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review!
Ah-mazing! My very picky kids loved it, and my daughter, the pickiest, said mom you have to add this to the “favorites” rotation. One question: my family loves pickled onions, and I like your Agrodolce version the best. How can I scale that to make canned pickled onions?
Hmmm, I haven’t ever tried to make full pickled onions with the agrodolce, but to have more on hand I would recommend just doubling the agrodolce recipe and tripling the onion volume you use! Then pack it into a jar for the same pickled red onion effect. I also just have a standard recipe for them on my site 🙂 And I’m so glad you liked the recipe, family included!
So delicious! I would even increase the recipe bc left over it was still yummy. We did a roast chili oil and folded in calabrian chilis
This is the recipe I saw on tiktok that brought me here! Baked salad is who I am now!!
But if you have to watch your blood sugar like moi, as much as I love agrodolce, I had to sub for a dressing with a 1/4 of the amount of sugar. It still gave it similar flavour profiles though (lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, garlic, parsley, toasted hazlenuts, maple syrup) and it was SO good with the kale and cabbage. I did quick pickle red onions on the side to still get that smack of tangy vinegar.
Please drop a link to the Calabrian Chili Oil you use! I’m having trouble finding one… not sure if it’s a chili infused oil or if it’s calabrian chili paste? And is the one you use on the quinoa in this recipe the same thing you use in that delicata squash + agrodolce recipe? Thanks!!
Hello! First, so glad you like the recipe – and yes! It’s a Calabrian infused oil from Brightland. I used it in both those recipes because it feels like a new toy I need to try out haha.
Hello, Happy Autumn! 🍂 I am writing to let you know that tonight my daughter and I together made this cozy dish for the first time as written. We also watched your instagram video which helped visualize it although you made the whole process look a lot faster on video lol. We did not modify anything except I omitted sage because I didn’t have it on hand. We want to pass on both our compliments! It was a delicious, nutritious and hearty dinner with depth of flavour from roasting and contrast of textures, crunchy and soft. The whole dish was a perfect autumn meal, thank you! 😊
I am officially obsessed. I’ve made this with cabbage and broccoli, cabbage and kale I think the green is interchangeable. I made the dressing with mikes hot honey and garlic chili oil, vinegar and a little dijon. So good! Thanks
This is probably the best salad I’ve ever made! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I love onions, but they took over a bit, have a full runny nose! not sure if I cut them too thick, didn’t let them sit with the sauce long enough, or added too much. Any suggestions for next time?
Thanks again!