- Place the butternut squash in the oven
- Cook the rice
- Make the salad dressing
- Assemble the rest of the salad
- Grill the turkey (optional: thinly slice for salad)
Grilled turkey salad
This is-a-meal in one. If you don’t feel like roasting butternut squash or making rice and want this recipe to be even quicker, you can leave it out. Feel free to add a can of chickpeas to make it filling! You can make the rice and butternut squash up to four days in advance, and if you are already doing that, marinate the turkey breast for an even better flavor!
Servings: people USA imperial/metric conversion: |
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Ingredients:
- 1 cup wild rice
- 1 butternut squash peeled and cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt Pink Himalayan
- 4 cloves garlic zested
- 1/2 cup fresh basil stems removed and chopped
- 4 shallots peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 8 pieces turkey breast extremely thin
- 4 stalks celery sliced
- 8 figs cut into quarters
- 4 ounces baby kale chopped
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare a large baking pan with parchment paper. Add the butternut squash and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Mix well and roast in oven for 45 minutes.
- Add 1 cup of rice and a 1 1/2 cups of water to a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil and turn down the heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- In a small jar, add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 clove of zested garlic, 1/4 cup of basil, 1/4 cup of olive oil (minus 2 tablespoons), the shallots, rice vinegar and honey and mix well.
- In a baking dish, add the remaining salt, garlic, basil and olive oil. Add the turkey and mix well.
- Prepare a grill pan on high heat. Spray with olive oil. Add the turkey and grill for one minute per side.
- Add the butternut squash, rice, celery, figs and kale to a bowl. Add the turkey and dressing and serve warm or room temperature.
Notes & Tips:
I had the butcher thinly slice and pound 8 pieces of turkey breast. It was very inexpensive and very delicious!
Have a question about these recipes? Need a substitution for an ingredient? Chef Zissie is here to answer!
Simply use the comments box at the bottom of this page or click the button below. Please try and ask on Sunday to ensure you get your answer on time!
Leftover tips for tomorrow’s lunch:

If you have leftovers of this salad and you already dressed it, you are in luck! Because you used kale, it will last you through the next day! If you used regular lettuce, just discard the wilted lettuce and keep the rest as an amazing rice salad for tomorrows lunch!