Warm Mushroom Salad With Miso Dressing (Vegan)

This warm mushroom salad recipe is made with kale, farro, avocado, and a delicious miso salad dressing. It’s a hearty, nourishing vegan salad that can been enjoyed as a side or a main!

Think you can only enjoy salads in the summer? Think again! This warm, hearty mushroom and kale salad is the perfect cold weather dish.

This winter salad recipe is filled with healthy, nourishing ingredients like sautéed mushrooms, lacinato kale, whole grain farro, and healthy fat sources like pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and avocado.

Everything is topped with the most delicious homemade miso-sesame dressing, which pairs beautifully with the umami flavours of the mushrooms.

You can enjoy this warm mushroom salad as a side dish or even as a main. It’s sort of like a cross between a salad and a grain bowl, in that sense!

This recipe is naturally vegan and can easily be made gluten-free by swapping the farro with a gluten-free whole grain like brown rice or quinoa.

Want more delicious, hearty salad recipe inspiration? Check out my roundup of 15+ fall and winter salad recipes for more ideas!

Recipe Ingredients Needed

All you need to make this mushroom salad recipe are 12 simple, nutritious ingredients:

1. lacinato kale
2. cremini mushrooms
3. farro
4. raw sunflower seeds
5. raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
6. avocado
7. miso paste
8. olive or avocado oil
9. toasted sesame oil
10. rice wine vinegar
11. garlic powder
12. ground ginger

Full ingredient measurements and detailed instructions are located in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post!

Recipe Modification Ideas

There are a few ways you can modify this mushroom kale salad recipe! For instance:

1. Try using a different whole grain in place of farro. Something like quinoa or brown or wild rice would work well!
2. Try adding some extra veggies to this salad – it would taste great with sautéed broccoli or asparagus!

Note: if you need to follow a gluten-free diet, be sure to swap the farro for a gluten-free whole grain (like quinoa or brown rice). Farro is NOT gluten-free.

What To Serve With Mushroom Salad

If you’d like to enjoy this warm mushroom salad as a main meal, I recommend topping the salad with a quality source of protein. Some ideas:

• hard boiled eggs
• crispy tofu
• fried tempeh

Otherwise, serve this salad as a side dish to your main meal!

Can You Eat This Salad Cold?

Yes, of course! I recommend eating it warm when you first make it (it’s so hearty and comforting this way), but if you have leftovers of the salad you can totally enjoy those cold.

Leftovers of this salad will keep for about 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge. The wonderful thing about kale is that it doesn’t get soggy!

TIP: If you do plan on having leftovers, only add the avocado to the portion you want to eat immediately. Store leftovers without avocado, and again add it when you’re ready to serve the leftovers! This will prevent the avocado from browning.

Mushroom Nutrition Facts

Mushrooms are a source of multiple B-vitamins, like: 

• niacin
• riboflavin
• pantothenic acid

They’re also a good source of minerals, including:

• selenium
• copper
• potassium 
• phosphorus 

Something unique about mushrooms? They are actually one of the few non-fortified food sources of vitamin D!

Vitamin D plays a critical role in calcium absorption, helping to keep your bones healthy and strong.

Kale Nutrition Facts

Just one cup of kale provides over 100% of your daily needs of: 

• vitamin A (206%)
• vitamin K (684%)
• vitamin C (134%)

Kale is also a good source of other micronutrients like: 

• manganese
• magnesium
• potassium
• calcium
• copper
• vitamin B6

That same cup provides 2 grams of dietary fibre, helping to keep your gut and heart happy.

In addition to micronutrients, kale is also loaded with antioxidants, which prevent cellular damage and provide a multitude of health benefits.

Miso Nutrition Facts

Because miso paste is made by fermenting soybeans, it’s a natural source of beneficial gut microbes that appear to play a role in many aspects of human health.

Miso is also rich in micronutrients such as: 

• manganese
• vitamin K
• copper
• zinc

PS. Miso + mushrooms are one of my favourite ingredient pairings. If you love this flavour combination too, be sure to check out this Creamy Vegan Miso Mushroom Soup and this Cheesy Miso Mushroom Rice. For more ways to use miso, be sure to check out my roundup of recipes with miso paste – we don’t want that jar to go to waste!

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