Baked Chard Salad With Cranberries

Updated Sept. 22, 2025

Baked Chard Salad With Cranberries
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff.
Total Time
55 minutes
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Rating
5(41)
Comments
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What’s the difference between a baked salad and a regular old bowl of roasted vegetables? The easiest answer is that the leafy green ratio in a baked salad is high, and I only hope that makes the satisfaction factor high, too. Now the difference between a baked salad and your typical salad is that instead of crunching through the raw stuff in a typical salad, you dress the greens (and in this case, cabbage) in a bit of olive oil and salt before roasting them down into tender, softened bites. Roasting the vegetables is a precursor to coating them with dressing, giving them their first coat of olive oil before a highly acidic vinaigrette rounds it all out. I usually say you can skip herbs if they aren’t in your fridge, but the parsley is really helpful here: It freshens up the salad so you don’t get any flavor fatigue. Watch Justine Doiron make this dish in this video.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

    For the Salad

    • 1cup uncooked farro
    • Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
    • 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
    • 1bunch Swiss chard (about 1 pound), stems thinly sliced and leaves coarsely chopped
    • 1large green or red cabbage, quartered, cored and thinly sliced
    • 1(13.5-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
    • ¼cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
    • cup crumbled goat cheese
    • ½cup chopped parsley

    For the Dressing

    • 1large red onion
    • 3garlic cloves
    • 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    • Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
    • ½cup red wine vinegar
    • ¼cup honey
    • Freshly ground black pepper
    • ½cup dried cranberries
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

693 calories; 28 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 15 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 97 grams carbohydrates; 16 grams dietary fiber; 42 grams sugars; 21 grams protein; 972 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Start the salad: Arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat to 400 degrees (or use the convection setting at 375 degrees).

  2. Step 2

    Bring a medium pot of water to boil over high heat. Add the farro and season with 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook according to package instructions until tender, about 25 minutes, then drain.

  3. Step 3

    Meanwhile, on one sheet pan, toss Swiss chard with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with ¼ teaspoon salt. Repeat with the cabbage on the other sheet pan and set aside.

  4. Step 4

    Start the dressing: Thinly slice the onion and grate the garlic.

  5. Step 5

    Transfer the baking sheet with cabbage to the lower rack of the oven. Roast the cabbage for 25 minutes, until softened and charred on the edges. (You’ll add the chard to the oven later.)

  6. Step 6

    While the cabbage roasts, finish the dressing: Set a 10-inch pan over medium heat and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 12 to 15 minutes, until softened and starting to brown a bit. Stir in garlic and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Stir and cook until the garlic no longer smells raw, 2 to 3 minutes more.

  7. Step 7

    Reduce the heat to low and stir in the vinegar and honey. Bring the mixture to a simmer and let it reduce for 4 to 5 minutes, until syrupy. Taste and season with salt and a few cracks of black pepper. Remove from the heat and stir in the cranberries. Transfer to a very large bowl and set aside to let the cranberries soften.

  8. Step 8

    Finish the salad: Wash and dry the pan used for the dressing. Heat over medium and drizzle with olive oil to lightly coat. Add the chickpeas and lightly toast for a few minutes. Transfer to the bowl. Add pepitas to the pan. Toast over medium for 3 to 4 minutes, until the seeds are beginning to turn lightly golden. Transfer to the bowl, along with the farro.

  9. Step 9

    When the cabbage has 5 to 10 minutes left, add the baking sheet with the chard to the upper rack of the oven and roast until it’s wilted but still retains its color.

  10. Step 10

    To the large bowl, add the goat cheese and parsley. Add the roasted cabbage and Swiss chard and give a few good mixes. Taste and add more salt, pepper, olive oil or vinegar as you prefer. Serve immediately.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
41 user ratings
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Comments

I noticed this recipe called for ingredients I'd just gotten in my CSA. I just cooked it for lunch and the whole family loved it! I missed the fact the Chard was supposed to not go into the oven till later and ended up catching that and pulling it out after about 15 min. It was a bit overdone, but it didn't seem to matter in the end and was delicious. I used fresh Napa Cabbage and it also cooked faster as well - done in 15 min too. I didn't clean out the pan before roasting the chickpeas either.

This was excellent! Justine always hits it out of the park with baked salads. I made the recipe as written except for subbing feta for the goat cheese since that's what I had. Next time I'll up the pepitas because I really like the crunch, but other than that, no changes. This will go into our regular rotation for sure!

@Eliza I didn’t separate the dressing and actually like it even more saturated the next day.

Like the other reviewers, my salad was huge - it barely fit into my biggest bowl and I ended up using only 3/4 of a small red cabbage. I also added more pumpkin seeds for the crunch. I don't think the step of frying the chickpeas is necessary because the crispiness went away once added to the salad. If you really want crispy chickpeas, they need to be cooked for much longer than 'a few minutes' and maybe in the oven. I found the recipe complicated to follow, but the end result was delicious.

Generous room to modify, swap, and use what produce is on hand. The dressing will certainly be on repeat.

This is delicious. It will be a go to winter comfort salad. As someone else mentioned, it makes a huge amount, way more than I’m going to get through solo. I’ll half the recipe next time. I’ll also use a bit less cabbage but that’s more a personal preference than about the recipe.

@RGG, if undressed how does the leftover salad keep? Thanks so much.

@Eliza I didn’t separate the dressing and actually like it even more saturated the next day.

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