Roasted Butternut Squash Salad

This Roasted Butternut Squash salad is perfect for fall and a great all year-round salad and perfect for lunch, or as a side dish for your next dinner party or any event you are entertaining too. It goes with just about any protein or on its own especially if you decide to add a grain to the salad for a heartier spin. Fresh salad greens of your choice tossed and topped with fresh, sweet roasted butternut squash, toasted or candied pecans, cranberries, bacon, creamy goat cheese or feta, red onion, and finally drizzled with a quick and easy maple dijon dressing.

Butternut Squash Salad Recipe Ingredients:

• Lettuce Greens: You can literally use whatever salad greens you like - use Romaine lettuce, spring mix, red leaf lettuce, baby spinach or baby kale, baby arugula or do a blend of a few.
• Butternut Squash: you will need approx 1 ½ pound squash any variety you prefer - approx 4 cups of cubed butternut squash. You can buy a whole butternut squash and peel and cut it up yourself or you can buy the pre chopped cubed store-bought kind that makes things quicker and easier. 
• Dried cranberries & Pumpkin Seeds: Dried cranberries are always welcome in a fall salad but you can substitute with other dried fruit like dried cherries or even craisins or raisins. Pumpkin seeds add the perfect crunch to the salad - but can be substituted with sunflower seeds, sliced almonds or other chopped nuts. I like to use toasted pepitas or pumpkin seeds but that is optional. Another bright beautiful add in is pomegranates - feel free to swap the cranberries out for the pomegranate seeds/arils or add them along with them to this salad 
• Bacon: Its totally optional to add cooked crispy crumbled bacon but I do recommend it - it’s salty and a fabulous add in
• Shallot or Red Onion: I think it’s a must to add to the salad but you can substitute with white onion if that is all you have. 
• Goat Cheese or Feta cheese: feta is the perfect salty briny add in but you can also use your favorite crumbled cheese such as goat cheese, blue cheese or Gorgonzola cheese. If you prefer you can also use grated parmesan cheese instead. 
• Toasted Pecans: Plain toasted pecans add delicious crunch and flavour to the salad but feel free to make my super wuic and bay stove top caramelized pecans or walnuts. The caramelized nuts add a sweet crunch to this salad - this is a quick candied recipe that I love and is perfect for salads. It is hard to not eat them all before adding them to the salad. Add as many as you like to the salad and feel free to swap the pecans with walnuts if you prefer. If you would like a variation you can toss in the pumpkin seeds in to get candied with the pecans. Find the recipe here for this quick caramelized nuts
• Optional Add Ins: Feel free to add extra veggies like red bell pepper, cucumbers, chopped celery, sliced avocado or even broccoli. You can even add in some protein to the salad like adding some chickpeas, or leftover roasted or grilled chicken. Feel free to add some chopped apples or pears. Feel free to add some grains to make this salad even heartier - like cooked quinoa, cooked farro, cooked wild rice or even wheat berries 
• For the Dressing or Vinaigrette: You will need olive oil, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, maple syrup, minced garlic, minced sage, and salt and pepper to taste. This combination makes for a delicious dressing for this apple and candied walnut salad. Ofcourse you can swap out the cider vinegar for lemon juice, the maple syrup for honey and dijon mustard for prepared mustard too - switch things up according to taste - that goes for the sage. I like to use fresh sage but you can use any herb you like - thyme is also nice with the butternut squash. 
  
  

How to Make This Delicious Roasted Butternut Squash Salad:

1. Roast Butternut Squash: Toss the cubes squash with a little olive oil and salt and pepper and roast until golden and creamy inside. You can also toss them with 1-2 teaspoons of maple syrup for some caramelization and even some dry herbs or seasoning if you like a variation. (Ina Garten’s recipe adds the maple syrup - and it’s a great add in) Roast until tender then set aside to cool.
2. Make Salad Dressing: Whisk all the Dressing ingredients together in a bowl or shake in a jar. We want to make the dressing first so it has time to chill and the flavors to marry if possible. 
3. Cook Bacon: cook bacon and transfer to paper towels to drain excess grease. Crumble or chop when cool enough and set aside
4. Toast Pecans or Make Quick Caramelize/Candied Nuts: Lightly toast the pecans in a dry skillet or in the oven for a few minutes. For a quick candied nut version: Add butter, sugar, and walnuts to a saucepan along with the spices and cook until sugar is melted and coats nuts - full recipe here
5. Assemble: Toss Salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Drizzle and toss salad with dressing if you are eating it right away or serve salad with dressing on the side.
   
   

Storage & Make Ahead

• Storage: Undressed salad can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days
• Make Ahead: You can make the the dressing, cook and crumble the bacon, and toast the pecans or caramelize them up to a day in advance and store each individually in separate airtight containers in the fridge - candied nuts do not need to be refrigerated and can be stored for longer than a day.
  
  

More Salads & Sides You Will Love:

• Roasted Butternut Squash Kale And Farro Salad With A Za’atar Dressing
• Wild Rice Salad
• Waldorf Salad
• Honey Roasted Delicata Squash
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Bacon
• Apple Walnut Salad