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    Home » Recipes » Fall Recipes

    November 3, 2020

    Butternut Squash Salad With Cinnamon Vinaigrette

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    This delicious recipe for fall salad has it all! Nutritious greens, roasted butternut squash, tart cranberries, crunchy pecans, creamy crumbled goat cheese and a homemade, sweet cinnamon vinaigrette dressing to die for!

    It's easy to make, healthy and delicious. If you need a great side dish for Thanksgiving dinner, I guarantee this salad will be a hit.

    Autumn harvest salad in a large copper bowl on top of a green, plaid napkin.
    Autumn Harvest Salad!

    *Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    A quick rundown - making autumn harvest salad & sweet cinnamon vinaigrette:

    Keep scrolling for the full recipe! We'll start here with a quick overview:

    • Time to heat up the oven! Preheat to 400°F.
    • Peel & cube your butternut squash. Lightly drizzle cubes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & freshly ground pepper. Bake for 40 minutes.
    • While squash is baking, chop kale and place it in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Use your hands to massage oil into the leaves.
    • Chop spinach and add it to the mixing bowl along with the kale. Add cranberries, goat cheese and chopped pecans.
    • Remove squash from the oven and prepare dressing while it cools.
    • Once cool, add roasted butternut squash to the mixing bowl. Toss all ingredients together. Plate and enjoy!
    Plated Autumn Harvest Salad with a piece of bread
    Plated Autumn Harvest Salad!

    Handy tips:

    • Butternut squash is much easier to work with if you have a good vegetable peeler. For the longest time I used an old, dull peeler and dreaded working with thick skinned squash. Finally, I broke down and bought a new, heavy duty vegetable peeler (it was super affordable so I'm not sure why I waited so long)! It's the best purchase I've made in a long time. Highly recommend! You can also look for pre-cubed squash at the grocery store (look in the produce section).
    • Feel free to get creative with this recipe, it's very flexible. Try a different type of winter squash or substitute walnuts for pecans. Did you find a fun, fall flavored goat cheese at the grocery store, give it a go! Love the cinnamon flavor in the vinaigrette? Add a little more! It's easy to have fun with this recipe and mix things up.
    • This salad goes great with Tailgate Crockpot Chili and a big piece of buttered bread!
    Print Recipe
    5 from 2 votes

    Butternut Squash Salad With Cinnamon Vinaigrette

    Prep Time10 minutes mins
    Cook Time40 minutes mins
    Course: Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish
    Cuisine: American
    Servings: 6
    Author: Stacey Adams

    Ingredients

    Autumn Harvest Salad

    • 1 large butternut squash *peeled & cubed *see note below
    • 1 large bunch of kale *chopped
    • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 cups spinach *chopped
    • Salt *to taste
    • Fresh ground black pepper *to taste
    • ½ cup dried cranberries
    • ½ cup chopped pecans *roasted & salted *see note below
    • 1 4 oz goat cheese log *crumbled

    Sweet Cinnamon Vinaigrette *see note below

    • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
    • ¼ cup grapeseed oil *see note below
    • ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
    • 2 tablespoons brown sugar *dark or light *packed
    • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

    Recipe notes:

    Butternut squash: Pre-cubed squash is usually available at the grocery store (especially when it's in season)! If you don't feel like dicing up a whole squash, or you're trying to save a little time, look for a package in the produce section.
    Pecans: at the store, look for pecans that are already roasted/salted. Packaging should specify! Buy whole nuts and chop them up or look for pecan "pieces." These work nicely and save a little time since you won't need to cut them up by hand.
    Grapeseed oil: this is a neutral oil that doesn't have a peppery flavor, like olive oil. Additional olive oil can be used as a substitute, but it will change the flavor a bit. Grapeseed oil is excellent for making homemade dressings, I definitely recommend adding a bottle to your pantry! It should be in the same area as the olive oil at your local grocery store.
    Vinaigrette: you might also consider trying some Zesty Apple Cider Vinaigrette Dressing on this salad!

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 400°F.
    • Peel and cube your butternut squash. Drizzle with approximately 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss the cubes in the salt, pepper and oil. Spread them out on a large baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes.
    • While squash bakes, chop up your kale. Place it in a large mixing bowl and drizzle with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Massage the olive oil into the kale leaves for 2-3 minutes. By the time you finish massaging the kale, it will have decreased significantly in size, this is normal.
    • Chop spinach leaves up and add them to the mixing bowl along with the kale. Add cranberries, chopped pecans and crumbled goat cheese.
    • Once squash is done, take it out and allow it to cool.
    • While squash cools, prepare your dressing. Simply combine all ingredients for the dressing in a small mixing bowl and whisk them together.
    • Add roasted butternut squash cubes to the bowl and toss all ingredients together with two forks. This salad is delicious without any dressing at all, so I normally leave dressing to the side so that diners can add however much they prefer. Enjoy!

    Did you make this recipe?!

    Thank you so much for trying it out – please be sure to leave a rating! Simply click on the stars in the recipe card above.

    More Butternut Squash Recipes:

    • Butternut Squash Casserole With Ground Beef & Rice
    • Simple Oven Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

    Pin it for later!

    Autumn harvest salad pin for Pinterest boards. Shows salad tossed up in a large, copper serving bowl.

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    Sharing is caring!

    337 shares

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Britt says

      November 10, 2020 at 8:11 pm

      Yummy I can’t wait to try this healthy treat!!!

      Reply
    2. Lindsay says

      November 22, 2020 at 10:44 am

      I am making this for Thanksgiving!

      Reply
      • stacey_olson says

        November 22, 2020 at 2:17 pm

        Oooo yay! I hope you love it!!

        Reply
    3. Leslie Watkins says

      October 15, 2021 at 11:47 pm

      I can’t wait to try this!!! Butternut squash and cinnamon with a salad?!! Yummy!

      Reply
      • stacey_olson says

        October 18, 2021 at 7:58 am

        It's so good!! Hope you enjoy! <3

        Reply

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    Hi, I'm Stacey! I love developing quick, healthy, real food recipes to share with you and your family. Eating nutritious food doesn't have to mean heaps of time in the kitchen, let me show you!

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