Perfect Butternut Squash Salad With Tangy Mustard Dressing

Creamy feta adds a salty brightness, while fiber–rich chickpeas make it satisfying enough for a light main course. Serve it as an elegant starter, hearty side dish, or healthy dinner. This fall salad showcases the season’s produce on your plate. When we find butternut squash in our local supermarket, we get excited about making soup, pasta, and stuffed squash. And every time we have leftover squash in the fridge, this harvest salad becomes a delicious leftover meal combining veggies, fruits, nuts, and legumes. The honey mustard dressing combines everything, creating a perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty, and umami notes. This versatile dish is perfect for autumn gatherings or winter festivities. It is a beautiful appetizer, side dish, or light dinner. You can add plant-based protein with chickpeas and transform the salad into a satisfying vegetarian lunch that’s as nutritious as delicious.

Mixed leaves

Try to get a mix of lettuces, also known as salad greens, with different colors and textures. For example, we like combining arugula (dark green, peppery, spicy, tasty, and crisp texture) with butterhead or coral lettuce (bright green and sometimes red, with a delicate taste). You can also use iceberg lettuce, radicchio, endive, watercress, little gem, looseleaf, escarole, frisée, mesclun, and romaine lettuce.

Butternut squash

You can get butternut squash cubes at the store or get a whole one, peel it, and dice it yourself. Substitute sweet potatoes or any other variety of winter squash, like kabocha squash, pumpkin, or acorn squash, for butternut squash.

Apple

We like to pair sweet butternut squash with tangy and crisp green apples like Granny Smith. Substitute any other apples for green apples, but ensure they are crisp. You can also substitute pears for apples. They are a little sweater but taste fantastic in this roasted butternut squash salad recipe.

Pecans

Pecans add a wonderful crunch and nutty taste to this salad. Substitute walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, or pistachios for pecans. Alternatively, add pumpkin, sunflower, or other mixed seeds instead of nuts. Tip: To enhance the nuts’ flavor, toast them for a few minutes in a dry, small saucepan or nonstick pan or the oven at 350°F or 180°C for 5 to 7 minutes.

Dried cranberries

Sour and slightly sweet, dried cranberries fit perfectly with the other ingredients in this butternut squash salad. You can substitute dried cranberries with pomegranate seeds, raisins, or other dried fruit like dates, apricots, figs, and plums.

Chickpeas

Chickpeas are optional. You don’t need to add chickpeas if you serve the salad as a side dish. We recommend adding drained and rinsed canned chickpeas if you serve the salad for lunch or as a main. Substitute farro, wild rice, quinoa, buckwheat, or black beans for chickpeas.

Feta cheese

Crumbled feta cheese or its dairy-free alternatives add a delicious salty, milky, and creamy flavor and texture, making the butternut squash salad extra delicious. Substitute ricotta or dairy-free ricotta, shaved parmesan cheese (not grated parmesan), pecorino, or your favorite goat cheese for feta. Note: we like this salad without onions; however, if you want to add some oniony flavor, we recommend thinly sliced shallots, green onions, or mild red onions. Peel the butternut squash (we use a vegetable peeler or a chef’s knife), then cut it into bite-size pieces (about 1 Inch or 2.5 cm). Transfer the diced butternut squash to the baking sheet pan, toss with olive oil, salt, and black pepper, and bake at 400°F or 200°C for 30 minutes, until fork tender. Tip: Roast the butternut squash in the air fryer at 400°F or 200°C for about 15 minutes or until tender.

Make the dressing

Whisk extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, cumin, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl. Add everything in a small mason jar, close the lid, and shake well.

Build the salad

Add mixed salad leaves to a large bowl or large serving platter. Add thinly sliced apples on the sides and roasted butternut squash in the center. Top with chickpeas, pecan nuts, dried cranberries, crumbled feta, and a twist of black pepper. Finally, drizzle with the mustard dressing. Tip: don’t toss the salad immediately; it won’t look as pretty. Bring it to the table, then toss it before serving it.

Tahini sauce Carrot ginger dressing Green goddess dressing Italian dressing

It’s also delicious next to a homemade soup:

Potato leek soup Carrot soup Lentil soup or curry lentil soup Broccoli soup

Lentil Soup

Curry Lentil Soup

Carrot Ginger Soup

Moroccan Lentil Soup

However, what you can do to get ahead is roast the butternut squash up to 24 hours in advance, then keep it in an airtight container in the fridge. You can also mix the dressing in advance and stir before using it. Refrigerator: keep leftovers in a bowl covered with plastic or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Freezer: this recipe is not freezer-friendly. FALL SIDE DISHES: Shaved Brussels sprout salad, kale salad, quinoa kale salad, black bean salad, sweet potato salad, fennel orange salad.