Maple Roasted Butternut Squash & Apple Salad
Updated March 26, 2019
Salad is usually not the star of the Thanksgiving meal. Most people look forward to the turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, and dessert. We always serve a green salad anyways because eating a little salad makes us feel better about the rest of the meal, right?:) Well, this year make sure you save room for the greens because this Maple Roasted Butternut Squash & Apple Salad just might steal the show. It is that good!
To make the salad, I roasted maple glazed butternut squash and apple chunks in the oven to bring out their flavors. I added the squash and apples to a bed of mixed greens. I also topped the salad with dried cranberries, pepitas, and feta cheese. I like to serve the salad with a maple mustard dressing. The recipe is included below. It is easy to make, but if you are in a pinch a store bought balsamic or cranberry dressing work well too.
If you were thinking about crossing that green salad off your Thanksgiving menu this year, don’t do it. Add this Maple Roasted Butternut Squash & Apple Salad to the menu. This salad is delicious, pretty, and a great way to balance out all of those carbs on your plate:)
Maple Roasted Butternut Squash & Apple Salad
Ingredients
- 1 small butternut squash peeled and chopped
- 3 Granny Smith apples core and chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- freshly ground black pepper
- About 10 cups mixed salad greens
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup pepitas
- 3/4 cup feta cheese
- For the Maple Mustard Dressing:
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon brown grainy mustard
- 2/3 cups pure maple syrup you can use "imitation" maple syrup to cut costs, but I recommend at least using ½ pure maple syrup
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup canola oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the butternut squash and apple chunks on a large baking sheet. Add olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper and toss. Roast the squash and apples for 25-30 minutes, turning once, until tender. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.
- 2. While the squash and apples are roasting, make the maple mustard dressing, if using. Combine garlic, mustards, syrup, vinegar, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. With the machine running, pour in oil in a slow steady stream to emulsify. You should have about 2 cups of dressing. You will not need it all for the salad. You can store the leftover dressing in the refrigerator for about two weeks.
- 3. Place the mixed greens in a large salad bowl and add the butternut squash, apples, dried cranberries, pepitas, and feta cheese. Drizzle dressing over the salad to moisten and toss well. Serve immediately.
- Note-you can also serve this salad with a store bought balsamic or cranberry dressing.
Have you tried this recipe?
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Can I replace the feta with blue cheese?
This was the star of my Thanksgiving table, so pretty, seasonal, and delicious. I was so happy for the leftover dressing and roasted apples/squash (the few leftovers I wanted to see again!) because I used it for all my salads in the weeks after. Just made a fresh batch of each – yum!
Was a big hit on Thanksgiving. I used EVOO instead of canola, but was really good!
I made the salad for guests. They absolutely loved it! It had sweet taste and tint of spice.
I have a question I couldn’t find brown grainy mustard. I used a combination of spicy brown mustard and a little whole-grain mustard. what would you recommend?
I am glad they loved it. A whole grain mustard is fine. The mix sounds good too!