Roasted Butternut Squash Spinach Salad with Goat’s Cheese

My roasted butternut squash spinach salad with goat’s cheese is a healthy, delicious, and filling fall salad!

Ok, I’ll admit I don’t like goat’s cheese. I used to, until I had this experience with it (warning: not for the faint of heart). Anyway, everyone else seems to like it, so I made this despite my taste aversion. My husband and sister thoroughly enjoyed this salad in its entirety, and I enjoyed sneaking pieces of roasted squash, so we’re good here.

We seem to have butternut squash in the grocery store year-round, but obviously it’s more of a cold-weather food. Yeah, it’s probably a bit early to post this, but that’s ok.

In the food blogging world we start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes in the middle of August. I do anyway. So this isn’t much of a stretch! Stay tuned for another summer recipe on Wednesday, though. I’m so not done with warm weather ever yet, but I will try to sneak in a few fall recipes here and there. 😉

The dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds add more autumn flavor and satisfying texture. Basil adds that wonderful herby freshness. The honey garlic dressing is super simple and further enhances the sweetness of the squash.

You could peel the squash, but I decided not to. Less work. The skins are chock full of good stuff. I like when being lazy has health benefits. I was totally dreading cutting the squash because I had this idea in my head that it needed to be perfectly cubed, but my laziness resourcefulness took over again, and these half moons or whatever you’d call them are much easier to do and look perfectly fine 🙂

Hope you will enjoy this roasted butternut squash spinach salad recipe!

5 from 1 vote

Roasted Butternut Squash Spinach Salad with Goat's Cheese

By Natasha Bull

My roasted butternut squash spinach salad with goat's cheese is a healthy, delicious, and filling fall salad!

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 30 minutes mins

Total: 40 minutes mins

Servings: 6

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Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 small butternut squash
• ▢ Olive oil
• ▢ Salt & pepper to taste

Dressing:

• ▢ 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• ▢ 2 teaspoons honey
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ▢ 2-3 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ Pinch of ground cumin
• ▢ Pepper to taste
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil

Other:

• ▢ 1 (16 ounce) package of spinach
• ▢ 1/4 cup (or to taste) dried cranberries
• ▢ 1/4 cup (or to taste) pumpkin Seeds
• ▢ Goat's cheese to taste
• ▢ 10 leaves fresh basil

Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 400F, and move the rack to the top third of the oven. Line a baking sheet with tin foil for easy clean-up.
• Prepare the squash by cutting the ends off, then slicing it in half lengthwise. Cut each half into 1/2" slices width-wise so you end up with half moon shapes. Cut the pieces in half again to make them more bite-sized. Place squash slices on the baking sheet and toss with about a tablespoon of olive oil and some salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, combine dressing ingredients to make the dressing (I used a jar). Refrigerate until needed.
• Once the squash is cooked, let it cool while you prepare the rest of the salad. Add spinach to a large bowl and then add the dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, goat's cheese (crumble it with your fingers), and basil (tear it into small pieces).
• Toss salad with the dressing and squash and serve immediately.

Notes

• This makes a large salad (four entree sizes or 6+ appetizer sizes), so the recipe is easily halved. Squash can be roasted a day ahead and refrigerated until you need to assemble the salad.

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