This butternut squash salad is a must-try fall recipe! It's filled with spiced squash, pomegranates, goat cheese & a delicious cumin-date dressing.
Do you do Friendsgiving or Thanksgiving? Or both? We’re celebrating both this year, so I created this crowd-pleasing butternut squash salad recipe because I know both friends AND family members will love it. It’s the kind of salad that will convert anyone to being a salad lover, because it’s filled with spiced roasted butternut squash, pomegranates, goat cheese, and pistachios. It’s a roasty, spicy, creamy, tangy combo that Jack and I are pretty obsessed with.
Butternut Squash Salad Recipe Ingredients
This salad packs a huge punch of flavor, thanks to 6 essential components:
- Spiced roasted butternut squash. I toss the soft, creamy cubes of squash with cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and cayenne to give them a warm, sweet & spicy flavor.
- Pomegranate seeds. They add a fun pop of pink and juicy, bursty bites.
- Pistachios. I love adding a nutty, crunchy element to any salad recipe, and pistachios are excellent here.
- Chopped Medjool dates. The sweet dates pair perfectly with the warmly spiced squash.
- Goat cheese. The creamy, tangy goat cheese cuts the sweetness of the squash and dates. If you’d prefer to make this salad vegan, substitute diced avocado.
- Cumin-spiced cider-date dressing. This tangy, punchy dressing ties the whole salad together! I make it by blending apple cider vinegar with 1 Medjool date, cumin, olive oil, lemon juice, and a big pinch of cumin. It really highlights the sweet, spiced fall flavors here.
This butternut squash salad recipe is super easy to pull off. Roast the squash, spice it, blend the dressing, and put it all together. A tip for roasting the squash: I like to add the spice mix AFTER the squash comes out of the oven while it’s still warm so the spices don’t burn.
If you love this butternut squash salad recipe…
Try my beet salad, Brussels sprout salad, kale salad, or fall farro salad next!
Butternut Squash Salad
Ingredients
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
- ½ to 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne, less if sensitive to spice
- 6 cups loose-packed spring mix greens
- 2 ounces goat cheese, torn into smaller pieces
- 2 Medjool dates, pitted and diced
- ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
- ¼ cup pistachios, crushed and toasted
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cider Date Dressing (makes extra)
- 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 Medjool date, pitted
- ½ garlic clove
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cumin
- sea salt
- black pepper, to taste
- 3 to 5 tablespoons water, as needed to blend
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the butternut squash cubes on the sheet and drizzle with olive oil and pinches of sea salt and pepper. Toss to coat and spread evenly on the baking sheet. Roast for 30 to 35 minutes, or until tender and browned around the edges.
- In a small bowl, stir together the cumin, coriander, cinnamon and cayenne. Set aside.
- Make the Cider Date Dressing: In a blender, combine the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, date, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper, and 3 tablespoons of water. Add 1 to 2 more tablespoons of water as needed to blend.
- Remove the butternut squash from the oven, let cool slightly, and, while warm, toss with the spice mixture.
- Assemble the salad with the spring mix greens and half of the roasted squash. Drizzle with ⅓ of the dressing, toss lightly, then add the remaining squash, goat cheese, dates, pomegranates, and pistachios. Drizzle with more dressing as desired. Serve immediately.
Special thanks to ALDI for partnering on this post.
This recipe is on REPEAT! It’s so simple and quick to prep while still packing in a lot of interest and variety. I made it for the 4th time today. Perfect meal prep for my lunches. I often sub the butternut squash for sweet potatoes and it works wonderfully. I also double the seasoning because it’s so good. I always bake chicken breast alongside the roasted sweet potatoes to get that protein (and I use the same seasoning that’s called for the butternut squash for the chicken). I’ve actually never added the water in with the dressing. My question is since I’m prepping it for 4 days, how long does the dressing stay good for? I usually refrigerate it just to be safe but then have to let it come to room temp for the olive oil to mix back in after solidifying. I need to branch out and explore your other recipes!
Hi Vicky, the dressing will keep for about a week in the fridge. I’m so glad you’re loving the salad!
This salad is absolutely delicious! And so easy to throw together. Such a great combo of flavors 😋
Hi Susan, I’m so glad you love the salad!
Would love to make this – just looking for an alternative salad dressing … any thoughts?
This recipe is killer. The spices on the butternut squash are the magic part. Balanced flavors and textures with the pomegranates, dates, and pistachios. I’ve made it twice and will be adding it to my favorite recipes.
A friend brought this salad to a potluck. I immediately knew it would be a Fall Favorite and Thanksgiving-worthy! It’s also easy to apply a few travel hacks and assemble in place for dinner w/o taking over the host’s kitchen.
My hacks: I doubled the recipe to fill my big salad bowl. I cheated and bought cubed squash. After roasting and seasoning the squash, I transferred to a casserole dish for easy transport in an insulated carrier. We prepped all sides packaged in little travel bowls. When I arrived I tossed just as suggested. I’m so glad that I tripled the dressing and now have a half bottle of it in the fridge for making easy salads all holiday weekend.
Thank you for this recipe. It’s a new family classic!
I will be traveling to a family dinner. May I roast the squash ahead of time and serve it at room temp in the salad.
yep!
What great flavors! Don’t be afraid of the spices: once mixed together the balance is perfection. My new favorite recipe.
I’m so glad you loved it!
Made it and loved it! Spicing is great!
Great salad- made it for Christmas and had many compliments
I’m so happy to hear!
Thanks so much for this. It’s phenomenal. Loved how the squash was spiced and since my palette prefers savory, I added some puffed quinoa. The nutty flavor balanced out the squash and the fruit. Thanks again for another amazing recipe.
I’m so glad you loved the salad!
EXCEPTIONAL! This is why I make my lunches rather than buy them. I added red bell and celery, but it didn’t need it (I do recommend these adds). Fantastic salad.
Hi Josh, So glad you loved it!
My friends and family loved it! I had a bumper
crop of squash and was looking for different ways to use it. The combination of flavors and textures were delish! I used Trader Joe’s goat cheese with honey- it worked perfectly.
Hi Beth, I’m so glad you loved the recipe!
Best thing on our Thanksgiving table! Who needs turkey when you can eat this 🙂
Hi Kim, I’m so glad you loved it!
Made the Butternut Squash Salad YUM. Used mix of Romaine and spinach/arugula. Had young asparagus so blanched them. No pomegranate or pistachios used pecans. Mixed in large salad bowl Topped with a lovely Bartlet pear I sliced thinly. The pear was nice cool addition to the spicy squash and dressing My hubby is very tall and weighs significantly more than me so we served leftover Costco chicken on the salad at the table. My hubby really liked the dinner. Thanks for the recipe. Will add to our monthly rotation. Cheers from Canada
I’m so glad you both enjoyed it!
This was amazing! Definitely a year around salad. My kids & husband loved too!! So grateful for this site!!!
I’m so glad you loved it!
I’m not really a salad person but I needed a simple recipe for hosting my family. This dish is easy to make and super delicious!! Love it! Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved it!
This recipe looks delicious!! Looking to make it for Thanksgiving and will need to travel; would this dressing keep if I make it 3 days ahead of time and store?
Hi Natalie, yep, the dressing will keep well in the fridge for a few days. I hope you enjoy!
This looks wonderful! Is there a date substitution you could recommend? Thanks!
Hi Annie, I’d make this dressing instead that doesn’t have dates: https://www.loveandlemons.com/apple-cider-vinegar-dressing/
and instead of the dates on the salad, you could use dried cranberries or dried cherries.
Hope that helps!