Festive Autumn Salad is filled with naturally sweet roasted butternut squash nested in a bed of peppery rocket, spinach, crunchy pomegranate seeds, cranberries, drizzled with a ginger maple citrus dressing and topped with candied pecans
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Why you are going to love our Festive Autumn Salad
You are just going to love this simple and easy festive autumn salad as it is filled with so many healthy ingredients and all of the autumn harvest all in one delicious bite. This salad is also happily gluten-free, paleo-friendly, dairy free, and egg-free.
Things that grow together taste great together
My dad used to tell me...“If you’re shopping seasonally for fresh fruits and vegetables, most items from that are ready to harvest at the same time blend together beautifully." You know Dad's are always right! You can use any fruits/veggies in season such as apples, pears, persimmon, and roasted pumpkin would all work beautifully in this salad. Dried fruits are also beautiful in this salad.
Festive Autumn Salad is the perfect dish to pass for all of your holiday gatherings. You make your ginger maple citrus dressing, candied stove top pecans and roasted butternut squash in advance and then all you need to do is dump in a bowl and toss and you are good to go. Fast and easy and around the busy holidays you need lots of shortcuts to make your life easier.
This Festive Autumn Salad is so colorful that it could be the centerpiece on your holiday table and how pretty would this salad look nestled next to a slice of turkey or ham. This is one dish that all the vegan family and friends can enjoy too.
The ginger maple citrus dressing makes this salad extra special. Ginger, lemon, lime, cinnamon and a little drizzle of maple syrup are blended with perfect harmony. The sweet, the savory and the warming spices and roasted autumn butternut squash all make a perfect harmony of flavors and textures.
My favorite addition is the candied stove top pecans. Candied stove top pecans are so addictive delicious so you better make a little extra because I promise at least half of them will be gone by the time you get to serving up the salad.
More Delicious Autumn Salads
Dried Cranberry Sugar Glazed Pecan Holiday Salad
Best Vegan Warm Swiss Chard Lentil Salad
Nutty Ginger Tamari Quinoa Salad
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Festive Autumn Salad
Ingredients
Roasted Butternut Squash
- 1 whole butternut squash cut in half, deseeded. peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon ground
Wild Rice
- 1 cup brown and wild rice
cooked per package instructions (we like to cook ours in a vegan broth for added flavor)
Candied Pecans
- 1 cup pecans whole or pieces
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon ground
- 2 coconut sugar (can use brown sugar if not following a paleo diet)
Ginger Maple Citrus Dressing
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice fresh
- 2 tablespoon orange juice fresh
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 inch knob ginger root fresh peeled and grated
- 2-3 tablespoon maple syrup (depending on how sweet you like it)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon ground
- salt and pepper to taste
Salad Fixings
- 2 cups rocket (arugula)
- 2 cups spinach
fresh - 4 tablespoon pomegranate seeds
- ½ cup cranberries dried and low sugar
Instructions
- Bake the butternut squash. Preheat oven to 400 degree F (204 degrees celsius). Toss the peeled 1 inch prepped butternut squash cubes in the coconut oil, cinnamon and salt and pepper to taste. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the butternut squash is fork tender.
- Cook your brown and wild rice mixture according to package instructions.- about 40 minutes or until fork tender (Adding brown and wild rice to the salad is optional but I find that this makes this salad a complete meal) You could also add lentil instead.
- Make your stovetop candied pecans. In a small pan add your pecans, cinnamon and coconut sugar and turn the heat on low and allow the sugar to melt and stir gently so that all the pecans are coated. (about 2 minutes) Sometimes I like to also sprinkle just a dash of chili powder in the mix as well... Trust me these are addictive so you might want to make a little extra so you can snack along the way.
- Make your ginger maple citrus dressing. In a bowl add your lemon juice, orange juice, olive oil, grated ginger, maple syrup, cinnamon and salt and pepper to taste. If you do not have a lemon you can exchange with apple cider vinegar. Stir and set aside.
- Assemble the Festive Autumn Salad. Toss together the rocket, spinach, pomegranate seeds, dried cranberries in a bowl. Sprinkle with the stove top candied pecans and drizzle and toss with ginger citrus maple syrup dressing. Enjoy!
Priya Shiva says
wow! Gorgeous looking salad and I simply love ginger dressing! Pinning 🙂
Lea Ann says
Just look at that beautiful Fall salad. Pinned.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you dear and for the pin too.
Helen @ Scrummy Lane says
Oh Bam, I'm in love both with the idea of this salad and your stunning photos of it. I also love that you shared your dad's wisdom with us. That is such a great principle that I'm definitely going to keep in mind. 🙂
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks so much Helen. You know it really does make sense that many of the items that are harvested together go together. I am going to be testing this theory in a few recipes to see if I can get it to work.
The Gourmet Gourmand says
Your dad is totally right 😉 I love every single ingredient in this recipe. And a gorgeous presentation!!
Liz says
What a spectacular salad! I love everything about it---from the squash to the candied pecans! SO yummy!
Dawn says
Beautiful looking salad - perfect for Halloween night!
Amy (Savory Moments) says
This is a lovely salad and the dressing looks zesty and delicious!
gourmetgetaway says
What a delicious salad!! The images look so beautiful! It's the perfect season for salad here in Australia! I always like to have some pumpkin in my salad too, it adds so much flavour.
Thanks so much for sharing,
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
Abbe @ This is How I Cook says
Love salads like this! Perfect for the season and good all the time!
The Foodie Affair says
This salad looks so fresh and delicious! This needs to make a couple of appearances on my holiday menus!
Tandy | Lavender and Lime says
I want to dig right in to the screen at take a bite! It looks delicious Bobbi 🙂