Roasted Butternut Squash Salad With Cider Vinaigrette

January 4, 2012Katie

butternut squash salad

This salad is a cinche to make if you’ve mastered How to Roast Butternut Squash.  I saw Ina Garten make this salad and had to make it myself.  I adore Ina.


Once you’ve roasted the squash, remove it from the oven and toss in one cup of dried cranberries.  Put it back in the oven for about 10 minutes.  Let the dried cranberries get glossy and yummy and good.

While the cranberries are toasting, make the dressing.

In a small saucepan,  measure out the apple cider vinegar, chopped shallots, and shallots in a small saucepan. If you don’t have shallots, just use onions.  It’s really okay with me!

Simmer this combination on low from about 6-8  minutes and let the cider reduce down to 1/4 cup.  Reduce just means let the flavors concentrate and get smaller in the pan until they are more intense.

Take your pan off the heat and whisk in the mustard, honey, salt and pepper.

Slowly drizzle in the 1/2 cup of olive oil, whisking like crazy and letting your dressing emulsify (or thicken).

Seriously, if you haven’t tried making your own dressing, start now! It’s so easy!

Now, you can use regular plain ol’ walnuts or toast them.  Put 1 cup of walnuts on a baking sheet and toast them in a 350º oven for about 10 minutes.

Trust me, they’ll release all their oils and tasty ohhhhh so good.

Okay, so if you noticed, I have half walnuts and half shaved almonds.  I ran out of walnuts.  But almonds will be wonderful too.

Aren’t you glad we’re all human here in the world of cooking?

Let’s build our salad.

Start with a bed of Spring Mix.  Layer on some of your roasted squash and cranberries.  Yes, they’re still warm.  And delicious.

Take a veggie peeler and shave off some fresh parmesan cheese.

Drizzle your warm Cider Vinaigrette over top.


This salad is a gorgeous, easy side dish this Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Try it and get the WOW nod from your guests.

I’m going to enjoy some right now…see ya later!

Katie’s Printable Recipe –Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Cider Vinaigrette

Cooking with Love,

~Katie

1 Comments

  • dishinanddishes

    January 9, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    Brandy - welcome to my site! Thanks1

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