It doesn’t get much healthier than this here salad.
It also doesn’t get much better either. This Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad screams FALL, loud and clear! Even the colors – green, orange, and deep purpley red? And yes, deep purpley red IS a color. Ugh so in love.
Did I mention I love Fall? We won’t go there again…Seriously though, cooking and baking Fall food is the best. It’s comforting, colorful, warm, delicious, and so so so satisfying.
After a long weekend in Newport Rhode Island (you seriously must go there!), we felt we needed to take a bit of a lighter approach towards our meal choices. Hooooowever…I do have pumpkin pie spice cookies in my oven right now. sshhh….
Anyway, a lighter approach…so I made this quinoa salad as a side dish and for lunch. It’s a little work, but simple work and SO GOOD.
BUTTERNUT SQUASH! One of Fall’s most delectable vegetables I must say. It’s so incredibly easy to make and goes well with a ton of stuff – as a sauce, in a salad, stuffed with cheese and other veggies for dinner, a soup. The list goes on…
If you need some tips on how to cut up a butternut squash watch this video. It helped me!
I decided to cube it up, saute it, and put it in this salad with some other delicious Fall ingredients like kale and cranberries.
Oh and I added some toasted walnuts for crunch and a little goat cheese, well because, I love goat cheese.
These flavors WORK. There is just a pinch of salt and pepper in this salad and that’s it. No joke. The quinoa is cooked in chicken stock giving it some flaaaava, the cranberries are sweet, the kale is bitter, the walnuts are crunchy and toasty, the butternut squash is slightly sweet and hearty, and the goat cheese? The perfect tangy creaminess. Are you sold? Hope so. Please please please make this salad. Oh and this is PACKED full of healthy vitamins and stuff. Wiiinnniiinnnggggg.
To learn more about the health benefits of kale you should totally check out this article! I love learning about the health benefits of food, don’t you?
Go Fall!
Don’t forget to pin this recipe to your Pinterest Board by clicking the image below!
- 1 small/medium butternut squash, diced
- 1 large leaf of kale, stem removed
- ½ cup cranberries
- ¼ cup walnuts, toasted
- ¼ cup crumbled goat cheese
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cup chicken stock
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- Prepare Quinoa according to package direction. Use chicken stock instead of water to add flavor. Cool completely.
- White quinoa is cooking, add a few drizzles of olive oil to a saute pan and place over medium heat. Add diced butternut squash and saute until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool.
- In the same saute pan add a little more olive oil and the kale. Wilt slightly, 1-2 minutes, you want the kale to still be slightly crunchy. Remove from pan and roughly chop. Set aside to also cool.
- Again, in the same pan add walnuts, no olive oil is necessary. Toast for a few minutes on low heat - careful not to burn! Remove from pan and let cool.
- Add all of the cooled ingredients along with the cranberries, goat cheese, a little salt and a little pepper, and gently mix.
I cooked this tonight and it was great. I used parsley instead of kale, slivered almond instead of walnuts, feta instead of goat cheese and added toasted sesame seeds. I also used red and white quinoa cooked with a vegetable bullion. My family enjoyed it. I will definitely try it again
Hi Lillian! Yum! I love the changes you made – glad the recipe inspired you to make it for your family!
Made this last night and loved it! I added chickpeas for protein and subbed pecans for walnuts (because that is what was in my freezer) and ate it for dinner. Thanks!
Will this store well in the refrigerator overnight? Thank you!
Yes! I would say up to 2 days!
This serves 4…. if I need to serve 9, should I double up all ingredients….or would this be too much since there will be other food dishes?
Yes! I would double it to serve 9. If you have leftovers you can always enjoy it the next day. 🙂
I’ve just seen this on Pinterest and have pinned it. I have all of the ingredients already so this is now on my meal planner for this week. Looks and sounds lovely! My son is being tested for food allergies at the moment and has to stay clear of fruit for a week or so, any idea what I could use to replace the dried cranberries please?
Hi Claire! It’s a wonderful recipe – you will really enjoy it. I would suggest adding another vegetable, possibly carrots because they are a little sweet when they cook down. You could dice them up and cook them with the butternut squash. You could also cook down a sweet onion over low heat until they caramelize and become sweet. I also think it would still be delicious without the cranberries, too!
To keep the beautiful color you could replace cranberries with pickled or roasted beets.
love that idea!
Beautiful recipe – can’t wait to bring it for Thanksgiving! Do you use feta cheese, or the regular log of goat cheese?
Thank you Dana! I used the regular log of goat cheese and just used a fork to crumble it.
Hey there! I’m looking at this recipe on my phone and can’t tell… Are the cranberries fresh or dried? On my way to the grocery now. Can’t wait to try!
They’re dried Maggie!
Hi! Do you mean one bunch of kale or one leaf from the bunch? This looks delicious!!!
One leaf from the bunch! You could add more if you want. 🙂
No butternut squash here but I do have some sweet potatoes, might try those instead along with a cranberry vinaigrette.
Sweet Potatoes are a great substitute Kay!
I made this, this week, only instead of chilling everything, I left the ingredients warm. Tossed together and sprinkled with a little white wine vinegar since there wasn’t any cheese on it. I served it with hard-cooked eggs instead. (used the sweet potatoes I asked about above and they worked great!) It was wonderful.
I did only use 1/2 of the quinoa with all of the veggies, craisins and walnuts. Perfect proportions for a warm bowl of yum.
So glad you enjoyed it Kay! I love that you served it warm, too! That’s the wonderful thing about quinoa – it’s so versatile!
Made this for dinner and it was enjoyed by all!
So glad you liked it Renee!
I saw your picture of this on instagram and I had to try it. And I am so glad that I did! I substituted local honeycrisp apples for the cranberries and it added a perfect crunch. Thanks so much for the recipe. Hope all is well stranger 🙂
Hi Betsy! Apples would be amazing in this! Hope all is well!
Do you think a light vinegarette type dressing could work? Any suggestions for one? My husband generally likes a little dressing of sorts. Looks so good I can’t wait to try!
Hi Jenn! Yes, I do. A simple vinaigrette would be really nice in this! I Would suggest olive oil, a little salt, black pepper, and some lemon juice.
So gorgeous girl! Love every flavor here. And I adore butternut squash and quinoa! I may or may not have just made a salad similar to this! Guess great minds think alike?!
Thank you! Yes, I do believe great minds think alike! 😉
I’m so happy butternut squash is back in season! I love it’s versatility. This salad has everything I love in it, I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks Danae! Totally agree about butternut squash – can’t wait to make everything with it!
So pretty and sounds delicious. Happy fall!
Thank you! You too!
I want this on my dinner table tonight!!
Do it Cathy! It’s a great side dish!
Wow! I love these flavors- I am definitely trying this out! Beautiful photos by the way!
Thank ya! Playing around with new lighting ideas!