Maple-Roasted Squash & Kale Salad

Full of fall and winter’s best produce and tossed with a maple vinaigrette, this maple-roasted squash kale salad will be your new favorite. It’s packed with tasty add-ins including generously seasoned toasted chickpeas, apples, goat cheese, pecans, and dried cherries. This colorful, healthful salad is make-ahead friendly, and makes for a lovely lighter Thanksgiving side dish.

butternut squash and kale salad in bowl with apples, dried cherries, goat cheese, and pecans.

Salad tends to be included on the menu of big holiday meals like Thanksgiving just to provide a little balance, but ends up being a background dish no one really cares about. Next to the turkey, herbed stuffing, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and homemade rolls, salad is white noise. (Or is that green noise?)

But if the host asked you to “bring a salad,” you’re about to have the last laugh. Because this maple-roasted squash kale salad can stand up to any other side dish. My kitchen assistant, Beth, and I dreamed this up, played around with different seasonings, add-ins, and dressings, and decided it was good… no… FANTASTIC enough to publish on my baking website.

Get ready to hear what you never thought you would: “Can you send me the recipe for that salad?”

Here’s Why This Will Be Your New Favorite Salad

Tastes great cold, room temp, or even warm
Still tastes fabulous the next day!
Can make everything ahead and then simply assemble before serving
Colorful and nutritious
A healthy side dish, or a vegetarian main
Can make it vegan by simply omitting the cheese
Customizable—see below for suggested swaps

butternut squash and apple fall kale salad on small plate with orange gingham linen next to it.

Here’s What You’ll Taste in This Butternut Squash Kale Salad

Maple-roasted butternut squash
Seasoned, toasted chickpeas
Hearty, healthy curly kale
Crisp, sweet apple (choose a good eating variety, such as Honeycrisp or Fuji)
Nutty pecans
Chewy, sweet-tart dried cherries (or dried cranberries)
Creamy goat cheese
Quick and easy maple cider vinaigrette dressing

You need the following:

ingredients on beige surface including butternut squash, apple, dried cherries, pecans, goat cheese, and chickpeas.

Start by Roasting the Squash & Chickpeas

Begin by mixing a few seasonings together. Cumin, coriander, garlic powder, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. If you’ve made this 1-pan apple cider chicken before, you already have most of these spices in your kitchen!

Next, slice a peeled and deseeded butternut squash into thin half-moons. Place them, along with some drained and rinsed chickpeas, in a large bowl. Sprinkle with the seasoning mix, then drizzle everything with maple syrup and olive oil. Stir/toss everything together until the squash and chickpeas are nicely coated. Spread out in a single layer on a lined baking sheet.

sliced butternut squash with chickpeas in glass bowl and shown again spread onto a lined baking pan.

After roasting, the squash will be soft with caramelized edges, and the chickpeas will be toasted and have an almost nutty texture.

Simple Maple Cider Vinaigrette

For this you need olive oil, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. (Most of which you used for the roasted squash.)

maple vinaigrette dressing in small glass gravy boat.

Massage the dressing into the kale with your hands. Yes, massage the kale leaves—it tenderizes the raw kale, making it infinitely more pleasant to chew.

Once the squash and chickpeas have cooled for a bit, gently toss with the kale and the remaining ingredients.

roasted sliced squash being spooned on top of kale.

Suggested Substitutions

Customize it: Try pepitas instead of pecans; dried cranberries or chopped dried apricots instead of cherries; blue cheese instead of goat cheese (or leave the cheese out to make it vegan). Use delicata squash instead of butternut (bonus: no need to peel!); or slice up a pear instead of an apple.

You could also add a cooked grain, such as quinoa, farro, or wheatberries, for some added heartiness and chewy texture.

Make-Ahead Suggestions

There are a few ways to get ahead with this salad, so you simply have to assemble it in the serving dish the day you plan to serve it—very helpful for big holiday meals!

You can roast the squash and chickpeas and store them (once cooled) in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can also make the dressing in advance and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Give it a good whisk again before using.

maple-roasted and seasoned butternut squash and chickpeas on fall kale salad.

My team and I cannot stop eating this salad. With all the taste testing we do here at Sally’s Baking HQ, we have learned to limit ourselves… but then came along this delicious and nutritious dish. Good thing this recipe makes a giant bowl, and that it still tastes great the next day!!