Roasted Butternut Squash and Blackberry Harvest Salad

By Lee Funke

11/25/2021

This gorgeous Roasted Butternut Squash and Blackberry Harvest Salad is a Fit Foodie Finds reader favorite that’s fall-inspired and so flavorful.

It’s made with roasted butternut squash, candied nuts, blackberries, and massaged kale with a homemade dressing!

This Harvest Blackberry and Butternut Squash Massaged Kale Salad is an excellent healthy lunch or dinner and even doubles as a holiday salad to share. It's made with roasted butternut squash, candied nuts, Driscoll's blackberries, and massaged kale with a homemade dressing! - 3

Perfect Harvest Salad

Talk about the most perfect harvest salad you’ve ever seen. It’s sweet and savory at the same time and is made with the most delicious roasted butternut squash you’ve ever had.

I love me a good harvest salad because they’re packed with seasonal ingredients, are filling, and packed with so much good nutrition.

Components of this salad

Roasted Butternut Squash
Massaged Kale
Fresh Blackberries
Candied Pecans
Balsamic Dressing
Goat Cheese

How to Massage Kale

Every great salad starts with a yummy green base. We love using kale in the fall/winter because it’s hearty and abundant at most grocery stores.

If you’re planning to use kale off the stalk (like this recipe), ALWAYS, and I mean always, massage the kale first. If you don’t, it’ll be hard to chew and might even give you a stomach ache.

We have an entire post on how to massage kale if you want to check that out, but I’ll give you a quick rundown.

Wash kale under warm water and pat dry.
Debon e kale by ripping off the leafs. Discard the bone.
Chop kale into large, bite-sized pieces and place it into a large bowl.
Drizzle on olive oil and sprinkle on some salt.
M assage the kale between your fingers. Do this for 3-5 minutes until the kale turns bright green and feels “wilted.”

tutorial

How to Massage Kale

Massaged Kale Salads are all the rage right now. We love u003ca href=u0022https://fitfoodiefinds.com/best-kale-salad-recipes/u0022u003emassaged kale saladsu003c/au003e, but how do you massage kale? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with this super simple tutorial!

How to Roast Butternut Squash

Next up is the star ingredient of this harvest salad –> roasted butternut squash ! Good news for you is that you can find pre-cubed butternuts squash these days to make this part of the salad super simple.

Butternut squash is one of my favorite vegetables (it’s actually a fruit!) because it’s hearty, slightly sweet, and so versatile. You can make butternut squash soup , butternut squash lasagna , you name it!

What You Need

Roasting butternut squash is simple and only requires a few ingredients. You’ll need cubed butternut squash, olive oil, salt, and pepper. That’s it!

How to Make It

Place butternut squash on a baking sheet.
Drizzle on olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss everything together
Roast at 400ºF for 20-25 minutes.

Tutorial

Roasted Butternut Squash

Wondering how to cook butternut squash? Don’t be intimidated! It’s a lot easier to peel, cut and roast butternut squash than it seems! Learn how with step-by-step instructions here.

Favorite Balsamic Dressing

While you can use any store-bought balsamic dressing in this salad, we highly suggest whipping up your own homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Here’s what you need:

Dijon mustard
Maple syrup
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Salt

Place all of the ingredients into a jar and mix them together. Voila, you have an easy balsamic vinaigrette!

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Harvest Salad Toppings

A salad isn’t a salad without the toppings. We’re going big because want to make sure this salad fills you up and fuels you for your day.

Roasted Butternut Squash : we’ve already oo-ed and aa-ed over roasted butternut squash multiple times in this post. We know you’ll love it.

Candied Pecans & Pumpkin Seeds: go the extra mile and candy your nuts and seeds with a little maple syrup and salt. Trust us.

Blackberries : blackberries add a pop of freshness to this salad. You can really use any berry you wish.

Goat Cheese : goat cheese is a mild cheese and goes so well with the flavors in this harvest salad recipe.

Balsamic Dressing : we always recommend making your own dressing, but you can use store-bought, too!

Dried Cranberries: dried cranberries are like the cherry on top. They’re sweet and easy to find at any grocery store.

Salad variations

Make this salad your own! Here are a few add-in or swap ideas:

Use roasted sweet potato or pumpkin instead of butternut squash.

Add shredded chicken or pan-seared chicken for a yummy protein source.

Use a different salad dressing such as honey mustard , poppyseed , or lemon vinaigrette .

Ingredients1x2x3x

Kale

▢ 10 oz. kale , deboned and chopped
▢ 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt

Roasted Butternut Squash

▢ 1/2 butternut squash , 24 ounces, cubed
▢ 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
▢ salt , to taste
▢ pepper , to taste

Candied Nuts and Seeds

▢ 1 cup raw pecans
▢ 1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
▢ 1.5 tablespoons maple syrup
▢ 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Balsamic Dressing

▢ 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
▢ 1 tablespoon maple syrup
▢ 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
▢ 1/8 sea salt

Other Salad Ingredients

▢ 12 oz. blackberries
▢ 1/4 cup goat cheese
▢ 1/4 cup dried cranberries

Instructions

For the Kale

Place all ingredients for the kale in a large mixing bowl. Massage oil and salt into the kale with your hands for 3-4 minutes. Set aside.

For the Roasted Butternut Squash

Preheat the oven to 400ºF and spray a baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray.
Spread butternut squash out on the baking sheet. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper to the butternut squash and toss until squash is evenly coated.
Place the baking sheet into the oven for 20-25 minutes.

For the Candied Nuts and Seeds

Prepare a baking sheet by spraying with olive oil cooking spray.
Place all ingredients for nuts into a medium mixing bowl. Toss until nuts are evenly coated and then spread out evenly onto the baking sheet.
Roast for 8-10 minutes at 400ºF. You can roast the nuts in the oven with the squash.

For the Balsamic Dressing

Add all of the ingredients for the dressing into a mason jar. Tightly cover the mason jar and shake the jar to combine ingredients.

For the Salad

Add blackberries, goat cheese, cranberries, kale, nuts, and butternut squash into a large salad bowl. Pour dressing over the salad. Toss and enjoy!

Watch It

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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