This salad features one of my favorite blends of fall flavors: butternut squash + pear. If you haven’t tried it yet, you are missing out. And if you love it as much as I do, then you have to try my Pear & Butternut Squash Sandwich, it’s a dream.
Serve this gorgeous side salad at your next dinner party. Everyone is going to love it. It has the most delicious mixture of flavors and textures. It’s savory, sweet, crunchy and tender at the same time. It has roasted vegetables, nuts and seeds, but also, leafy greens, fresh pears and chewy golden raisins. And last but, not least, it has the most incredible pear-ginger dressing.
Now let’s talk about this healthy, plant-based dressing because it’s pure magic. It’s fresh, tart, super creamy, a bit spicy from the ginger and a bit sweet from the pears. I love it so much I’ve been making it on repeat and adding it to a lot of other salads.
This crowd-pleasing salad is packed with fall flavors so it’s perfect for those colder months. But I also love to have this salad on a warm, sunny day, because, well… salads and summer go hand in hand.
If you try this simple side dish, let us know what you think, leave a comment below or tag us on Instagram @mondaydreamsblog. We love hearing from you!
Butternut Squash & Pear Salad with Pear-Ginger Dressing
Ingredients
SALAD:
- ⅓ cup walnuts
- 3 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 3 cups butternut squash, chopped into bite size pieces – measured after chopping
- 1 small/medium red onion, chopped into bite size pieces
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 small pears, chopped into bite size pieces
- 5 cups greens, I like a mixture of arugula, mizuna and spinach
- 3 Tbsp golden raisins
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
PEAR GINGER DRESSING:
- 1 small pear skin removed, then roughly chopped
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 big Medjool date or 2 – 3 Deglet Noor dates, pitted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F / 180 °C. Place walnuts and pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet (no oil) and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Remove and let cool, then roughly chop the walnuts.
- Place the butternut squash and onion on a baking sheet, add olive oil and a big pinch of sea salt and toss with a spoon until the vegetables are evenly coated. Then arrange them in a single layer.
- Bake for 10 minutes, toss again to make sure the vegetables are roasted even and bake for an extra 10 – 15 minutes. Until they are tender and golden. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- While the squash is in the oven, make the dressing. Add all the dressing ingredients to a high-speed blender: pear, olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, ginger and date. Blend until smooth and creamy, this might take 2 - 3 minutes.
- Assemble the salad. Arrange the greens on a big platter. Top with the roasted vegetables, pear, nuts, seeds and golden raisins. Drizzle with a little dressing and serve it with more dressing on the side (see pictures). You could also add all the salad ingredients and the dressing to a big bowl and toss them until combined, but it won’t be as pretty.
- Enjoy!