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This beautiful fall harvest salad is made with kale, roasted butternut squash, apples, pomegranate seeds, pepitas, and feta. It’s tossed in a simple homemade balsamic vinaigrette and sure to be your favorite fall salad and a must for this year’s Thanksgiving table!
If you love this fall salad then you have to try my autumn apple and pear salad!
Why you’ll love it
Fall produce – This gorgeous salad is packed with fall produce. Butternut squash, pomegranate seeds, and apples are a few of the stars in this salad.
Sweet and salty – The sliced apple and pomegranate seeds give the salad a little bit of sweetness, while the feta adds a salty bite to balance it out.
Lots of texture – I’m a firm believer that salads need lots of texture and this harvest salad delivers just that! There’s plenty of crunch thanks to the apple and pepitas.
The ingredients
- Kale – a hearty green that holds up well in salads. I used purple kale, but you could use green.
- Butternut squash – If you’re short on time, buy a some that’s already been peeled and cubed.
- Apple – Use a sweet crisp apple such as Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Pink Lady.
- Feta – Buy a block of feta and crumble it yourself for the best flavor and creamiest consistency.
- Pomegranate seeds – Adds a sweet/tart pop of flavor to the salad.
- Pepitas – Pepitas and pumpkin seeds are technically the same thing, but pepitas don’t have a shell around them.
- Balsamic vinegar – The vinegar used for the salad dressing.
- Dijon mustard – Helps to thicken the vinaigrette.
- Maple syrup – Used to sweeten the balsamic vinaigrette.
How to make fall harvest salad
Roast the cubed butternut squash in a 400° F. oven for 20 minutes or until the squash is tender. While it’s roasting remove the stems from the kale and chop it. Add it to a salad bowl.
Combine the balsamic vinegar, dijon, maple syrup, olive oil, salt and pepper in a jar with a lid and shake until well combined.
Pour half of the vinaigrette onto the kale. Use clean hands to massage it in until the kale softens and is shiny and darker in color.
Top the salad with the roasted butternut squash, pomegranate seeds, feta, sliced apple, and toasted pepitas. Toss together and drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over the top of the salad or serve it on the side.
Fall salad variations
- Substitute kale with baby spinach or mixed greens.
- Use roasted acorn or delicata squash instead of butternut squash.
- Add dried cranberries and toasted pecans.
- Use goat cheese instead of feta.
- Use sliced pears instead of apple.
- Instead of balsamic vinaigrette make my apple cider vinaigrette that I used in this Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Cider Vinaigrette.
- Add sliced or diced chicken to the salad for added protein.
What to serve with this fall salad
If you’re serving this salad as part of a vegetarian dinner, it would go great with either my baked parmesan risotto or baked pumpkin and goat cheese risotto. Prefer pasta? Try serving it with this pumpkin cacio e pepe.
This fall salad would also be delicious alongside this apple cider chicken skillet, creamy mustard chicken or even these apple cheddar turkey burgers.
How long will the kale salad keep?
The salad is best eaten the day it is made, but will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Can I make the fall kale salad ahead of time?
Components of the salad can be prepped ahead of time, but I recommend assembling the salad just before serving.
The butternut squash can be roasted 2-3 days in advance and the balsamic vinaigrette can also be made 2-3 days in advance.
To save time you could also buy pomegranate seeds that have already been packaged instead of removing them from the pomegranate yourself.
More fall salads you’ll love
- Roasted Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts Salad
- Fall Cobb Salad
- Harvest Butternut Squash Lentil Salad
- Cranberry Apple Quinoa Salad
- Harvest Quinoa Salad
- Fall Roasted Vegetable Panzanella Salad
Did you make this fall harvest salad? I’d love if you’d leave a recipe rating and review below.
Fall Harvest Salad
Ingredients
- 2 bunches of kale stems removed and chopped
- 2 cups cubed butternut squash peeled and seeds removed
- 1 Honeycrisp apple sliced
- 1/2 cup crumbed feta
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1/4 cup toasted pepitas
- Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the butternut squash cubes onto baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper then toss to coat. Bake the squash until tender, about 20 minutes
- Combine all of the ingredients for the balsamic vinaigrette in a jar or small bowl. Shake or whisk until well combined.
- Add the kale to a serving bowl. Pour half of the vinaigrette onto it and then use your hands to massage the vinaigrette into the kale. Massage for a couple minutes until it’s softened, darker in color, and shiny.
- Top the salad with the butternut squash, feta, pomegranate seeds, and pepitas. Toss everything together. Add the sliced apples on top of the salad and pour on the remaining vinaigrette.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit! I will be adding this to our Thanksgiving menu for the future. I used bagged, pre-washed kale and cubed butternut squash from Trader Joes. Made the dressing and roasted the squash a day ahead of time and it was very easy to put the salad together last minute – delicious!!