Roasted butternut squash quinoa salad

This roasted butternut squash quinoa salad is healthy, hearty and delicious. Full of bright colors, different textures and flavors, it makes a delicious fall lunch or side.

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There are some days when I look in the fridge and cupboards as I am trying to decide what to have for lunch and feel a bit uninspired. Then there are others when it all seems to come together perfectly and I have everything I could want for a delicious lunch I hadn't even thought of making.

This tasty squash and quinoa salad originally came about from one of those latter days. True, it was a bit of a throw in some of this, some of that, but each added that bit of something, whether flavor, color or both. And the overall result is tasty, pretty and feels nicely healthy, too.

This makes it a wonderfully versatile dish - it's great as a healthier lunch, but also works well to add some color on a festive table. Being that bit healthier, it's a nice counterbalance to a lot of the richer, heavier foods that we often end up having at this time of year.

How to make roasted squash quinoa salad

This salad has a little bit of preparation, but not a lot and much can be prepared ahead too:

• Peel and dice the squash, toss with oil and either allspice or salt and pepper and roast until tender. Leave to cool.
• Cook quinoa until the tendrils 'bloom' and leave to cool.
• Roughly chop the arugula and peel and coarsely grate the beet/beetroot. 
• Whisk together oil, lime juice and honey with a little salt and pepper. 
• Toss the quinoa, greens and beet with the dressing first before gently mixing in the squash, pepitas and cranberries. Then serve or store until needed.

The pepitas (pumpkin seeds) give a nice crunch, and the cranberries that touch of sweetness, which compliments the squash. The dressing is a light but tasty mix of olive oil, lime and honey - a perfect bright accompaniment to all the lovely flavors in the salad.

It's a relatively simple combination but one with lots of tastiness, color and crunch. While it has some tasty fresh and earthy flavors, it's also relatively mellow, so you can easily pair it with a range of dishes as a side. It would go with roast meats and even alongside richer sides like Dauphinoise potatoes or cauliflower cheese.

Plus, you can easily adapt it to what you have and tastes as well.

Ways to adapt this salad

While I love the combination here, you can easily adapt this in a few ways, depending on your taste, what you have and how you might be serving:

• Add some crumbled goat cheese for an extra burst of flavor and soft texture.
• Skip the beet for a slightly smaller (and less pink!) salad, but one that's still really tasty. While I am a big fan of the slightly earthy beet flavor, I know it's not to everyone's taste. Plus, you do need to take a little care about it staining.
• Try different garnishes - instead of cranberries, you could use fresh pomegranate arils, or raisins. In place of pepitas, try some pine nuts, toasted almonds or chopped pecans.
• Use a different dressing, such as the maple vinaigrette in my beet apple salad, or the orange dressing with my squash wild rice salad.
• Add some extras - this is great as it is, but you could also add some other ingredients in there, too, such as slices of crisp apple or thinly sliced fennel. I've also been known to add in some tomato and avocado, just because.

There are lots of options, but this serves as a great place to start then get creative from there. And mix things up with other quinoa dishes like my steak quinoa bowl (another highly adaptable dish) and this quinoa chickpea salad. And if you have extra beet and squash, try my roasted beet and butternut squash salad too (or get extra on purpose!)

Tips for preparing ahead

You can roast the squash a day or two ahead of time when you have the oven on for something else or better still, just roast a bit more if you have some for dinner to have leftover for this.

Quinoa can also be made ahead and kept refrigerated to use in various dishes like this and many others. Everything else is really quick to chop and throw together when you are ready.

Then, once made, this salad keeps well for a day or two in the fridge. The arugula is really the only thing that wilts slightly but being chopped up, you hardly notice. The rest is all just as good on day two as the first day - in fact the dressing gets into things more, potentially, so the cranberries are juicier. So it's great if you have leftovers, it's a nice lunch to pack up the next day.

This butternut squash quinoa salad is colorful and full of tasty goodness. There's softness, crunch, and it fills you up nicely. Whether you enjoy it as a lunch or a side dish as part of a potluck, festive meal or whatever else, it's a wonderfully bright and flavorful addition.

Looking for other ways to use quinoa? Try these!

• Raw beet quinoa salad - a lovely easy, earthy dish that's versatile in how you use it.
• Caprese quinoa salad - another easy, colorful combination that's great as a side.
• Cuban-inspired quinoa bowl with grilled sweet potato, mango avocado salsa and plantain.
• Plus see more lunch recipes for ideas to brighten up your midday plate!

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store. 

This post was first shared in September 2015 and has been updated with a few recipe tweaks and additional hints and tips.

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