The BEST Thanksgiving salad. Roasted garlicky kale, squash and chickpeas, crisp apple, pepitas and dried cherries, and a drizzle of roasted garlic dressing.
Squash Salad with Kale and Roasted Garlic Dressing
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This salad is excellent! I am back to make it a second time for Thanksgiving. I did add goat cheese the first time and it was great!
Sarah
This recipe is sponsored by ALDI
This stunning, fallish, kind of addicting salad goes out to all the people who love to make vegetables taste cozy.
Without fail, I always get asked to bring a salad or vegetable dish to Thanksgiving. And salads at Thanksgiving… well, you know how it is. You really need to make it count, otherwise might as well forget it. It’s hard to compete with mashed potatoes and turkey and all the other yummy regulars.
But this salad is not forgettable. It has all the elements of a winner.
I love this recipe because:
- it’s vegan, so everyone at our table can eat it!
- it’s delicious served cold like a salad or warm like a… warm salad.
- it’s beautiful on a holiday table, and honestly also just beautiful in your lunchbox.
- squash, chickpeas, kale, apples, pepitas, dried cherries and roasted garlic dressing JUST WORK TOGETHER.
I got my ingredients for this salad entirely at ALDI, with special shout outs going to the cute butternut squash, the huge bag of organic kale, and the crispy little pepitas and juicy bites of dried cherries.
I know a lot of you already know this, but ALDI is *the* place for holiday groceries. There are so many organic options (♡) and their prices are SO AFFORDABLE, which works really well when you’re trying to feed about 185 hungry people around the holidays. I love it.
You can click here for a one-stop Instacart grocery list, so all you have to do is schedule delivery and you’re good to go. While you’re there, be sure to use the code ALDIPOY to get $10 off your orders of $35 or more. That code works for first-time Instacart users, and you can use it not once, not twice, but three times!
Okay, here’s how we make this salad.
First: roast the squash, chickpeas and garlic (just wrap it in foil).
Then mash your garlic into a paste and whisk it into dressing.
Then… um, serve it up? Easy and beautiful is how we roll.
Roasted garlicky massaged kale, topped with the squash and chickpeas, and some pretty little apple fans, and dabbles of pepitas and dried cherries, and the final drizzling of roasted garlic dressing over the top. Yeah. Gorgeous.
Goat cheese, Parm, or bacon would be lovely additions, too, but maybe put that on the individual salad plates so our vegans can still be happy.
I really love it when real food is this beautiful, simple, wholesome and amazing on the taste buds.
Fall food is the best food.
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Squash Salad:
Squash Salad with Kale and Roasted Garlic Dressing
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 as a side 1x
Description
Squash Salad with Kale and Roasted Garlic Dressing – the BEST Thanksgiving salad. Roasted garlicky kale, squash and chickpeas, crisp apple, dabbles of pepitas and dried cherries, and a drizzle of roasted garlic dressing over the top.
Ingredients
Scale
Salad:
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about 3 cups)
- 1 can Dakota’s Pride Garbanzo Beans, rinsed and drained
- a drizzle of oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2–3 cloves garlic
- 4–5 cups Simply Nature Organic Chopped Kale
- 1 honeycrisp apple, sliced
- 1/2 cup Southern Grove Pepitas
- 1/2 cup Southern Grove Dried Cherries
Dressing:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
- black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon sugar
VERY IMPORTANT: Click here to get ALL of these ingredients delivered via Instacart! And if this is your first time, don’t forget to use the ALDIPOY code for $10 off your order of $35 or more.
Instructions
- Roast: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place squash and chickpeas on a sheet pan. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt. Place garlic cloves in the center of a small piece of foil. Drizzle with oil and fold it up into a little packet. Place the packet on the sheet pan. Roast everything for 30-40 minutes.
- Dressing: Whisk the oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and sugar together. When the sheet pan comes out of the oven, mash up the roasted garlic and add it to the dressing.
- Kale: In a large bowl, drizzle the kale with a little bit of dressing (hello, flavor!). Massage it – as in, just, like, squeeze it – until it’s deep green and the texture has relaxed a little bit. This just makes it more tender and pleasant to eat.
- Salad: Place kale in a large salad bowl. Top with squash and chickpeas. Arrange little fanned-out apple slices on the salad (pretty!). Dot the whole thing with pepitas and dried cherries, and finish with the rest of the dressing. Serve warm or cold! IT’S A BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE.
Notes
Make ahead: You could definitely roast the squash, garlic, and chickpeas a day in advance. That being said, the texture of the roasted chickpeas will change from crispy to… less crispy after they’ve been roasted and cooled. I don’t think they taste bad that way! Just different.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: squash salad, Thanksgiving salad, Thanksgiving side dish, kale salad
Thank you to ALDI for sponsoring this post!
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of yummy kale recipes. Check it out!
November 13, 2019
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram so we can find you!
I’m gonna try and make this for Thanksgiving. Squash is my #1 fav food! Squash addict. And I won’t disagree with you that ALDI is the place to shop for food I am always~ and I mean always so pleasantly surprised by how low my bill is there and what I got for my money. My only issue is how to make it plural. People are telling me that ALDI’s is incorrect. It still is just ALDI plural. Help!
We like to say ALDI stores. 😉
I really hate peeling butternut squashes haha. I always almost cut my finger off! Could I use an acorn squash instead? Or does anyone have tips for cutting squash?
Hi, Abbey! We haven’t tested this out using acorn squash yet, but we think it could work. Acorn squash just won’t taste as sweet. Another alternative is to buy pre-cut butternut squash, which you can find in the produce section of some grocery stores. Enjoy!
I find peeling butternut squash so much easier using the Kuhn Rikon Original Swiss Peeler, Orange which I bought inexpensively on Amazon. It’s an amazing tool for butternut squash especially ! You can also microwave the squash for a few minutes and supposedly then the skin comes off easily. I’ve never tried that method, but you could google it.
I hate peeling pumpkin too! I cut it in half , skin on and put into the microwave for 5 minutes, leave to cool and voila. Adjust roasting time slightly.
The skin of a butternut is really thin and you can actually eat it! Try roasting it with the skin on. You might be pleasantly surprised. I agree though with the other commenter that’s the Kuhn Rikon peeler makes easy work of the job. It’s the #1 peeler of professional chefs (I’m one) and we all have one in our kits.
I hate peeling butternut squash too, but it’s one of my favorite squashes. I wash it, then cut off the bottom and then cut that in half. Then I scoop out the seeds. the halves and the rest of the squash I cut into slices (like disks) about an inch think or so (also cutting off the top. Then with the slices flat I just take a knife and slice off the edges as I rotate the disks of squash. It is best to get the peel and the white layer off, and I have found this the fastest and easiest way for me to “peel” the squash!! Good luck 🙂
you can just also roast garlic cloves without peeling them! just trim off the part at the bottom, roast them in the peel and then you can just pop the clove out after they’re all cooked and delicious 🙂
wow, this looks amazing! and now that we’re *finally* getting into kale at my house it will make us all happy. pepitas are mmmmm. loved the garlic roasting tip, too.
Hope you enjoy the salad, Karin!
Definitely want to make this for family thanksgiving! I’m not sure about the squash but I love sweet potatoes. Would that be a good substitute?
Hi, Skyler! We think sweet potatoes would be great in this!
Would this hold up in the fridge for a meal prep? I’m always on the lookout for a veggie based meal I can graze on for the week.
Love the way you think, Jenny! We think this could work well to meal prep. We’d suggest waiting to cut the apple until you’re ready to eat the salad and pouring the dressing on right before eating as well. Enjoy!
Hi Lindsay!
I shop Aldi’s on a regular basis! I agree some of the best prices around always great for everyday shopping…
I am putting this recipe on my meal plan, for the up coming holiday menu’s !
Hope you enjoy the salad, Jeff!
Any recommendations to substitute for the sugar in the dressing?
Hi, Katie! We haven’t tested this out without using sugar in the dressing, so we’re not sure how it’ll turn out. You could try omitting it, but the sugar helps balance out the acidity from the lemon. You could try reducing the sugar a bit to see if that helps. Let us know how this goes!
I just made this today. I used maple syrup instead of sugar and it was delicious. Agave syrup would probably work just as well.
Eating it now as I type, btw. SO good!
Thanks for these tips, Carla! Glad you’re enjoying the salad!
Love this recipe! Made it for a family gathering and several ppl wanted the recipe. I used pure maple syrup (from aldi) in place for the sugar.
So happy to hear this, Liz!
Just served this. So good, so pretty and everyone loved it.
🎉
It looks really great. I want to do this. Thanks.
Nice article
think you may have left garlic off of the list of dressing ingredients? Either way, stoked to make this!
The garlic amount can actually be found with the list of salad ingredients since you’ll roast the garlic on the same pan as the squash and chickpeas. Once the garlic has roasted though, you can add it to the dressing. 😉
I made this last night for a group of avowed carnivores and everyone had seconds. It is so beautiful on the platter and equally delicious. Great combination of flavors and textures. Can’t recommend it enough. Thanks for an incredible recipe!!
Glad you enjoyed this salad, Mary!
This was so yummy! I had all the ingredients already so I made it for dinner earlier this week. For me I made it into a meal by adding a field roast sausage or baked tofu.
Good idea, Nina!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I made sure to get actual dried cherries instead of subbing with craisins and they were a very Gucci touch that just made this whole thing even better! Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed the salad, Dawne!
Thanks for Sharing your recipe.
Made it, delicious! I used half of a squash that I already had cooked and just threw the pieces in with the peas for the last 10 minutes. Roasted garlic is amazing and could be doubled. Also tossed it with some local garlic chevre. Creamy and oh so good. Leftover for lunch today was still amazing! Thank you!
Garlic chevre?! Drooling over here! 🤤
This salad was such a hit at my Friendsgiving! I doubled the recipe and eyeballed the nuts/cherries. I loved that it was so inexpensive to make and you pointed me in the direction of my favorite grocery store! I had a ton of extra dressing so I saved it for another salad (froze it). I used all the leftovers as a green base for a Thanksgiving leftovers bowl, topped with Brussels/cranberries/walnuts/acorn squash and hot turkey (maybe with a touch of gravy..). It was the best salad ever! Thank you so much!!
Thanksgiving leftovers bowl! That’s a great idea, Hillary!
I made this salad tonight to test it out for thanksgiving day. I used the right amount of butternut squash and cooked it at the suggested time. I was expecting the butternut squash to be crisp and brown but it just got softer and softer with not much browning.
The dressing is delicious and I could just eat the kale and dressing on its own. Just a bit bit disappointed in the butternut squash, if I were to make this again I would cut down the roasting time for the squash and roast the cheakpeas for 30-40 mins.
Hello! The insta cart link says it has been removed. Will it be updated? Thanks!
Absolutely delicious!! I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect! Thank you!
So happy to hear you enjoyed the salad, Gina! 🙂
I love the colours in this, it looks so beautiful and hearty.
Hello! Would you mind elaborating on the nutritional information? I’m trying to puzzle out where the 28g of fat comes from. Not a big deal – I’m not here to be a pain about nutritional facts! This salad sounds amazing! I’m just trying to learn more about nutrition myself. Thank you!
Hi! Do we think this would work with spinach instead of kale? I know leafy greens are usually interchangeable but I’m not sure how the more delicate leaves would stand up to the toppings- what are your thoughts?
This salad is excellent! I am back to make it a second time for Thanksgiving. I did add goat cheese the first time and it was great!
Goat cheese on this sounds delicious. Thanks for the tip, Sarah!