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The ultimate fall salad is this maple roasted acorn squash salad tossed with a deliciously decadent pomegranate vinaigrette. The perfect way to get in your seasonal veggies!
When I have a good salad, I quickly become obsessed. I don’t know if it’s because all salads are not created equal or if I’m just picky when it comes to salads! Well this squash salad definitely falls in the “obsessed” category. I love the mix of warm and cool ingredients, the fall flavors and the refreshing vinaigrette!
This salad comes together really quickly – the part that takes the longest is roasting the squash but after you have that done, it’s just a matter of mixing up the rest of the ingredients.
Fall Squash Salad Ingredients:
- Acorn squash
- Baby arugula or green of your choice
- Pomegranate seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Maple syrup
- Olive oil
- Red wine vinegar
- Pomegranate juice
- Sea salt and pepper
Acorn Squash 101 – Yes! You can eat the skin.
Acorn squash is a winter squash that is shaped similarly to an acorn! They’re typically dark green in color with an orange patch near the stem. The inner flesh is yellow-ish orange, similar to butternut squash. It has a slightly sweet and nutty flavor but it’s pretty mild. After cooking, the skin is fairly soft making it okay to eat! If you don’t love the texture you can always remove the peel before cooking. Acorn squash is rich in vitamins and minerals, most notably vitamin C, potassium and magnesium.
Here’s how to chop your acorn squash for this fall squash salad:
1. Chop off top and base of acorn squash.
2. Slice acorn squash length-wise from top to bottom. Scoop out seeds.
3. Place squash flesh side down and chop into 1/4-1/2 inch sized slices.
How to Make Roasted Acorn Squash
Like I mentioned above, the most time consuming part of this recipe is roasting the squash.
STEP 1: See above for how to cut your acorn squash.
STEP 2: In a large bowl, combine maple syrup and olive oil. Dip each piece of squash into the mixture to coat both sides and then lay on a sheet of parchment paper or silicone-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle slices with salt and pepper.
STEP 3: Roast them for 15 minutes at 425ºF, flip and roast for another 10 minutes on the other side.
Assembling Your Squash Salad
After cooking your squash, the salad is super simple to assemble. Mix the arugula, pomegranate seeds and pumpkin seeds in a large bowl and top with the roasted squash. In a small bowl or mason jar, mix the red wine vinegar, olive oil, pomegranate juice and maple syrup. Drizzle the vinaigrette dressing over the salad just before serving.
PrintMaple Roasted Acorn Squash Salad
The ultimate fall salad is this maple roasted acorn squash salad tossed with a deliciously decadent pomegranate vinaigrette. The perfect way to get in your seasonal veggies!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Roast
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
For the Maple Roasted Acorn Squash:
- 1 acorn squash (approx 2 lbs)
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- freshly ground pepper
For the salad:
- 6 large handfuls of baby arugula (or green of choice)
- 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
For the dressing:
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup pomegranate juice
- 1 tsp maple syrup
Instructions
For the Maple Roasted Acorn Squash:
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Cut off top and bottom of squash, then cut in half (lengthwise) and scoop out seeds. *
- Lay each side down and cut width-wise into strips.
- In a large bowl combine maple syrup and olive oil.
- Dip each piece into the mixture to coat both sides and then lay on a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Roast them for 15 mins on side one, flip and roast for another 10 mins on the other side.
For the salad:
- Combine all salad ingredients and then top with squash.
For the dressing:
- Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.
- Top onto salad just before serving.
*If squash is hard to cut, place in microwave for 3-4 minutes before cutting with a sharp knife. If you do not like to eat the skin, peel skin before slicing
Like this post? Here are more fall salads to try:
Just made this!!!! bringing it to a potluck tonight, will let you know if it’s a hit!!! LOVEYOU
LOVE YOU!!! Hope you enjoy 🙂 XOXOXO MISS YA!
Um so I want to read the stalker post please. I need to know what I’m getting into before I step into the lion’s den so to speak. I assume you’re okay with me calling you a cat. No matter, you’ll likely let me pet you before it’s all said and done. On the top of your head, obviously. What were you thinking?!
I think you do a great job at staying true to yourself. Sponsored posts should stay true to the blogger and not be overwhelming or make up the majority of your content, and you do great with all of those things. For reals, you make it work for you. Also the same can be said for your FB posts. They seem spontaneous (even though they’re prescheduled) and you share a bit of yourself in each one so they make people feel warm and fuzzy. The here’s a link to my recipe FB posts tend to lack personality and genuineness and you avoid those traps. Seriously, kudos to you my little kitty cat… er I mean friend.
you have always been so transparent and open about your progress which i dont see in many food bloggers..i have always appreciated and supported your adventure and will continue to do because you are such a hard worker. Dream big and follow it with your heart girl. you will always have those people telling you otherwise, its the difficult part of being in this business.
Are you making this for the Thanksgiving I am potentially crashing if I don’t go home??
ANYWAY, we talked all about this over Skype. I want to punch people when they accuse a few sponsored posts as “selling out” if it’s RELEVANT to the blog and blogger. If a blog is your full time career, you HAVE to make money from it… if it was the reader who is accusing said person of selling out, would they turn down a bonus for doing a little extra work or doing something differently? NO. It’s only selling out if The Healthy Maven starts doing sponsored posts by like Tampax and All State Car Insurance and shit.
I signed on with Playtex so I’m clear right? Kidding! I tots didn’t because you and I both know I would botch that post!
I believe technology has opened up huge opportunities that we did not have before. As a food writer your only hope would be to write for a magazine or get a cook book published. Now there are so many more opportunities. I also firmly beieve that if people don’t like something (sponsored posts or ads) they can always read something else. 🙂