. . . with chia seeds, golden raisins, pears, pecans, and maple-orange-cinnamon vinaigrette. BAM! Consider your mind blown.
Is squash not everyone’s favorite thing to happen ever right now? Particularly butternut squash? Which we shall henceforth refer to as BNS?
What we have here are roasted fall vegetables (BNS and beets) with a medley of other delicious goodies all smothered in the most fan-freaking-tastic dressing ever. I love this salad like I loved crushed velvet in 1995.
There. are. no. words.
Okay, there are actually a lot of them.
Yesterday, I posted Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Seed Smoothie along with a Health Warrior Chia Bar giveaway (which you should go enter…RIGHT NOW!). I have been adding the white chia seeds to just about everything under the sun, and it turns out they’re great on salads.
When Alexis from Hummusapien posted Butternut Squash Salad with Orange Maple Cinnamon Dressing, I just knew I needed to put a ring on it. And by put a ring on it, I mean add chia seeds to it.
I snagged that salad hard. I added some goodies. I feverishly tweeted Alexis because I could barely believe my mouth while I was eating it. If you were wondering how one can eat an entire butternut squash in one sitting, you’re looking at it. Via this salad.
The maple orange cinnamon dressing is 98% of the reason I decided to make this salad. I changed up the ingredients from the original recipe just slightly, but here’s the gist: Orange zest. Orange juice. Balsamic vinegar. Olive oil. Maple syrup. Cinnamon. Jedi mind trick.
Mothers: trying to get your chillins to eat squash? Roast them. The squash, not the chillins. Roasted butternut squash is crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and pretty much tastes like a baked French fry. Except cooler. Like crushed velvet in 1995 cool.
If you are wanting to introduce more beets into your life, now is the perfect time. The beets I’ve been picking up from the grocery store have been sweet, flavorful and juicy – you can put them in this salad!
Fall Roasted Vegetables Salad
Ingredients
Salad:
- 1 small butternut squash peeled and chopped into ½” cubes or sliced (2 cups)
- 1 large red beet chopped into ½” cubes (2 cups)
- 1 ripe bosc pear sliced
- ½ cup pecans
- 1/3 cup golden raisins
- 10 ounces spring green mix or greens of choice
- 1 teaspoon white chia seeds
For the Maple Orange Cinnamon Dressing:
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Peel the butternut squash and either slice it into ½” slices or dice it into ½” cubes (or both).
- Lay the butternut squash on a baking sheet and drizzle enough olive oil over the pieces to coat them well.
- Sprinkle the butternut squash with salt.
- Peel and chop the beets and lay the pieces on a large piece of foil. Fold the foil, completely covering the beets, creating a foil packet. Place this packet on the baking sheet next to the butternut squash.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and roast the vegetables for 50 minutes, or until the butternut squash is browned and crispy. Remove from the oven and allow the vegetables to cool.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing.
- In a large serving bowl, add all of the salad ingredients (including the roasted vegetables). Toss in desired amount of Maple-Orange-Cinnamon Dressing and serve!
What a fantastic collection of flavors and textures. And the dressing is divine.
I just made this salad for lunch, and it is to die for! So glad I found this on Pinterest. It may be one of the best salads I’ve ever had.
Lyndsay!! I’m so glad you tried it and loved it! I had the same reaction – I ended up making it 3 days in a row for lunch!
Wow! The colors in this salad just scream fall! I love your blog and your fabulous pictures. So happy I’ve found your blog!
Love this! That dressing sounds out of this world! And of course, it just fuels my squash obsession even MORE! Though I have to say kabocha trumps butternut any day!
I want to drink that dressing!
That salad!!! haha the first thing that came to mind was “can’t take my eyes off of you” by Frankie valli hahaha that salad makes me swoon.
You know what would be AWESOME with the salad? Your chipotle pumpkin soup! Double squash time!
Love this version! Ch-ch-chia makes everything better 🙂 Such a good call on adding orange zest! Not gonna lie…I considered adding that but I was too lazy to whip out/wash the zester. Story of my life.
Every time I go to zest something, I stand in front of my utensil drawer like a statue…to zest…or not to zest…It’s always a dilemma. Ohhh the things we choose to get hung up on. 🙂 Thanks a million for the salad. My belly loooove you!
Omg seriously, this is just the prettiest salad ever! So perfect for the season, too. On the “make it list”!
I just found your blog, thanks to pinterest. This salad looks A-MAZING!!! Can’t wait to try it, the dressing, and get my first BNS of the season!
Yup, fall veggies are the bomb diggity right now. This salad looks amazing, and I love that you topped it with crunchy chia seeds.
I love you. I mean I love this salad. I mean I love you for making this salad.
I love you and the salad, too, Stephanie! 😉
That dressing sounds amazing. I think I’ll make it today for lunch. Thanks!
YEEEEEES! YOU DO THAT!! Okay, I’ll tone it down a bit. But seriously, you. will. love. it. !!!
BNS! Ha ha! Roasted chillins!! HA HA HA! Ok, is there any difference between white and brown chia seeds, other than color? Pinning this one for later. Throw those chia seeds down that boy!
Okay, I totally just googled “difference between white and black chia seeds” and here’s what I found: the white seeds are rarer (like that? raaaaaarreeeeeeeeeeeer…that word’s a tough one for me because I had to go to speech therapy when I was a kid to learn how to say my arrrrrrrs correctly. That’s a true story.) than the black seeds. But nutritionally, they’re the same. The article I read says some people prefer the white for “aesthetic” reasons. Whatever that means. 🙂
Well, I’m glad to know that, because I have a big ass bag of black chia seeds. So, basically, the same thing, only you have to pay more for them if you can find them. Like we care what color they are. Ask Stephie sometime about saying, “Look, Liz” (her cousin’s name). 😉 My older brother couldn’t pronounce his R’s either, and now he is a whoop-de-do over-priced lawyer (true story). Ok. Gonna pour those seeds down the boy.
Although, if the hair really starts sprouting out of his ears, I’m going to have to blame the cccchia seeds. 😛
That is entirely possible…omega 3s are great for your hair… 😉 Keep a pair of teeny tiny scissors on hand 🙂
Yes, mind blown and yes, butternut squash is my favorite thing right now! Not joking when I say I have been roasting a squash a day and not joking when I say this may be my new favorite salad. It’s awesome!
Awesome Jedi mind trick! I love roasted veggies (including creamy BNS and sweet, earthy beets!) and with this dressing – outstanding! Pinning as fast as my little fingers can … 😀
THAT DRESSING! It sounds amazing. Need. I’ve been looking to get more salads into my life, and I think this is perfect.
You’ve got to make it. Make it as fast as you can. Triple up on it!! OH I love October! 🙂