Fall Butternut Squash and Kale Salad with Beets
This fall butternut squash and kale salad with beets is the perfect green salad to serve during the fall season. With a kale base loaded to the brim with healthy ingredients like roasted beets, butternut squash, and sliced pears, this colorful salad looks beautiful on a table and pairs well with a variety of dressings.
As a dietitian, I’m always asked to bring the side salad to any gatherings… which means I also left alot of gatherings with an almost full salad bowl. In an effort to get more greens on peoples plates, I went on a mission to make delicious salad recipes that were just as beautiful as they were nutritious.
Let’s face it- people DO like to eat pretty foods. Adding colorful ingredients or beautiful garnishes is one way to pull people in to a tasty recipe they may otherwise skip over.
You may be tempted to think that you can only make beautiful salads in the summer with all of the fresh summer greens and fruit, but fall salads can be just as colorful and bealtufly. Need convincing? Try this delicious fall kale salad.
This salad is loaded with flavors from a few nutritious ingredients. We start with a chopped kale base and then load the salad with roasted beets and butternuts squash, diced pears, red onion, and top it with goat cheese to taste.
Serve this fall kale salad with my tasty maple dijon dressing (or another dressing of your choice) and you have a flavorful fall salad that everyone will love.
Let’s get to the recipe!
Fall Butternut Squash And Kale Salad With Beets
Why you’ll love serving this fall kale salad:
You will find yourself reaching for this fall kale and beet salad recipe over and over again because it is:
Full of fall flavors: This fall kale salad recipe is loaded to the brim with fall flavors like roasted butternut squash, roasted beets, diced pears, walnuts, and goat cheese for a bite of fall in every forkful.
Easy to make: Truly the hardest part of this recipe is peeling and dicing your butternut squash. Then you simply roast, dice, and toss your way to a delicious beet and kale salad!
Healthy salad recipe: This salad is full of healthy ingredients. Kale is full of vitamin A, vitamin K, Vitamin C, and is a plant source of calcium. Beets are vasodilators and full of antioxidants that can help lower blood pressure. Pear is rich in fiber and butternut squash is rich in Vitamin A.
Has beets!: Beets are one of my favorite ingredients to add into a salad and they are truly one of natures superfoods. Beets are most known to be a vasodilator which can lower blood pressure and increase athletic performance. They are also loaded with antioxidants!
Customizable: You can change the ratios of fall vegetables, dressing of choice, change out your nuts or seeds, and opt for feta cheese instead of goat cheese to keep this fall salad feeling different every time.
Beautiful on the platter! All of the colors for this kale butternut squash salad with beets make it truly beautiful on the platter. Just be careful as you mix your beets into the salad… they are SO pigmented that they can turn everything pink.
You’ll love having this salad recipe ready to go during the fall season.
Tips to make the best fall kale salad with beets
Now, there are a few caveats to including oven roasted beets in your salad so here are a few things I will call out:
Beets are INCREDIBLY pigmented and will turn everything red: From your hands to your cutting board to every ingredient in your salad, know that the red pigment of beets will truly get onto everything.
Gently toss your salad ingredients OR leave them undisturbed: If you serve your salad in a bowl, you can gently toss all of the toppings into your salad greens. If you serve your salad on a platter, evenly distribute the toppings onto the greens.
Add creamy or wet ingredients right before serving: I recommend sprinkling your goat cheese over the greens after its been tossed and then plating this salad before adding any dressing. The moisture of the dressing will spread the pink color of the beets.
Beets in salads are beautiful but they do require a little bit of strategy to make sure they STAY looking beautiful.
Simple Kale and Beet Salad
Ingredients and Instructions:
Ingredients:
Here are the ingredients you will need to make these butternut squash and kale salad with beets:
Kale: I like to buy the 10 oz bag of kale that has already been de-stemmed and chopped.
Butternut squash- You can buy a butternut squash, peel, dice, and roast it yourself or buy the pre-chopped butternut squash bags to save a few steps.
Beets: Similar to the butternut squash, you can wash, roast, and dice your beets yourself or feel free to buy the cans of beets that are ready to be diced and tossed into your salad.
Pear: You can use a large pear OR an apple for this recipe.
Red onion: Very finely diced and added to taste.
Walnuts: You can also use pecans or pumpkin seeds.
Goat Cheese: Goat cheese is delicious sprinkled over any fall salad. You can also use feta cheese which tends to be a safer option when serving to a crowd.
Oil, salt, and pepper: Used for roasting your butternut squash and beets.
Dressing of choice: I highly recommend you pair this salad with my maple dijon dressing but you may use any salad dressing that you like on a fall kale salad.
Fall Kale Salad Recipe Step-by-Step Instructions:
Step 1
Use a vegetable scrub brush and thoroughly scrub your beets with a vegetable scrub brush. Gently poke them with a fork and lightly rub with olive oil then season with salt and pepper. Wrap each beet in tin foil.
Step 2
Peel your butternut squash with a vegetable peeler. Cut your squash in half lengthwise then use a spoon to remove the seeds. Carefully chop your butternut squash into one inch cubes then lightly coat in olive oil, salt, and pepper.
LTN Tip: If you want to save time on this butternut squash and kale salad recipe, you can feel free to use the bags of pre-chopped butternut squash that are ready to go straight into the oven.
Step 3
Place your beets and butternut squash salad ingredients onto a large baking sheet and bake at 400 for 30 minutes to one hour or until they are fork tender.
Depending on the size of your beets, your butternut squash will likely finish cooking first. If that happens, simply remove the butternut squash from the oven and place them in a bowl to cool. Continue roasting your beets until they are fork tender then remove them from the oven as well.
Step 4
Allow your roasted butternut squash and beets to cool entirely. Remove your beets from their tin foil, carefully peel off the skins, and dice into one inch cubes. Chop the rest of your fall kale salad ingredients as well.
Place your kale into a large salad bowl or on a large salad platter then add your roasted butternut squash, roasted beets, diced pears, chopped red onions, and walnuts. Reserve some of the ingredients to sprinkle on the top of your salad after tossing.
Step 5
Gently toss all of your ingredients together then top with goat cheese to taste and some of the extra harvest salad topping ingredients you set aside. Serve your maple dijon dressing or other dressing of choice on the side. Enjoy!
Pair your Fall Kale Salad with this Maple Dijon Dressing!
Swaps, substitutions, and serving suggestions:
One of my favorite things about making this fall kale salad recipe is that you can customize it to your liking. Here are a few things you could try:
Skip the kale and make it a butternut squash and beet salad: If you want to change up the salad game, skip the leafy greens and just make this a butternut squash and beet salad with fun flavors!
Change out your salad dressing: I like to pair this recipe with my maple dijon dressing but you could use another dressing like an apple cider vinaigrette.
Change your toppings: This kale salad is loaded with fall flavors but you could easily add in pomegranate arils, pecans, pumpkin seeds, fresh apple, and other fall flavors.
And more! Make this recipe your own and tag me on instagram with any fun ideas you come up with!
Recipe FAQ:
Do I have to use kale?
No, you can easily make this recipe with spinach or mixed greens if you do not like kale.
Can I meal prep this salad?
Actually, yes! While traditional salads get soggy, kale is a much firmer salad green and will hold most of its texture for longer than other salad greens would. For best results, do not add any salad dressing until right before you are going to eat.
Do I have to use butternut squash?
I love to make butternut squash and beet salads but you could easily swap out the butternut squash for another orange ingredients like sweet potato or even oven roasted pumpkin.
Other fall recipes you will love:
Looking for other fall recipe ideas? I have a few on my blog that I think you will love:
Apple Crisp Granola Recipe
Pumpkin Protein Smoothie
Caramel Apple Stuffed Dates
Pumpkin Banana Muffins
Fall Kale Salad
This fall kale salad with beets and butternut squash is the perfect green salad to serve during the fall season. With a kale base loaded to the brim with healthy ingredients like roasted beets, butternut squash, and sliced pears, this colorful salad looks beautiful on a table and pairs well with a variety of dressings.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Remove the greens from your beets and give them a thorough wash with a vegetable scrub brush. Carefully poke your beets with a fork, rub lightly with olive oil, and lightly season with salt and pepper. Wrap each beet in tin foil and place on a baking sheet. Place them on a large baking sheet.
- While your beets roast, peel your butternut squash with an apple peeler then slice it in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to remove the seeds of the butternut squash then chop your squash into 1 inch cubes. Place them on the same baking sheet as your beets and lightly toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast your vegetables in the oven for 30-60 minutes or until fork tender then remove them from the oven and allow them to cool completely. *Note- depending on the size of your beets, your butternut squash may become fork tender before your beets are fully roasted. If that happens, simply remove the butternut squash from the sheet-pan and set it aside in a bowl. Return the beets to the oven and continue to roast until they are fork tender as well.
- Once your butternut squash and beets are fully cooled, unwrap your beets from the foil, peel off the skin, and dice them into one inch cubes. Also finely dice your red onion and cut your pear into small cubes.
- Place your chopped and de-stemmed kale in a large salad bowl or long tray and add your chopped butternut squash, chopped beets, pear, red onion, and walnuts, keeping some of your mix-ins set aside for topping.
- Gently toss your ingredients WITHOUT adding salad dressing, this will minimize the amount of pigment that comes off your beets onto your other ingredients. Sprinkle the remaining toppings on top and add small clumps of goat cheese to taste.
- Add all of your dressing ingredients to a small bowl and blend with an emulsion blender until creamy and smooth. Serve on the side of your salad.
- This salad is best served onto plates and THEN dressed with salad dressing to avoid the beet color turning everything red. Enjoy!
Nutrition content has been approximated and could vary based on brand or serving size.
*These blogs may contain affiliate links. Any purchase made through my links gives me a small commission and supports Lauren Twigge Nutrition
Hey! I’m Lauren
I’m a Registered Dietitian and busy toddler mom committed to bringing you delicious, nutritious, and easy-to-make recipes!