Fall Harvest Salad with Tahini Maple Dressing

Introduction

If you’re looking for a special salad that’s easy enough for an everyday recipe but also makes a beautiful addition to your holiday table, this is it!

This colorful salad features favorite fall ingredients like hearty kale, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, butternut squash, beet and sweet apples. Crunchy pecans or walnuts make a great addition too.

This delicious combination is even better drizzled with the sweet and tangy maple tahini dressing.

Whether you make this for a healthy meal prep, family dinners or bring it along to a holiday gathering, it’s a standout salad that’s sure to be a hit during the fall season or any time of year.

For more fall salad recipes, this Wild Rice Salad, Sweetgreen Copycat Harvest Bowl, Vegan Roasted Beet Salad and Roasted Cauliflower Salad are all great choices as well.

Ingredient Notes

Salad Ingredients

• Squash: Use any variety of squash such as butternut squash or acorn squash. You can use frozen butternut squash as well. Sweet potatoes work well as a substitute.
• Oil: You’ll need just a little oil of choice to roast the veggies. You can use extra virgin olive oil or any other cooking oil you like.
• Kale: Any variety of kale works. Lacinato, or Tuscan kale is my preference for salads but any kind works! You can substitute baby spinach for the kale. You do not need to massage spinach if using.
• Apple: Use crisp apples like pink lady, fuji, granny smith or honeycrisp apple works well but you can use any apple. You may want to leave this off until serving if you’re making the salad in advance.
• Walnuts: Use plain raw walnuts with no added oil or salt. You can substitute other nuts, or pumpkin or sunflower seeds for nut-free.
• Cranberries: Use fruit-juice sweetened if you can, otherwise any dried cranberries work. Substitute raisins, dried cherries or chopped dates.
• Pomegranate: If you’re missing this ingredient, don’t worry too much. Pomegranate seeds are delicious and add yummy flavour and texture but not absolutely necessary!

Dressing Ingredients

• Tahini: Good tahini (sesame seed paste) is smooth, pale in colour, not overly bitter and has a nearly runny consistency. I like Soom or Arz Fine Foods.
• Maple Syrup: You can substitute honey or agave syrup.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: White wine vinegar would be a suitable substitute.
• Garlic: Use raw garlic or substitute 1 tsp garlic powder.

Please note the full ingredient list with amounts is located in the recipe card at the end of the post.

Variations & Additions

• Sweet & Tart: Cranberry, apple and pomegranate all provide the same sweet, tart flavour to the salad so don’t worry if you’re missing one. Substitutions that work for these ingredients are mandarine segments, raisins or dried cherries.
• Cheese: Sprinkle the finished salad with tange feta cheese, creamy goat cheese or blue cheese.
• Nuts & Seeds: Instead of walnuts try almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.
• Add 1-2 cups cooked wild rice or quinoa for a hearty salad.
• Use any variety of squash or substitute roasted sweet potato for the squash.
• If you’re missing squash, beet or Brussels sprouts, simply add a bit more of the others to make up the difference. The amounts don’t have to be exact! Red onions also works well as a substitute or addition.
• Oil-Free Option: Toss vegetables with 2-3 tbsp vegetable broth and a pinch of salt and pepper before roasting. A dash of balsamic vinegar and/or maple syrup is yummy too!
• Nut-Free Option: Replace walnut with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
• Alternative Dressings: This salad can also be made with Miso Tahini Sauce, Dijon Maple Dressing the balsamic vinaigrette from this quinoa kale salad recipe or the apple cider vinaigrette from this butternut squash quinoa salad recipe.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1. Roast the Brussels sprouts, squash and beets.

• Preheat the oven to 425 F.
• Cut the ends off the Brussels sprouts and cut into halves (if very large, cut into quarters).
• Peel and dice the squash.
• Peel and dice the beet.
• Add 1 tsp olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper and mix it all up.

Roast the veggies on a large baking sheet in a single layer (you may need two baking sheets) for 30-45 minutes until they’re all fork tender.

Quick Tip: For oil-free roasted vegetables, omit the olive oil and toss on the pan 2 tablespoons of vegetable broth instead!

Step 2. Make the dressing by blending the ingredients until smooth and creamy.

No blender? Grate the garlic so it’s smoother or substitute 1 tsp garlic powder and whisk everything together in a bowl or shake in a mason jar until smooth.

Assemble the salad starting with a bed of kale then adding the rest of the ingredients and topping with the dressing. You can also just mix everything up in a large serving bowl.