This Fall Harvest Salad recipe combines fresh greens and apples with roasted butternut squash, pecans, dried cranberries, and goat cheese, all tossed together with a lively apple cider vinaigrette. It’s gorgeous for fall and winter, and the perfect Thanksgiving side salad!
This Fall Harvest Salad brings me so much joy every year. It’s not only a pretty dish to pass around the table, but also incredibly tasty. Packed with variety in flavor and texture galore, this easy fall salad has fresh greens, sweet and tender roasted squash, crisp apples, tart cranberries, and creamy goat cheese – plus pecans for salt-sprinkled crunch. And the Apple Cider Vinaigrette brings it all together in the most wonderful way. There’s heaven in every bite!
Why You’ll Fall In Love With This Fall Harvest Salad
When all the “heavier” comfort foods of fall and winter are on the table, I always aim to offer at least one dish that’s lighter and super fresh-testing. It makes for delightful contrast on the plate. This Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad and my Holiday Wild Rice Salad are a couple other great choices. Here’s more on what makes this salad so awesome:
- Holiday-worthy. This is one of my favorite fall and winter salads, and I often serve it for Thanksgiving because it’s pretty and special and downright delicious. Guests always say how much they like it and ask for the recipe.
- Prep it ahead. If desired, you can mostly prepare this salad in advance and then assemble right before the meal. It just doesn’t get any better than that! (Scroll down to the section “Make Ahead and Storage for my recommendations on this.)
- Easy to make heartier. To make this a main dish salad, I often add chicken or steak, or a plant-based protein. This adds stick-with-you, fill-you-up satisfaction. (See the section “Tips & Variations” for more ideas.)
Enjoy!
What You’ll Need
The salad itself calls for a handful of delicious fall-themed ingredients, plus one of my favorite salad dressings. I’ve included notes on what you’ll need below, and I’ll start us off with the ingredients for roasting the butternut squash. Scroll to the printable recipe card for the full list with amounts and recipe details.
For the Butternut Squash
- Butternut squash – Peel the squash, remove the seeds, and cut it into half-inch cubes. Many grocery stores sell already chopped butternut squash, especially during the holidays, if you’re looking for a shortcut.
- Olive oil – This helps the squash caramelize and not stick to the pan, and adds lovely flavor.
- Salt & pepper – Super simple seasoning is all that’s needed.
For the Salad
- Apple Cider Vinaigrette – I think this salad is perfect with this dressing – but if you’d like a couple other options, see the section below Can I Use Another Dressing?
- Fresh greens – I prefer sturdier greens for this salad because they feel heartier for the season, plus they hold up well to the all the mix-ins. Spinach and arugula are my favorites.
- Apples – Crisp, juicy, sweet-tart apples add so much life to this salad! Honeycrisp apples are widely available, and a great choice.
- Dried cranberries – I love the sweet chewiness and festive touch that cranberries add, which is especially wonderful during the holidays. You could substitute dried cherries, blueberries, or raisins.
- Pecans – These add salty, crunchy yummy-ness.
- Feta cheese – Use crumbled or cubed feta cheese. Creamy goat cheese crumbles or shaved Parmesan also works well here. Or, if you’re a fan of funky blue cheese, try swapping in gorgonzola.
- Red onion – This adds another element of freshness. In small quantity, it adds just the right amount of contrasting bite.
How to Make This Harvest Salad
First, you’ll want to roast the butternut squash. Here’s how to do it:
- Roast the squash. First, toss the squash with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 375ºF for about 15 minutes. Then let it cool completely before adding it to the assembled salad.
- Make the vinaigrette. In a bowl, whisk together the Apple Cider Vinaigrette ingredients. Set aside.
- Assemble the salad. When it’s time to serve, arrange half the greens in a salad bowl. Drizzle the leaves with a little vinaigrette, then add half of the squash, apples, cranberries, pecans, feta, and onion. Repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients.
- Finish and serve. Finish with a sprinkle of salt & pepper. Serve with additional vinaigrette on the side, and enjoy!
Can I Use another Dressing?
Absolutely. If you’d prefer to swap out the curry and fig vinaigrette for another easy salad dressing, I’d recommend a classic Balsamic Vinaigrette or this Maple Dijon Dressing. The flavors complement the ingredients in this fall salad perfectly.
Tips & Variations
- Let the roasted squash cool. Keep in mind that you’ll want to allow time for the roasted squash to cool before assembling the salad. If you add hot squash, it will wilt the greens and melt the cheese.
- Make the dressing a day in advance. If possible, make the dressing ahead of time. Left to mingle in the fridge for a day, the flavors in the vinaigrette marry even more.
- Use a bottled dressing. If you have a favorite bottled dressing that would pair well with the flavors in this salad, go for it!
- Add protein. Sprinkle in cooked crumbled bacon. Or add slices of leftover cooked chicken or Grilled Ribeye. You could also bulk up this salad with plant-based protein, such as roasted chickpeas, or cooked wild rice or quinoa.
Serving Suggestions
As I mentioned, this is a great salad to serve on Thanksgiving Day, next to your Grilled Turkey Tenderloin or Crockpot Ham and Gravy, with Spoon Bread and all of the Thanksgiving fixings. It’s a pop of fresh flavor and color, and always a very welcomed option.
You could also make this salad to enjoy with turkey leftovers in recipes like my Creamy Wild Rice Soup, Leftover Turkey Casserole, or Turkey à la King. Make a whole new, exciting meal on the day after Thanksgiving!
Aside from Thanksgiving day, I highly encourage you to enjoy this salad all fall and winter long. It’s great alongside Grilled Pork Chops or Baked Pork Chops & Stuffing. Or Sugar Grilled Steak, or this beautiful Mustard Pork Loin Roast!
Make Ahead & Storage
- Roast the butternut squash in advance. You can batch-roast the butternut squash and store it in the freezer for up to 2 months. Just allow it to thaw before assembling the salad.
- Make the dressing in advance. You can make the apple cider vinaigrette a day or two in advance as well. Store in the fridge in a tightly sealed glass jar.
- Prep & measure other ingredients. If desired, chop and measure out the pecans, and place them in an airtight container. Do the same with the cranberries. Chop the feta, place in an airtight container, and then refrigerate.
- Store the salad. Leftover salad can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 2 days. Just be aware that the longer it sits, the less crisp the ingredients may be. If you plan on having leftovers, I recommend serving the vinaigrette on the side and adding it to the individual salads.
More Fall Salad Recipes
Fall Harvest Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Butternut Squash
- 3 cups ½"-diced butternut squash (peel squash and remove seeds first)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Salad
- Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- 5-8 ounces baby spinach (or arugula)
- 1 large crisp, juicy, sweet-tart apple, cored and thinly sliced (see Notes below for variety suggestions)
- ½ cup dried cranberries (or dried cherries, blueberries, or raisins)
- ½ cup roughly chopped roasted & salted pecans (I like Trader Joe's brand)
- 4 ounces ½"-diced block feta
- ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Butternut Squash
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Add diced butternut squash to a rimmed baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle fairly generously with salt & pepper. Fold to coat evenly.
- Roast for 15 minutes, or until tender, flipping halfway through.
- Remove pan from oven and let squash cool completely.
Assemble the Salad
- Make the Apple Cider Vinaigrette; set aside.
- Add half the spinach to a serving bowl. Then layer on half the squash, apple, dried cranberries, pecans, feta, and onion. Add the remaining spinach, followed by the remaining rest of the ingredients. Finish with a sprinkle of salt & pepper. Serve the Apple Cider Vinaigrette on the side, for individuals to add to their own portion as much as they like.
Notes
My Inspiration for this Recipe
Following is a little recap from my trip to California Olive Ranch. They invited me to be a witness to their olive harvest, and to watch how they make olive oil. This is where I was inspired to create my Fall Harvest Salad recipe!
Traveling opens up my world and fills it with new experiences and landscapes. I was so thankful to have a window seat on this flight. The skies were clear, letting me see the rise and fall of mountains as I traveled from Minnesota to California. This gorgeous quilt of agriculture, just east of Sacramento, had me staring in awe.
The Olive Harvest
We ventured north of Sacramento to California Olive Ranch, about a 90 minute drive, and started by walking the beautiful rolling olive orchards.
Harvesting olives in California dates back 300 years, when the Spanish brought over the first olive trees. Raised more like a vineyard than an orchard, olives are a low maintenance crop, pollinated by the wind and able to thrive on low water consumption.
The olive harvester (photo: above, right) can pick an olive tree clean in just 5 minutes, yielding about one finished bottle of olive oil.
How Olives are Processed Into Oil
Once picked, the olives are transferred to a truck and then brought in for processing (photos: above, left), assuring the freshest olive oil possible from field to bottle in just 6 to 8 hours. The olives are graded for maturity and then ground, pit and all, to measure fat and moisture levels.
Each step of the process tracks exactly which olive variety (California Olive Ranch grows three different varieties of olives) is being processed, the farm it came from, plus the date and time, for full traceability. Every bottle of oil from California Olive Ranch displays the date the olives were harvested.
And nothing goes to waste. The olive leaves and post-press mash is used for feed at nearby cattle ranches.
California Olive Ranch prides itself in the superior quality of its extra-virgin olive oils. Where some companies mill and sell olive oils from two to four separate presses, California Olive Ranch does just one with a cold pressing process, yielding the highest quality olive oil for each and every bottle.
The pressed olives produce a fabulous green colored oil that mellows out to a straw yellow hue over time (photo: above, lower left).
Once pressed, the olive oil is stored in gigantic stainless steel temperature controlled tanks (photo: above, right), protecting the oil from its enemies of oxygen and light. Each olive oil variety is isolated to its own tank. Then as orders come in throughout the year, the oil is blended and sent out.
Taste-Testing Olive Oil
We had the pleasure of sitting down with Bob Singletary, the very impassioned head miller at California Olive Ranch. He creates the olive oil varieties and tastes every single batch of olive oil pressed there.
Bob taught us the basics of olive oil tasting, sharing that extra virgin olive oils should never have heavy or greasy qualities, and that different types of olives make distinct types of olive oil. He showed us how to first identify the olive oil with our nose and then with our taste buds with a sip-slurp-swallow technique. We determined a variety of flavors, from grassy to pungent, to biting and bracing.
When Bob and others are doing serious taste testing for quality control, these cobalt blue glasses are used so the tasters aren’t influenced by the color of the oils!
This post was originally published in 2014, then updated in 2025. It was my pleasure and honor to be a guest of California Olive Oil in 2014. They covered all my travel expenses. I was not compensated additionally for this post.
I am always on the hunt for the perfect salad to make for Thanksgiving–and I found it! Thanks for sharing!
This looks like the perfect Thanksgiving dish! Love all the wonderful colors. And the trip sounds soooo amazing!
You know I love this salad! It’s perfect!! So glad your family is up for traveling to you, in good health. I understand completely, it makes being together for a holiday even more special!
That view from your plane…stunning.
This looks fantastic!!!
This salad is pure holiday perfection!!
This salad sure would make a beautiful presentation on a holiday table. The ingredients are a great combination of flavors. Will definitely be trying this!!!
What a pretty salad! I love all the colors and ingredients you’ve got going on. I’m sure this salad will be a hit at your feast. And how fun that you’re hosting!
Your experience at the olive ranch looked so fun. I’m a big “how food is made” geek, so it would be right up my alley. :)
This salad looks fantastic, love the fall flavors!!!
Such a pretty salad. Sounds like a fun trip.
I love hosting Thanksgiving dinner! I’m so glad your family will be able to make the trip to spend the holiday with you. This salad looks like a lovely and healthy (and light) addition to the meal.
Oh this salad looks divine and your trip looks awesome. We had the chance to see/learn about olive oil while in Tuscany two years ago. Amazing experience!!!
Really love the look and sound of this salad Brenda! I hope you all enjoy the visit from Blake’s parents! That is awesome drive the 4 hours. My parents live 45 minutes and have not been to my house in years. Mom is almost 80 and my stepfather is 82. They are both in reasonably good health–just homebodies and don’t like to drive out of their comfort zone of places they go just close by their home now. I miss the days when they would come to visit!
Thank you so much, Donna – always lovely to hear from you. I think Blake’s brother may be behind the wheel, at least for part of the way, which helps with the drive. I know what you mean about missing the visits. It used to be such a regular thing to have them stay with us. Definitely a different stage in life for us all! I hope you’re able to spend some time with your parents over Thanksgiving, too. xo
I’m such a olive oil enthusiasts, I use in sweet and savory food. This salad is perfect for showcasing all the nuanced notes of olive oil.
I’ve always used/loved it with savory, and am starting to appreciate it more with sweet. Lovely!
The color of the salad is luscious, which signals my brain that it will taste luscious. Excellent contrast of textures. Makes for a vey interesting salad to savor.
Thank you, Carol! :)
I’ve become a little obsessed with good olive oil… I will often bring it back from places I travel to, including California. Loved the behind the scenes of how it’s produced! These types of operations always amaze me.
This time of year, I will often make big hearty salads with squash and cranberries and nuts. Sometimes I’ll throw some tuna on. Love everything about this!
Thanks, Brian. I always love harvest, and it was so fun with this new-to-me olive harvest. I love how you bring back olive oils from your travels!!
I stayed at the Citizen in Sac last month – isn’t it a gorgeous hotel? I will say, it was amazing how dry the land is out there. I pray Cali gets more rain ASAP. Love this hearty fall salad – so much goodness!
Thanks, Liz. I really did like that hotel – it was big but had a small feel, cozy and attentive.
This is such a stunner!! Love all those fall ingredients (and colours!!) in there!
Thank you, Katrina!
I’m still working up the energy to host Thanksgiving (and will have to convince the fam to come to WI), but my family does put me to work in the kitchen when I head home. This would be such a welcome dish—love all of the flavors + the idea of sneaking some healthy veggies into the buffet line too!
PS. Your trip looks incredible. Great pictures and info too.
Thanks, Erin. I just HAVE to get some fresh greens on the menu. Delicious as it is, Thanksgiving can get so heavy. I’ll be filling my plate with this salad first! ;)
Such a gorgeous salad, perfect for the Thanksgiving table!
Thank you, Tieghan. :)
This salad looks delicious! It’ll be perfect for Thanksgiving.
Thank you, Jenna. :)