Butternut Squash Cranberry Salad {GF, Paleo, Vegan, Low Cal}

Healthy Butternut Squash Cranberry Salad is a warm, low-calorie fall salad with roasted squash topped with a citrus cinnamon dressing! Paleo + Vegan + Low Calorie + Gluten Free

This healthy butternut squash salad! OMG - you will fall in love with it at first bite. It's one of those meals that melts in your mouth. And the orange cinnamon dressing with a touch of maple syrup, orange juice and cinnamon is like the icing on the cake!

If you're looking for the best fall squash salad, look no further. This salad is a winner and would be great for any cold weather meal or even as a holiday side salad!

This recipe was originally from 2015 and has been updated and retested for you. I forgot how much I love this butternut cranberry salad!

It's difficult for many of my clients to eat greens in the winter. My biggest tip is to eat them warm! Roasted butternut squash with greens paired with a citrus dressing makes the perfect pair for a cold weather salad.

Healthy Butternut Squash Cranberry Salad

Here's a few more reasons why this healthy butternut squash salad is good for you!

• Low Calorie - The recipe makes 2 servings, each serving is 335 calories.
• High Fiber - Squash and greens are a great source of fiber. This recipe has 7 grams per serving, which is a lot!
• Gluten Free / Vegan / Paleo - All the ingredients are naturally gluten free, Paleo and vegan.
• Easy - This butternut salad recipe only has 7 ingredients and is super easy to make.
• Simple Ingredients - The ingredients are simple and seasonal making them easy to find and uncomplicated!

Butternut Squash Salad Ingredients

You only need 7 ingredients to make this healthy butternut salad recipe!

• Butternut Squash (I buy mine already cubed at the store)
• Mixed Greens
• Cinnamon
• Dried Cranberries, low sugar
• Orange Juice
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Maple Syrup

You will also need a sheet pan for roasting the butternut squash.

How To Make A Salad With Butternut Squash

Here's how to make a healthy butternut squash salad with a low calorie dressing!

Step One - Preheat the oven and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the cubed butternut squash to the sheet pan.

Step Two - Sprinkle the cinnamon over the squash and bake 40 minutes in the oven.

Step Three - Mix together the ingredients for the dressing and refrigerate until the squash is done.

Step Four - Prepare the salad by adding the mixed greens, warm squash and cranberries together and topping with the dressing. Enjoy immediately warm!

Storing and Serving Gluten Free Butternut Squash Salad

• Storing - If you are planning to store the salad to eat later, I recommend not assembling the full salad. Rather, store the squash in the refrigerator in a separate container separate from the mixed greens, cranberries and not using the dressing until you are ready to eat. That will prevent the salad from getting soggy and gross. A salad spinner does wonders for storing greens longer!
• Freezing - I do not recommend freezing salad. You could make the dressing and freeze it though.
• Reheating - To serve, reheat the butternut squash in the microwave, oven, toaster oven and then toss warm with the salad ingredients and dressing.

Substitutions Butternut Squash Salad

Here are the substitutions I recommend for this healthy salad recipe. Remember when you substitute ingredients, it will change the nutritional values from what you see in the recipe card at the end of this post!

• Butternut Squash - You can use pre-cubed butternut squash like I did for the recipe, you can slice your own squash or use frozen butternut squash. If you use frozen squash, I recommend thawing the squash before roasting. Acorn squash, Hubbard squash, Delicata squash or buttercup squash would be great substitutes with this salad.
• Mixed Greens - Any greens may be used for the salad! Hearty greens tend to go better in the winter like kale, spinach, collard greens, arugula, turnip greens, mustard greens, bok choy, cabbage or Swiss chard.
• Dried Cranberries - Raisins may be substituted instead. Chopped apples or pears would also be delicious in place of the cranberries!
• Orange Juice - I used freshly squeezed orange juice from an orange for this recipe. You can use regular orange juice if you prefer.
• Maple Syrup - You can use honey or a zero calorie sweetener instead of maple syrup.
• Protein - This salad does not have sufficient protein to call it a meal. I would definitely add a protein source on the side or to the salad if you want to make it a complete meal.

More Healthy Salad Recipes

• Healthy Asian Broccoli Salad
• Honey Mustard Chicken Salad
• Healthy Chinese Chicken Salad
• Low Calorie Tuna Pasta Salad
• Healthy Greek Pasta Salad
• BBQ Ranch Sweet Potato Salad
• Chickpea Tomato Cucumber Salad

What I Used For The Recipe

About Megan

Megan is a certified nutrition practitioner, author, freelance food photographer and fitness instructor living in Phoenix, Arizona. On her blog, Skinny Fitalicious she shares EASY, gluten free recipes for weight loss. Follow Megan on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates.