What is better than a filling fall-inspired butternut squash salad!? This delicious butternut squash and goats cheese salad is one of my all time favorite meals in the fall. The sweet roasted butternut squash, crunchy pecans and creamy goats cheese covered in a sweet maple vinaigrette makes the salad irresistable!
How to Serve Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese Salad
This salad makes a wonderful meal all by itself! The salad has all components of a healthy meal including veggies (spinach!), carbohydrate (butternut squash) and some protein (pecans and goats cheese). If you are enjoying this salad as a main dish, I would double the portion size!
The salad is also a wonderful side dish to elevate any dinner. Serve as an accompaniment to your favorite meal!
This salad is also perfect to impress your friends – without putting in much effort! I brought this salad to a dinner party – everyone thought I was quite fancy!
Goats Cheese
It is hard to tell what the star of this salad is: the toasty pecans, sweet butternut squash, zesty and sweet maple vinaigrette or the goats cheese. Personally, I think the goats cheese really makes it.
Goats cheese is wonderful way to make a basic salad feel very fancy. Goats cheese is also a great source of calcium and tends to be much lower in salt compared to other cheese.
Candied Pecans
For an extra treat, substitute the roasted pecans with some candied nuts! This will add a little sugar and a few calories to the dish, but the portion size makes this treat fit easily in a healthy diet! You can buy pecans that are already candied, or make your own!
You can absolutely swap out the pecans for your favorite nut if you prefer.
Butternuts Squash and Goats Cheese Salad for Kidney Stones
Do you have a history of calcium oxalate kidney stones and need to watch how much oxalate you eat? Hint: not everyone does! With a few modifications, this salad can be a great low oxalate option for a healthy diet for calcium kidney stones!
Nearly 100% of the oxalate in this recipe comes from the spinach, which is notoriously high in oxalate. Swap out the spinach for romaine lettuce to lower the oxalate to only 10mg per serving.
Nuts are also notoriously high in oxalate. However, pecans are a much lower oxalate choice! The portion size of pecans in this salad make it a healthy option for people who need to limit oxalate.
Happy Eating!
Melanie
Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup roasted butternut squash cubed
- 4 cups spinach loosely packed (or, romaine lettuce)
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup goat cheese crumbled
- 1/4 cup roasted pecans roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
Instructions
Roasted Butternut Squash
- To roast the squash, peel and cut the squash into 1/2-inch cubes. Toss with a little olive oil on baking sheet. Roast at 450'F for about 20 minutes, until just tender.
Make the Salad
- In a large bowl, combine roasted squash, spinach, cranberries, cheese and pecans. Whisk together syrup, olive oil, vinegar and mustard to make dressing. Toss dressing with salad. Enjoy!
This salad sounds delicious, but I hesitate to make it as written because of the spinach, as well as the goat cheese? I have recently learned I have stage 4 CKD, and am learning new ways to cook. Would this recipe be appropriate? My GFR is 24. Thanks for any recommendations 🙂
Hi Annie! My guess is yes, it would be 100% appropriate – but I can’t say for sure without knowing more about your labs and current eating habits. This post will be SUPER helpful for you learning what a “renal diet” looks like for you!
I know that there are a good deal of food items that you can eat on a low oxalate diet, but spinach? That seems like something I should never eat.
I do love your posts but this one is confusing.
Hi Paula! Nutrition is different for everyone. I offer options to make this a lower oxalate option if that is something you need!
This looks good but I dislike (a lot! ) the taste of goat cheese.Can you suggest a substitute?
I think a fresh mozzarella would be delicious in this recipe too!
This salad has become one of my favorites! The warm squash makes the goat cheese a bit melty, and the flavors are lovely. If I don’t have pecans on hand, I often add walnuts instead; likewise, spicy brown mustard is a tasty substitute for Dijon in a pinch.
Yay! I’m so glad you like it. Truly, what is better than melty goat cheese!?
This recipe is under the Plant-Based tab. What type of plant is a goat?
Hi Diane. There is no definition for a “plant based” diet or recipe. It does not necessarily mean complete avoidance from animal products. I do classify my recipes that include eggs and cheese as plant based as the recipe is primarily plants. Thank you for your concern.
Wow – 350mg of oxalate? I thought this was a low oxalate recipe?
I see your note about substituting spinach with romaine lettuce, but why even bother with mentioning spinach to begin with?
Thank you for your comment! Because people with different kidney conditions have different nutrition needs, I like to give options!