As we head into the busy holiday season, simple and hands-free pan meals could not be more appealing.

This pan meal, a pan butternut squash salad made with kale, is festive, fun, and seasonal.

It has all the fall stuff: butternut squash, baked apples and Onions, and apple cider vinegar.

The crunchy roasted chickpeas and soft pickled kale are also great on the palate.

If those selling points weren’t enough, butternut squash salad has substance, too. It’s warm and full of hearty ingredients, so it feels like something other than a side dish or an afterthought.

Instead, whether you’re eating alone or gathering with friends and family, this healthy and hearty salad can be served as a light main course.

What’s a baking tray salad?

A baking dish salad is a salad mixed on a baking dish.

As far as I know, a baking dish salad always contains warm or room temperature ingredients because the whole function of a baking dish is to bake or bake.

Baking tray salad challenges the way we think about salad.

They remind us, for example, that not all salads have to be green – although the salad does contain kale, a leafy green vegetable.

Many vegetables can be used as a base for salads. Endive, chicory, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, shredded carrots, broccoli rice, whole grains, beans, or roasted vegetables are just a few of the vegetables that can be made into fall and winter salads.

Salads can be eaten with or as a meal, including dinner, lunch, or breakfast.

Salads can be cold and crisp, room temperature, or warm. There are no rules; mixing salad in a hot pan rather than a mixing bowl reminds us of this.

To make this salad, I roasted chickpeas, squash, Onions, and apples. Then, I added raw, pickled kale to the sheets.

Other pan salads may require the vegetables to be baked in the oven for a while. There are no rules here, but I love the contrast between raw and cooked ingredients, hot and cold.

The beauty of butternut squash

The star of this winter melon salad is, of course, the pumpkin.

It’s no secret that butternut squash is one of my favorite ingredients.

First of all, this delicious winter melon is full of nutrients. It is an excellent source of beta-carotene, which our bodies convert into vitamin A.

Vitamin A is a powerful antioxidant. It plays a role in cell growth, and adequate vitamin A is essential for eye, heart, lung, and skin health.

Butternut squash is another excellent source of antioxidants, vitamin C, magnesium, and potassium electrolytes.

In addition, butternut squash contains a lot of dietary fiber, which is essential for digestive health. Fiber helps us stay full, which is part of what makes this salad so satisfying.

You can read more about my love of butternut squash and browse some of my favorite recipes in my Healthy vegan butternut squash recipe roundup.

Specialty ingredients

This salad features one of my all-time favorites.

In addition to squash, there are raw kale pickled or massaged. This is by far my favorite way to eat kale; I prefer it to sauce, kale chips, steaming, or anything else.

As for plant-based protein, the butternut squash salad has roasted chickpeas.

What I present in the recipe is an accessible version of crunchy roasted chickpeas, a must-have ingredient in salads and soups in my house.

Roasted chickpeas have just about any seasoning you like and an irresistible crunch.

In addition to the butternut squash in the baking tray salad, I baked apples and red Onions. These ingredients add an excellent, rich, sweet, salty component and complexity to the salad.

Finally, here’s an excellent vinaigrette from apple cider and white balsamic vinegar. This combination works, achieving just the right amount of sweetness and acidity.

In short, I like the blueprint for this salad, and it’s fun to make.

How to make butternut squash salad with kale

Step 1: Prepare the chickpeas and vegetables for roasting

First, drain the chickpeas. As strange as it sounds, patting them dry helps them become crisper during the baking process.

You can season chickpeas with onion salt (or onion powder mixed with regular salt), garlic powder, and pepper.

You’ll place the butternut squash, onion, and apple on a separate tray on a baking sheet. Add avocado oil to the vegetables and chickpeas and bake them.

Step 2 Bake

One of the great things about this recipe is that all the ingredients are baked at roughly the same time.

Place the two trays in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until the chickpeas are crisp and brown and the squash is tender and browned around the edges.

Stir it about halfway through.

You may wonder if you can bake everything on both sides of a paper.

When I have made recipes this way, I have not succeeded. One pan is not enough for all the ingredients to bake without crowding, which affects the crispness of the baking.

Also, chickpeas maintain a more pleasant crunch when baked on a separate baking sheet (just as potato gnocchi is more effective when baked on my favorite vegetarian baking sheet).

Step 3: Make the vinaigrette and prepare the kale

When roasting vegetables, you can turn to kale.

First, whisk the vinaigrette for the butternut squash salad: oil, vinegar, maple syrup, mustard, garlic, and salt.

Add about half the dressing to the kale and stack them in a nice, spacious mixing bowl.

Use your hands—it must be your hands! Squeeze the dressing firmly into the kale, kneading as you go. The kale will become more tender almost immediately.

Save the remaining sauce for last and drizzle over the salad.

Step 4 Mix

Once the pumpkin mixture and chickpeas are roasted long enough, it’s time to combine the ingredients.

First, put the chickpeas and pumpkin on the same piece of paper.

Then, add the massaged kale. Toss everything together on a baking sheet, then drizzle the rest of the dressing over the butternut squash salad or as much as you like.

5. Service

Now, you can prepare your colorful, warm, satisfying pan salad.

Some of the troughs I love with this salad are toast, simple whole grains like my mushroom farro, any soup (butternut lentil apple soup, if you want to keep the brand), and roasted balsamic tofu.

Meal preparation & storage

If you want to get a head start on making butternut squash salad, it’s easy to do.

You can roast squash, Onions, apples, and chickpeas and store them for up to two days before mixing. Kale can also be prepared a day in advance.

The dressing can be stirred up to a week before mixing the salad.

Once mixed, the salad can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. The rarest of things: Leftover salad tastes good.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (240g, or one 15oz / 425g can)

2 1/2 tablespoons avocado oil, separated

1/2 TSP onion salt (substitute 1/2 TSP fine salt + 1/4 TSP onion powder, or simply substitute 1/2 TSP fine salt)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Freshly ground black pepper

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch / 2.5-centimeter cubes (about 1 1/4 LBS / 570 g after preparation)

1 large apple, cut into 1 inch / 2.5 cm cubes

1 medium red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced lengthwise

salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch of curly kale, stem removed, torn into pieces, or cut into bite-size pieces

Outfit:

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

A teaspoon and a half of maple syrup

A teaspoon and a half of Dijon mustard

1-2 garlic cloves, minced or grated on a microplate (according to taste)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or foil, or use a rimmed non-stick baking sheet.
2. Wash the chickpeas in a small colander or sieve. Drain the water. Transfer the chickpeas to a rimmed baking sheet, roll them in a tea towel or paper towel, and pat them as dry as possible. The drier the chickpeas, the crispier they are! Ensure no excess liquid is on the baking sheet after drying the beans; If you do, wipe it off with a towel.
3. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of avocado oil over the chickpeas and coat evenly with your hand or spoon. Sprinkle with onion salt, garlic powder, and a few circles of black pepper. It’s mixed.
4. Transfer the sliced butternut squash, apples, and Onions to a separate baking sheet. Drizzle with the remaining tablespoon and a half of avocado oil, then sprinkle with salt and a few circles of black pepper. Stir the vegetables together on a baking sheet.
5. Place two baking sheets in the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes until chickpeas are crisp and brown and squash is tender and browned around the edges. During baking, stir all the ingredients together once on the baking sheet.
6. While you roast the squash and chickpeas, stir all of the vinaigrette ingredients together until they’re emulsified. Transfer the kale to a large bowl. Add half the vinaigrette to the kale and set aside the rest. When you serve the salad, you can use it to get drenched. Use your hands to “massage” the vinaigrette into the kale until it is well-coated and tender.
7. Once the squash is done, place the kale and roasted chickpeas in a pan with the squash and onion. Mix everything well. Taste the mixture and adjust the salt and pepper as needed. You can also add extra spice here; Otherwise, you can take the rest of the dressing table aside so everyone enjoying the salad can add a little flavor.
8. Serve the salad or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

If you’ve been hoping to find a holiday recipe that’s both festive and nutritious but doesn’t require a lot of time in the kitchen, then maybe this is it.

I’ve been enjoying it this November, and I’ll keep it in rotation as we head into winter. I am happy to share with you this week of giving and sharing our thanks.