Honey Roasted Butternut Squash Salad is my new favorite Thanksgiving recipe.

We recently went to San Francisco on a quick anniversary get-away and met up with a couple of old friends at the fabulous restaurant called Fogo De Chao. The restaurant had recipe cards for their best recipes in the front foyer. Super great idea if you ask me, which nobody is. It was fun to try this yummy salad and even better to take home the recipe.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, I’ve been on the hunt for a few yummy, vegetable-based sides to add. So why this one, besides the obvious fact that it’s delicious? Oven Management. Unless you have a commercial kitchen, Thanksgiving can prove to be a logistical challenge for even the President’s Advance Team.

A great choice for Thanksgiving!

The beauty of this recipe is that it is intended to be made up in advance, chilled and served cold, leaving your oven free for the bird. A great choice for those of you clever enough to weasel out of hosting Thanksgiving dinner. No need to worry about your hot roasted brussel sprouts getting all chewy and lukewarm on the drive to your in-laws’.

Butternut squash is roasted in honey and cinnamon. Cooled. Combined with dried cranberries, parsley, and feta. Roasted walnuts are an optional add-in that give it a lovely flavor layer.

The key is to make sure you don’t over-roast the butternut squash. Once cooled you’ll be mixing it with the other ingredients and you don’t want to have it all turn into a giant bowl of mush. Roast the squash until it is tender and lightly browned. Exactly 25 minutes in my oven, turning the squash once to even out the cooking.

The color of the dish is gorgeous.

I love all the fall colors. I love to eat the leftovers for a fancy-feeling lunch.

Honey Roasted Butternut Squash Salad

Ingredients

4 pounds butternut squash peeled, and cut into 1" cubes
2 T olive oil
2 T honey
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 T fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup roasted chopped walnuts (optional)

Servings:

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Mix ingredients from squash through cinnamon in a large bowl.
Arrange squash evenly on a greased baking pan.
Roast in the preheated oven 10 minutes, then turn squash for even browning. Roast additional 10-15 minutes until squash is tender and lightly browned.
Remove from oven and cool in refrigerator for one hour.
Place chilled squash in a serving bowl and sprinkle with cranberries, feta and walnuts, if desired.
Top with chopped parsley and serve.