This Cranberry Quinoa Salad with butternut squash is sweet, savory, and drizzled with a bright and zesty lemon dijon dressing. This gluten-free salad is the perfect healthy side dish to enjoy all fall and winter long.
Looking for an easy side dish for dinner tonight or to add to your Thanksgiving menu? This butternut squash and cranberry quinoa salad is it!
After cooking the butternut squash and quinoa, all you have to do is assemble the salad and serve. It's fresh, light and perfect to eat on its own or with your favorite protein.
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🌟Why You'll Love this Recipe
- Hearty enough for a main dish. Quinoa is a complete protein, helping to keep us full and satisfied until the next meal. This salad is on the more filling side and is a perfect choice for a healthy lunch or easy dinner. No additional sides are needed! If you are a fan of quinoa, try my quinoa sweet potato salad and quinoa and black bean salad next.
- Perfect for meal prep. This butternut squash quinoa salad is perfect for meal prep. Make individual portions to grab and go for quick lunches all week long.
- Easy recipe. Although butternut squash has a longer roast time, this salad only requires 10 minutes of prep time. You could even take a few shortcuts and use pre-cut butternut squash or pre-cooked quinoa to save time.
🥘Ingredients
- Butternut squash. You need a small, 2-pound squash for this recipe. Or, if you've purchased pre-cubed butternut squash, you'll need about 3 cups of squash. If you are new to cooking with butternut squash, follow this simple tutorial to learn how to peel and cut butternut squash.
- Quinoa- I used organic white quinoa in this recipe, but you can also use red or tri-color quinoa. Every bag of quinoa should have cooking instructions on the back, but if needed, learn how easy it is to cook fluffy quinoa at home with this simple tutorial.
- Cranberries- For this quinoa cranberry salad, you'll need either unsweetened or sweetened dried cranberries. I'd avoid fresh cranberries - they are too tart and will overpower the flavors in this salad.
- Feta cheese - Just like in my Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Quinoa and Mediterranean Lemon Orzo Salad, I used feta cheese in this salad to tie all the flavors together with its creamy richness.
See the recipe card below for the remaining ingredients and quantities.
📖Substitutions & Variations
- Butternut squash substitutes: Try delicata squash, pumpkin, or air fryer roasted sweet potato.
- Feta cheese substitutes: Goat cheese would also be great in this salad. Or, if you'd like to make this salad vegan-friendly, go with vegan feta cheese.
- Lemon dijon dressing substitute: Use your favorite alternative dressing or a store-bought dressing of your choice. You can also replace the lemon with red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
- Parsley substitute: Try chopped green onions for a sharper bite.
- Add protein: This cranberry quinoa salad pairs well with Air Fryer Rotisserie Chicken, steak, or leftover Thanksgiving turkey!
- You can also add apple, red onion, Brussels sprouts, sunflower seeds and even crunchy walnuts for additional added flavor.
🔪Instructions
Step 1: Use my air-fried butternut squash recipe or oven-roast the butternut squash at 400 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes.
Step 2: While the squash is cooking, cook the quinoa according to the package directions. Once cooked, turn off the heat and fluff with a fork. Prepare the lemon dijon vinaigrette by mixing everything together in a small bowl or jar.
Step 3: In a large bowl, add the butternut squash, quinoa, feta cheese, dried cranberries and parsley.
Step 4: Drizzle the salad with vinaigrette and toss to combine. Enjoy immediately!
💭Recipe FAQs
Any type of quinoa will work for this quinoa cranberry salad. White quinoa has a more mild flavor and cooks quickly. Black and red quinoa have a more nutty flavor and take longer to cook.
Yes! This cranberry quinoa salad can be made up to 3 days in advance and is great for meal prep. To prep ahead, toss together the salad and store it separately in an airtight container from the lemon dijon dressing. Drizzle with dressing right before serving.
Quinoa can also be made ahead of time and stored on its own in the fridge for 1 week or in the freezer for 6 months.
This is a personal preference. I usually prefer to allow the quinoa to cool completely before adding it to the salad, but you can enjoy this quinoa salad hot, cold, or at room temperature.
Both quinoa and this salad recipe are gluten-free. Quinoa is a seed that is commonly classified as a grain and is naturally free of gluten.
👩🏻🍳Chef Tips
- Allow the quinoa to cool for a little while before assembling the salad.
- Make extra dressing. You'll never be sad you have extra homemade salad dressing on hand. Use it to dress simple green salads during the week.
- Make the quinoa and butternut squash ahead of time. This will speed up the assembly time considerably!
🥗Serving
This quinoa salad with butternut squash is a perfect meal on its own as quinoa is a great source of plant-based protein. It also makes a great side for your holiday dinners and goes great with things such as cranberry orange chicken, air-fried ham and pumpkin sweet potato soup.
🥗More Salad Recipes You May Like
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating & comment below to let me know how it came out. Thanks for visiting!
🍳Recipe
Cranberry Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash
Ingredients
- 1 small butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded, and cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven or air fryer to 400 degrees F. Season the cut butternut squash with olive oil, salt and black pepper.
- Cook on a sheet pan or in the air fryer for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender. Set aside.
- While the squash is cooking, cook the quinoa according to the package directions in 2 cups of water, usually 15 minutes. Once cooked, turn off heat and fluff with a fork.
- Make the vinaigrette while the quinoa cools in a bowl.
- Add dijon mustard and lemon juice to a small bowl or jar and whisk or shake to combine. Next, add in the olive oil, salt and pepper and mix everything until well combined.
- Once the quinoa is cooled, add the squash, cranberries, feta and chopped parsley to the bowl.
- Pour the dressing on top and mix the salad together. Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Allow the quinoa to cool for a little while before assembling the salad.
- Make extra dressing. You'll never be sad you have extra homemade salad dressing on hand. Use it to dress simple green salads during the week.
- Make the quinoa and butternut squash ahead of time. This will speed up the assembly time considerably!
- This cranberry quinoa salad can be made up to 3 days in advance and is great for meal prep. To prep ahead, toss together the salad and store it separately in an airtight container from the lemon dijon dressing. Drizzle with dressing right before serving.
- Quinoa can also be made ahead of time and stored on its own in the fridge for 1 week or in the freezer for 6 months.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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