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Pasta Chicken

Quinoa and Butternut Squash Salad with Bacon, Feta, Caramelized Onions

Published: Feb 10, 2015 | 6 Comments

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Healthy Quinoa Salad with Bacon, Roasted Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onions and Feta cheese, with French Vinaigrette salad dressing. You can also top the salad with pine nuts (optional but delicious!) This salad is so healthy and it’s gluten free! Enjoy this salad packed with anti-oxidants (squash) and protein (quinoa)!

Quinoa and Butternut Squash Salad with Caramelized Onions, Feta, and Bacon

For this quinoa and butternut squash salad, you will need to roast peeled and cubed butternut squash in the oven until soft. You will also need to make caramelized onions, cook bacon, and cook some quinoa. After that, you just assemble the salad, top with crumbled Feta cheese, toasted pine nuts, add the French salad dressing – and it’s ready!

Recipe notes

  • Use store-bought French Vinaigrette salad dressing. Want to make your own? Here is a great recipe: French Vinaigrette Salad Dressing.
  • Caramelize onions according to my tutorial how to caramelize onions.
  • Use peeled and cubed butternut squash.  You can buy already cubed squash in the store or do it yourself.  Roast squash in the oven until soft.
  • Toast pine nuts slightly.
  • Add the salad only right before serving.
  • The salad can be refrigerated, without the dressing, for up to 5 days.

How to roast butternut squash

  • Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
  • Butternut squash should be peeled and sliced into 3/4 inch cubes. You will only need 1/2 of the medium size squash. Toss the cubed butternut squash in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil and generously sprinkle with salt.
  • Add cubed squash on the greased baking sheet.
  • Roast for about 30 minutes, until soft.
  • Flip the squash cubes over midway through baking.
  • Let the squash cool slightly before adding to the salad.

roasted butternut squash

How to cook quinoa

  • For each 1 cup of uncooked quinoa, use 2 cups of water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
  • Add uncooked quinoa, salt and water to a large sauce pan. Bring to boil.
  • Reduce to medium simmer and cook, covered, for about 15-20 minutes.
  • Remove from heat, stir the quinoa with the spoon. Cover the pan with lid, and let the quinoa rest in the pan for about 10 minutes.
  • Yield: 1 cup of uncooked quinoa yields 3 cups of cooked quinoa.

Quinoa and Butternut Squash Salad with Bacon, Caramelized Onions, Feta cheese, and Pine Nuts

Other recipes with butternut squash

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

Butternut Squash and Spinach Salad with Pecans, Cranberries, Pomegranate

Butternut Squash Chili with Beef

Print
Quinoa and Butternut Squash Salad with Bacon, Feta, and Pine Nuts
Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
50 mins
 

Healthy Quinoa Salad with Bacon, Roasted Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onions and Feta cheese, with French Vinaigrette salad dressing. You can also top the salad with pine nuts (optional but delicious!) Healthy, gluten free, packed with anti-oxidants (squash) and protein (quinoa)!

Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 493 kcal
Author: Julia
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups quinoa , cooked
  • 1 onion , sliced
  • 1/2 butternut squash , medium size
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 6 strips bacon , cooked and chopped
  • salt
  • 1/2 cup French Vinaigrette salad dressing
  • 1/4 cup Feta cheese
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts , toasted (OPTIONAL)
Instructions
How to roast butternut squash:
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
  2. Peel the squash and slice it into 3/4 inch cubes. You will only need 1/2 of the medium size squash. Toss the squash cubes in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil and generously sprinkle with salt.
  3. Put butternut squash on the greased baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes, until soft. Flip the squash cubes over midway through baking. Let it cool slightly before adding to the salad.
How to caramelize onions
  1. Caramelize sliced onion as described in this post.
Assemble the salad
  1. In a large bowl, combine cooked quinoa, roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions, chopped and cooked bacon, and mix with the dressing.  

  2. Add the dressing only before serving, and add as much as you want to individual portions, as both quinoa and butternut squash tend to be on a dry side, and this dressing (when generously applied) fixes this beautifully!

  3. Top each individual serving with Feta cheese and toasted pine nuts (OPTIONAL).
  4. Note: This salad keeps very well refrigerated for up to a week, but only without dressing. Add the dressing only before serving.
Nutrition Facts
Quinoa and Butternut Squash Salad with Bacon, Feta, and Pine Nuts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 493 Calories from Fat 306
% Daily Value*
Fat 34g52%
Saturated Fat 7g44%
Cholesterol 20mg7%
Sodium 221mg10%
Potassium 563mg16%
Carbohydrates 38g13%
Fiber 4g17%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 11g22%
Vitamin A 6670IU133%
Vitamin C 14.5mg18%
Calcium 85mg9%
Iron 2.9mg16%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Filed Under: Bacon, Butternut squash, Gluten Free, Healthy, Onions, Quinoa, Recipe, Salads, Side Dish, Vegetables Published: Feb 10, 2015 6 Comments

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Line

    Sep 18, 2015 at 2:05 pm

    This looks very nice! but I was wondering: what are the green leaves you sprinkle on it? parsley? coriander? mint?
    thanks for sharing

    Reply
  2. Sabrina

    Mar 06, 2015 at 8:31 pm

    This salad was amazing! To make it lower calorie, I used turkey bacon and Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing. Only 30 calories per tsp. So simple to make!

    Reply
  3. Stacy | Wicked Good Kitchen

    Feb 15, 2015 at 1:07 pm

    Drop dead gorgeous salad, Julia! I love the caramelized onions, bacon and roasted butternut squash combination for this protein-rich quinoa salad. Perfection! Loving the photography, as always, my friend. 🙂 Thank you for sharing. Already pinned and will be making!

    Reply
  4. Laura Dembowski

    Feb 12, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    It’s so fun to make new and exciting quinoa salads. Bacon sounds like a stellar addition.

    Reply
  5. John@Kitchen Riffs

    Feb 11, 2015 at 12:12 pm

    Great salad — could work as a main for a lunch, or light supper. So much good flavor in this, and it’s gorgeous!

    Reply
  6. Matt

    Feb 10, 2015 at 8:23 pm

    Yummm

    Reply

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