Maple Roasted Pumpkin Salad

Maple Roasted Pumpkin Salad is a perfect salad to make for the fall holidays!

I’ve made this Maple Roasted Pumpkin Salad so many times over the last 13 years! It’s a favorite recipe originally created by Martha Stewart’s team. And it’s such a nice salad to make in the fall when you can easily find sugar pie pumpkins! The pumpkin is roasted with maple syrup, and it becomes caramelized and so delicious. This salad has few ingredients, but it all comes together so well to offer an amazing addition to your meal.

How to make Maple Roasted Pumpkin Salad:

The first thing you need to do is roast the pumpkin. The pumpkin called for in the recipe isn’t a big Halloween pumpkin that you use for carving. It’s a little sugar pumpkin, also known as a pie pumpkin. You’ll peel the pumpkin, scoop and discard the seeds and then chop the pumpkin into small pieces. The pumpkin is tossed with olive oil, garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. It’s roasted for about 30 minutes, then you’ll drizzle on some maple syrup and let it roast some more to caramelize the pumpkin.

The dressing is a mix of roasted garlic, lime juice, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, olive oil, salt and pepper. It’s tossed with arugula in your salad bowl. 

Then the roasted pumpkin and feta cheese are added in. Roasted pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds) are added in too. If you buy pepitas that are not already toasted, you will want to toast them yourself. I include instructions in the recipe below for how to toast the pepitas.

Substitution suggestions:

You can use whatever greens appeal to you. The arugula is really good, but you might like to use baby greens or chopped red or green lettuce. If you can’t find or don’t want to use pepitas, use toasted pecans instead. Roasted pumpkin is really delicious, but you can always substitute butternut squash for the pumpkin.

If you’re thinking this Maple Roasted Pumpkin Salad might be a good addition to your Thanksgiving table, you’re so right. You can make everything ahead… caramelized pumpkin, toasted seeds and dressing- just refrigerate it all and then toss it together right before Thanksgiving dinner.

Here are a few more fall salad recipes you might like to try:

• Autumn Salad with Maple Cider Vinaigrette
• Roasted Butternut Squash and Wild Rice Salad
• Kale Salad with Butternut Squash
• Apple- Walnut Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette
• Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
• Mixed Green Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette
• Apple and Brussels Sprouts Slaw
• Pear, Walnut and Blue Cheese Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette

If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.

No ratings yet

Maple Roasted Pumpkin Salad

By RecipeGirl.com (shared from Martha Stewart)

Perfect fall salad recipe!

Prep: 30 minutes mins

Cook: 40 minutes mins

Total: 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings: 4 servings

SaveSaved Pin Print

Save this recipe!

Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Email *

Save

Ingredients

SALAD:

• ▢ ¼ cup pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)
• ▢ One 3½ to 4 pound sugar pumpkin (pie pumpkin), peeled/seeded and cut into 1½-inch chunks
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• ▢ ¼ to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ▢ kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• ▢ 1½ pounds arugula, washed and dried
• ▢ 6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled or cut into chunks

DRESSING:

• ▢ roasted garlic cloves (from roasting with the pumpkin)
• ▢ 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• ▢ 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• ▢ kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ 3 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions 

ROAST THE PEPITAS:

• If you have raw pepitas, you'll roast them. If your pepitas are already roasted, skip this step. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Spread the pepitas on a large rimmed baking sheet; toast in the oven, tossing occasionally, until fragrant and beginning to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside.

ROAST THE PUMPKIN AND GARLIC:

• On a large, rimmed baking sheet, toss the pumpkin with the olive oil, garlic, red pepper, salt and black pepper. Roast, tossing occasionally, until pumpkin is tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Remove the garlic cloves from the sheet pan; set aside. Drizzle the pumpkin with the maple syrup; toss to coat. Return to the oven and continue roasting, tossing occasionally, until the pumpkin is glazed, 5 to 10 minutes more; let cool.

PREPARE THE DRESSING and ASSEMBLE THE SALAD:

• Meanwhile, cut off the root ends of the roasted garlic cloves; squeeze out the garlic and mash to a paste with the side of a knife. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the lime juice, mustard, and remaining maple syrup; season with salt and pepper. Whisking constantly, add the olive oil in a steady stream.
• Add the arugula to the bowl and toss to combine. Sprinkle in roasted pumpkin, toasted pepitas and feta cheese. Serve!

Notes

• Bags of washed arugula can be found at Trader Joes.
• If you are preparing this recipe as gluten-free, just be sure to use varieties of maple syrup and Dijon mustard that are known to be free of gluten.
• If you're counting WW Points be sure to use reduced fat feta cheese in the salad.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 494kcal, Carbohydrates: 48g, Protein: 17g, Fat: 30g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Cholesterol: 38mg, Sodium: 572mg, Potassium: 2282mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 25g, Vitamin A: 42867IU, Vitamin C: 71mg, Calcium: 596mg, Iron: 7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this? Leave a comment below!