Description
Introducing this roasted fall harvest salad with crispy chickpeas, toasted pumpkin seeds, and a creamy apple tahini dressing.
Ingredients
Chickpeas & Squash
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 honeynut squash, cubed*
- Olive oil
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp cinnamon (optional)
Salad
- ¼ cup quinoa cooked according to package instruction**
- 1 head dino kale
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Large pinch of kosher salt or flaky salt
- ¼ cup toasted pumpkin seeds***
- ¼ cup golden raisins****
Apple Tahini Dressing
- ¼ cup tahini
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 3 tbsp water
- ½ honeycrisp apple
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- ¼ tsp kosher salt (use more if needed)
- ¼ tsp cumin
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Add the chickpeas and squash onto the pan and drizzle over a generous amount of olive oil, followed by the spices. Toss to coat thoroughly. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the chickpeas are crispy and the squash has a slight char.
- Next, cook the quinoa according to package instructions. I linked my quinoa tutorial in the recipe notes below if you want tips on making super fluffy quinoa!
- While the chickpeas and squash bake and the quinoa cooks, make the rest of the salad. Remove the stalk from the kale leaves and finely mince the kale, the smaller the better. Add the chopped kale into a large serving bowl, drizzle over the olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Using your hands, massage the kale until it’s shrunk in size by half. Set aside.
- To make the dressing, simply add all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. You can also use an immersion blender if you want to minimize clean up which is what I prefer to do.
- To assemble, add the cooked quinoa, roasted squash and chickpeas into the bowl of kale, along with the toasted pumpkin seeds and golden raisins. Drizzle over a generous amount of the dressing and toss to combine. Adjust salt and dressing to preference and enjoy this salad immediately!
Notes
*Kabocha squash and butternut squash are the best substitutes for honeynut squash. In total, you need 1 cup of uncooked cubed squash.
**Linking my quinoa tutorial video here with tips and tricks for fluffy quinoa.
***To toast raw pumpkin seeds, preheat your oven to 450°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Spread the pumpkin seeds out on the tray and bake them in the preheated oven for 5 minutes until they just turn golden. Keep an eye on them because they burn very fast!
****Chopped Medjool dates or cranberries are both great substitutes for the golden raisins. If you do use cranberries, make sure they’re unsweetened, as most grocery store brands have tons of added sugar and oil.