Roasted Squash and Grape Salad with Blue Cheese

Sweet, savory, meaty and pungent flavors combine in this satisfying Roasted Squash and Grape Salad with Blue Cheese recipe.

Growing up, we almost always had grapes in our house. My grandmother loved snacking on them, and — as a result — I often did too. Fast forward a few decades, and my kids love packing red, green and black grapes for lunch and snack time at school. We’ve recently discovered cotton candy grapes, and those have been a fast favorite.

Hint: Freeze grapes in single serve containers and they’ll do double duty as an ice pack in lunch boxes.

But grapes aren’t just something to rinse and munch on.

Over the past several years, they’ve popped up in everything from restaurant appetizers to sandwiches to recipes for roasted chicken dishes. Like many other fruits and veggies, grapes are a versatile food both suited for the familiar sweet applications of fruit salads, jellies and juices, and savory applications where the inherent sweetness can be a welcome contrast to more savory flavors. 

Grapes are even getting roasted these days.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy grapes is in big leafy green salads for lunch. A lunch spot in my city puts them in their signature salad and it’s delightful. Yes, I was skeptical at first, but I’ve since come around. The sweet juiciness is a lovely foil to more savory ingredients.

In this salad, sweet red grapes are paired with roasted butternut squash, leafy greens, meaty walnuts and pungent blue cheese. It’s satisfying and filling. But if you like more ingredients in your salad, try adding zesty red onions, bright red bell peppers or spicy jalapeños.

Finish this off with a favorite vinaigrette. I recommend Shallot Vinaigrette, which has a lovely sweet-tangy flavor.

Roasted Squash and Grape Salad with Blue Cheese is the satisfying lunch recipe you didn’t know you needed to try this week.