Maple-Bacon Squash & Pecan Salad
Butternut squash glazed with maple syrup, smoky bacon crisped in the basket, candied pecans, baby spinach, and a yogurt-tahini drizzle. The autumn salad that's actually filling — sweet, salty, smoky, with three different textures of crunch.
This is the salad that proves "salad" doesn't have to mean "sad lunchtime concession." It's structured around two air-fried elements (maple-glazed squash and crisp bacon) that do real flavour work, then bulked out with baby spinach and finished with a creamy yogurt-tahini drizzle. The pecans — candied separately with maple syrup — add the third texture. It's filling enough to be dinner.
The technique is staged. Squash first (12 minutes at 200°C with maple syrup brushed on at the 9-minute mark — sugars caramelise without burning). Bacon next in the same basket (8 minutes). Pecans last (4 minutes with maple — they go from nuts to candied in that short window).
The dressing is yogurt + tahini + lemon + garlic + salt — creamy without being heavy, slightly nutty from the tahini, sharp from the lemon. Squeezed in a zigzag pattern across the finished salad.
The photo shows the plated version on a pink oval platter: a bed of dark green baby spinach, butternut squash slices arranged across, crispy bacon bits and candied pecans scattered, white yogurt-tahini drizzle making bold zigzags. A yellow background. Looks like autumn personified.
Method
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01
Cook the squash
In a bowl, toss the squash half-moons with olive oil, salt,
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02
Crisp the bacon
Remove the squash. Add bacon to the basket in a single layer,
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03
Candy the pecans
Toss pecans with 1 tbsp maple syrup and a pinch of salt. Air
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04
Make the dressing
Whisk yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, water, garlic, and salt
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05
Dress the spinach
Toss baby spinach lightly with red wine vinegar and olive oil
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06
Assemble
Pile dressed spinach onto a large platter. Arrange squash
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07
Serve
Eat immediately while the squash is still warm against the