My Apple Pear Salad Recipe with a Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing is everything that is fabulous about fall. Loaded with fresh apples, pears, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and toasted nuts for everything you love from your favorite fall salad recipes. You can use whatever greens, apples, pears, or nuts that are your favorite so play around with it and make it perfect for you! I love to add some grilled steak or chicken over the top and make it a main dish.
I know it is only the second day of August, but if you have been part of the MKE tribe for long enough, you know that fall is my favorite time of year. I love everything about it, including the food, and this salad recipe is one of my all-time favorites.
I love to use Fuji or Honeycrisp apples and red pears in this recipe, but if you have a favorite pear or apple you prefer more, feel free to switch that out. You just want the apple to be sweet and crisp, and the pear to be fairly firm so it doesn’t turn to mush in your salad.
I know many of you will be tempted to skip the toasting of the nuts, but please don’t! It only takes a few minutes and it makes a huge difference in both flavor and texture. You can either put them in a pan over low heat on your stove until the brown, or toss them in the oven at 350 for about 8-10 minutes. Trust your favorite food blogger on this important step. I wrote all about why toasting makes nuts makes them crazy delicious on an Instagram post if you want to learn the food science behind it!
This specific apple pear salad recipe is one I’ve been making for years and it considered a bit on the holy side in the Jones household. In fact, it holds the title of “The Salad” because we adore it so much. The only other competition for the title is my Thai Chicken Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce. She is pretty sexy too, don’t ya think? And yes, she is phenomenal 🙂
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One of my all-time favorite salad recipes in the fall! Super easy and if you want it as a main dish, just add some grilled chicken or steak over the top!
Ingredients
Salad
- 8 C spring mix lettuce
- 2 C baby spinach
- 1 large Fuji or Honeycrisp apple, chopped
- 1 firm red pear, chopped
- 3/4 C dried cranberries
- 1/2 C chopped pecans or almonds
- 1/2 C crumbled feta cheese
Dressing
- 1/4 C sugar
- 1 tsp brown mustard
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp grated onion
- 1 Tb poppy seeds
- 1/2 C rice vinegar
- 3/4 C canola oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all the salad ingredients, except for the almonds. In a medium bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients until fully blended.
- In a small skillet over low heat, toast the pecans or almonds until golden brown then remove them to cool before adding them to the salad.
- Toss the dressing over the whole salad and serve immediately, or just dress enough of the salad for the number of servings you need.
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