Apple Salad – made alongside an abundance of crisp sugariness apples, fresh bound lettuce greens or spinach, crunchy toasted pecans, tangy feta, flavorful salty bacon in addition to it’second finished amongst a vibrant maple cider vinaigrette dressing. It’s the perfect autumn salad!
Our Favorite Apple Salad Recipe!
Who doesn’t beloved a salad that includes fresh seasonal ingredients? Many of us are baking with those delicious seasonal autumn apples (making apple tree crisp, apple tree pie or apple cobbler) only those juicy apples are besides such slap-up improver to savory recipes (similar this autumn sail pan chicken dinner) too side salads like this.
Apples are the crowing star of the demonstrate in this salad together with they are highlighted beautifully past the other ingredients like the tangy feta as well as rich smoky bacon. Bacon makes everything ameliorate though correct?
This salad is uncomplicated enough to be an improver to weeknight repast only it’s also delicious enough to be served at a vacation gathering or a weekend political party.
If yous want to get in a principal dish only add together close to chopped rotisserie chicken to it for more than protein or view tossing inwards a grain similar farro, barley or even seedy tri colour quinoa.
So much to love almost this colorful, vibrant, sweetness too savory salad!
Apple Salad Recipe Ingredients too Substitutes
Ingredients for the salad:
- Spring lettuce mix: Baby spinach works great hither also. I’ve used both simply of late prefer the additional textures as well as flavors of the jump mix. It holds upwards a fiddling improve also.
- Gala apples: Another crisp sugariness apple volition work fine here. Or if you lot prefer tart apples y'all tin can include those besides.
- Pecans: Walnuts are some other bang-up pick or shelled pumpkin seeds.
- Feta cheese: Goat cheese would live tasty.
- Dried cranberries: Chopped sweetened dried cherries tin can live used.
- Bacon: Chopped proscuitto, leftover cooked ham, or fifty-fifty Canadian bacon could be tasty hither.
- Red onion: A few light-green onions volition operate in it’sec place.
Ingredients for the dressing:
- Olive petroleum: You tin purpose regular or light olive crude hither but I don’t recommend extra virgin. The flavor is besides bold for the apples.
- Apple cider vinegar: Red wine vinegar or white vino vinegar is a proficient alternative.
- Maple syrup: Honey works likewise.
- Dijon mustard: In a pinch regular yellowish mustard volition function.
- Salt together with dark pepper
How to Make Apple Salad
- Make the dressing: Mix all ingredients in a bowl until good blended. Or add together to a mason jolt cover alongside lid in addition to milkshake to blend good.
- Add salad ingredients to bowl: In a big salad bowl layer together lettuce blend, apples, pecans, feta, cranberries, bacon together with cherry onion.
- Toss alongside dressing: Drizzle dressing over salad together with toss to evenly coat.
- Serve straight off later on adding dressing.
Helpful Tips for Apple Salad
- Dressing: Wait to chop the apples until shortly earlier dressing the salad then they don’t brownish.
- Also wait to wearing apparel the salad until merely before serving because the lettuces volition set about to wilt from the oily acidic dressing.
- Chill the dressing if time always nigh 1 hr before. Sometimes I’ll even flash chill in the freezer for 15 minutes, stirring every five. A common cold dressing is thicker in addition to clings ameliorate summation it’second more than refreshing.
- Toppings: If you are interested in the presentation of the salad I recommend setting aside or so of the toppings to sprinkle over the tiptop. They accept a tendency to sink to the bottom of the salad bowl.
- Slicing: Slice the reddish onions really thin. I’ve found them to be much more than enjoyable this manner inwards a salad (here I didn’t slice them quite every bit sparse only to you could run across them inwards the salad).
- Originally I but cutting the apples into halves as well as slices merely instantly when I brand this recipe I prefer smaller bite size pieces (notwithstanding sliced though but non chopped chunks). It keeps things more uniform.
- Prepared ingredients: You tin can pre-chopped pecan pieces at the shop to save fourth dimension, close to stores fifty-fifty sale or so that are toasted as well. And pre-crumbled feta is fine in this recipe. I do still recommend sticking amongst freshly cooked bacon vs. the shop-bought cooked variety for improve lineament.
Storage
- This salad should live served before long later preparing.
- But you tin can brand the dressing upwardly to 4 days in advance in addition to shop inward the fridge.
- You tin likewise fix as well as chop bacon upward to four days ahead, toast as well as chop the nuts, in addition to slice the onions. Store bacon as well as onions inward the fridge also.
Possible Variations:
- Other expert apples to use hither include fuji, honeycrisp, red delicious, ambrosia, juici, pacific rose, sweetango, jonagold, kiku, or envy.
- Add a poly peptide such equally cooked rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked ham.
- Try tossing inward a grain such as farro, barley, or quinoa.
- For more fruitiness add pomegranate arils or endeavour swapping out i of the apples amongst a pear (only serve it over the elevation as they are frail though).
More Tasty Apple Recipes to Try
Apple Salad
Ingredients
- ten oz. leap lettuce mix (alongside spinach), or babe spinach
- iii medium gala apples, cored too thinly chopped
- one cup pecans, toasted and chopped
- one cup crumbled feta cheese, crumbled
- i/2 loving cup dried cranberries
- 12 oz. bacon, cooked as well as chopped
- 1/ii small-scale ruby onion, sliced into sparse strips
Maple-Cider Vinaigrette
- one/ii cup olive rock oil
- ane/4 loving cup apple tree cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
- i/4 tsp salt, or to gustation
- ane/iv tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Make the dressing: Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well blended. Or add together to a bricklayer shock encompass amongst lid together with milkshake to blend well.
- In a big salad bowl layer together lettuce blend, apples, pecans, feta, cranberries, bacon, and ruddy onion.
- Drizzle dressing over salad as well as toss to evenly coat.
- Serve directly later on adding dressing.
Notes
Amount Per Serving
Calories 578
Calories from Fat 441
% Daily Value*
Recipe previously named Apple Pecan Feta Spinach Salad, modified to shorten to Apple Salad October. 2023. Also includes selection of using bound salad or spinach for the recipe.