You can never go wrong with a flavorful salad to accompany any meal, some of my favorites include kale salad, arugula salad, and this sweet and savory pear salad.
How Do You Make Pear Salad?
This pear salad starts by placing in a large bowl thinly sliced pears, lettuce leaves, blue cheese crumbles, chopped candied pecans and pomegranate seeds. In a separate small bowl, make a homemade balsamic dressing by whisking together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Pour the balsamic vinaigrette over the salad, then toss to combine. Serve immediately and enjoy! It goes perfectly hearty dinner entrees like crockpot meatloaf, turkey soup and blackened chicken. I also love to make this salad for Thanksgiving. Try this salad and you will understand why it is one of my best fall recipes!
Pears: Pears are the star of this salad so you want nice ripe pears that are not mushy. Look for pears that are just a little soft near the stem, that have a nice pear smell and that don’t have dark spots or bruises. You can use practically any kind of pear you like for this salad. I often use Anjou pears, Bartlett pears, Comice pears and Bosc pears. Blue Cheese: Get a nice blue cheese that crumbles well and doesn’t have too much moisture. Candied Pecans: You can purchase candied pecans or make your own candied pecans. I roughly chop them for this salad. Greens: I often use a packaged spring mix. You could also use other types of lettuce like iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce or butter lettuce. Simply chop your lettuce into bite sized pieces.
Tips For The Perfect Salad
I like to buy a wedge of high quality blue cheese and crumble it myself. Pre-crumbled blue cheese often contains anti-caking agents and stabilizers, and doesn’t taste as fresh. This salad is best served immediately, as the cut pears will brown if they sit out too long. You can toss your pear slices in lemon juice to slow down the browning process. The balsamic dressing can be made up to 3 days in advance. Just store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it, then shake well and pour over the salad. When I’m looking to save on prep time, I buy a container of pomegranate seeds at the grocery store instead of removing the seeds from a whole pomegranate. No pomegranate seeds on hand? Substitute dried cranberries or dried cherries instead. You can also make your salad dressing by placing the ingredients in a sealed jar and shaking the jar.
Pear Salad Variations
This pear salad is delicious as-is, but you can switch up the ingredients to feature other great flavors.
Nuts: Try almonds, walnuts, candied walnuts or pine nuts instead of pecans. Cheese: Feel free to use crumbled goat cheese, feta cheese, gorgonzola cheese, cheddar cheese or shaved Parmesan cheese instead of blue cheese. Other Flavors: You can add other ingredients to the salad such as sliced apples, dried apricots, shaved fennel or even bacon. You could add a little minced garlic to the salad dressing. Sweet: For a sweeter dressing add a tablespoon of maple syrup. Protein: Make this salad a meal by adding sliced grilled chicken breast.
Try this salad with fall and winter drinks like slow cooker apple cider, a cranberry Moscow mule or a Jack Frost cocktail. While this salad is perfect for the fall, I find myself making it year round. The combination of flavors and textures just can’t be beat!
Pear Salad Video
