This Cranberry Pecan Apple Salad Recipe is full of delicious and healthy ingredients for an amazing fresh salad filled with tons of flavor. It's colorful, delicious, and perfect for everyday eats or for any gathering.

cranberry pecan apple salad in a white bowl

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The full recipe with ingredients/instructions is available on the recipe card at the bottom of the post. Important tips/tricks are also included in the blog post.

One thing I love to make is a BIG SALAD. Every time I think of a salad, I think of Elaine on Seinfeld and how she loved ordering a big salad from their favorite diner. I have no clue what was in that big salad, but I imagine it was pretty amazing.

This big salad is one of my favorites and it’s one I’ve been showing up to our get-togethers with. It’s bright, colorful, and full of lots of healthy and yummy ingredients.

This salad is filled with apples, cranberries, spinach, red onion, and topped with creamy goat cheese, sugared pecans, and a sweet and tangy dressing. It is a salad recipe that everyone will ask you the recipe for.

Here's how I make it.

How to make Cranberry Pecan Apple Salad

Grab a mandolin and thinly slice your red apples and red onions. The thin slices of apple and red onion create the perfect bite when eating the salad with the other ingredients.

apple slices in front of a black mandolin

red onion thinly sliced in front of a mandolin blade

If you don’t have a mandolin, you can just chop these ingredients into bite-sized pieces.

Place the apple slices in a large salad bowl and squeeze the fresh lemon juice over the apple slices and toss, ensuring all apple slices get covered in the lemon juice. This is so your apples don’t turn brown.

Then add spinach mix, apple slices, red onion slices, cranberries, sugared pecans, and goat cheese to the bowl. Use salad tongs and toss these ingredients together. Set aside.

Make the salad dressing

In a small mason jar, add apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, white sugar, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Cover and shake vigorously, for about 20-30 seconds, until salad dressing has thickened.

close up photo of yellow salad dressing in mason jar

When ready to serve, lightly pour dressing over salad greens and toss.

ingredients of cranberry apple salad in white bowl

ingredients of cranberry apple salad in bowl with yellow salad dressing being poured onto salad

Serve and enjoy.

Helpful Tips:

It’s best to wait until right before serving to pour the dressing on. If you put the dressing on too early, the spinach leaves will wilt. Your salad will still taste good, it just won’t be as pretty.
I use my Sugared Pecans for the chopped pecans in this recipe. I just give them a quick pulse in my mini food processor to chop them up a bit.
This is a great base salad that can be changed up in a few ways:
- Apples - I use red delicious apples (for color and tartness) but a thinly sliced granny apple is great in this salad too.
- A thinly sliced shallot is a great sub for the red onion.
- Need protein? Baked chicken breast or drained chickpeas are a great addition if you are looking for more of a meal.
Feel free to double or triple the dressing and keep it on the side. This stuff is pretty good on all kinds of greens.

Looking for other big salad recipes? Try these out:

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5 from 2 votes

Cranberry Pecan Apple Salad

This Cranberry Pecan Apple Salad is the perfect light and delicious salad. It’s made with healthy ingredients and topped with delicious creamy goat cheese, sugared pecans, and a sweet and tangy dijon vinegarette.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Keyword apple salad recipe, cranberry apple salad recipe, winter salad recipe

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings people

Calories 257kcal

Author Tanya

Ingredients

2 red apples thinly sliced on a mandolin
2 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4-5 cups spinach salad mix
½ red onion thinly sliced on a mandolin
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup sugared pecans chopped
4 Tablespoon goat cheese chopped or crumbled

Salad Dressing

2 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1.5 Tablespoon white sugar
1.5 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 Tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Place the apple slices in a large salad bowl and squeeze the fresh lemon juice over the apple slices and toss, ensuring all apple slices get covered in the lemon juice.
In a large salad bowl, add spinach salad mix, red apples, red onion, dried cranberries, sugared pecans, and goat cheese. Toss to combine. Set aside.
In a small mason jar, add apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, white sugar, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Cover and shake vigorously, for about 20-30 seconds, until salad dressing has thickened.
When ready to serve, lightly pour dressing over salad greens and toss. Serve and enjoy.

Notes

It’s best to wait until right before serving to pour the dressing on.
Feel free to double or triple the dressing and keep it on the side. This stuff is pretty good on all kinds of greens.

Nutrition

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Although myforkinglife.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Under no circumstances will myforkinglife.com be responsible for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information.