Salad with Goat Cheese, Pears, Candied Pecans and Maple-Balsamic Dressing
~ An incredibly delicious, yet really easy salad recipe! We call it “Thanksgiving Salad,” since it’s absolutely perfect for Thanksgiving and the holidays … but it’s truly quick enough for busy-night family dinners, any day! ~
This Recipe Is: • Ready in 30 Minutes or Less • Includes Make-Ahead Steps • Vegetarian •
In all this big, wide world, I have two absolute-favorite leafy green salads. (You’ll notice I diplomatically left the door WIDE open for favorite quinoa salads, pasta salads, fruit salads, dinner salads …)
Yeah – when it comes to salads, I have a lot of love to give!
Now, before I go any further getting all lovey-dovey about salads, you’re welcome to just stop right here and take a peek at our little video tutorial, to see how easy this recipe is to make. (It’s ok … I promise I’ll wait while you watch … take your time … 😉 )
Video Tutorial
See … so easy, right!?! And seriously – it’s fantastic! There’s definitely a reason it’s such a family-favorite recipe, and always has people ooohing and aaahing happily, every single time I make it!
But, since I mentioned that I have two favorite leafy green salads, now you’re dying to know …
What’s green salad heartthrob #1?
Well, if you’re a long-time THKer, you might remember our Salad with Nuts, Feta and Cranberries. Gretchen and I have both been making it for years … long before we’d even met … long, long before THK!
It’s insanely good, and insanely fast! Might take you maybe three minutes to pull together, and that’s only if you take a call from your gabbiest friend part way through making it. Seriously – check it out!
It’s a lifesaver everyone should keep close at hand … especially when you’re busy (but wait … aren’t you always!?!?!)! And it’s so good, no one will ever guess you threw it together just as you headed to the dinner party – while you buckled your toddler in the car, put the dog in his crate, and swiped on your lipstick.
But here’s where today’s salad recipe (aka favorite salad #2) came in …
I’d been making fave salad #1 for so long, and every member of my extended family had (happily!) eaten it at multiple family gatherings.
So, last Thanksgiving, I got inspired to concoct something new. I played around in the kitchen a little, and fell in love with salad all over again! Specifically, with this gorgeous salad!
Mmmmhmmm … you can see why!
It’s absolutely loaded with goodies! We’re talkin’:
- crunchy candied pecans
- sweet and juicy fall pears
- wonderfully tart dried cherries
- creamy goat cheese …
- all drizzled with a luscious maple-balsamic dressing!
Geez oh man – this salad is so good!
… So good that even my daughter, who generally eats salad only because she knows she really ought to, and who doesn’t like salad dressings … even she happily eats this salad (WITH DRESSING!!!! 😀 )! Night after night!
We’re talking break-through, folks. Salad break-through.
It’s that good …
… So good that my son gleefully exclaimed, “This is awesome!” as he shoveled in another forkful. (I truly don’t make this stuff up!)
With the pears and dried cherries, it’s a perfect holiday salad for Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations, but it’s also waaaaaay too delicious to save for only special occasions!
I’ve honestly already made it numerous times this fall, just for regular family dinners. It seems fancy-schmancy enough to elevate any ‘ole family meal, and it’s easy enough that I can quickly throw it together on a busy weeknight!
Easy Shortcuts
And there’s no shame in shortcuts and make-ahead steps (you know we love those here at THK!).
Yup … to make this ridiculously easy salad even more ridiculously easy … you can buy pre-crumbled goat cheese in a little tub, to save the couple minutes of crumbling it yourself.
And you can make the dressing a day or two in advance and store it in the fridge. (Hint: it’s so delicious, you might even want to make a double-batch while you’re at it, to use on other salads throughout the week. It’s also especially delicious on our Superfoods Shredded Brussels Sprout Salad.)
Oh – and those awesome candied pecans? They take about 5 minutes total, and can be made ahead, too!
Seriously so simple!
At “go time” – you just toss it all together! (And use all the time you saved to sign yourself up for Mom of the Year and Hostess with the Mostess!)
Lucky you … you’ll probably even have time to sign up for my “We Love Salad Fan Club”! After one taste of this one, you’ll want to be a lifetime member!
Salad with Goat Cheese, Pears, Candied Pecans and Maple-Balsamic Dressing
An incredibly delicious, yet really easy salad recipe! An absolutely perfect Thanksgiving salad, or holiday salad for dinner parties ... but quick enough for family dinners, too!
• Ready in 30 Minutes or Less • Includes Make-Ahead Steps • Vegetarian •
Ingredients
Salad:
- 5 ounces of mixed gourmet/spring greens
- 1 pear (such as d'Anjou), cored and chopped (to equal about 1 1/4 cups) (see note)
- 1 cup glazed, candied pecans (see note)
- 2/3 cup dried cherries (or cherry-flavored Craisins)
- 4 ounces crumbled goat cheese
Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon smooth dijon mustard
- a pinch (about 1/16 teaspoon) kosher salt
Instructions
- Place greens in a large serving bowl (or divide among individual salad plates).
- Sprinkle pears, pecans, cherries, and goat cheese over top of greens.
- For dressing, whisk together balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, olive oil, mustard, and salt until emulsified.
- Dress salad just before serving, or pass the dressing at the table.
Notes
Pears: Firmer pears work best for this recipe. D'Anjou is our top choice, but you can sub in your favorite variety, or whatever looks most wonderfully flavorful and juicy at your market.
Candied pecans: We definitely recommend using our super-easy recipe for 5-Minute, 4-Ingredient Candied Pecans. They add just the right amount of sweetness without going overboard on the sugar or adding corn syrup, butter, or other less-healthy ingredients. Alternately, if you use purchased candied pecans, be sure to read the ingredient lists and nutrition labels to find the best possible option.
Make-ahead tips: The dressing can be made a day or two in advance and kept, covered, in the refrigerator. If you're planning on making your own candied pecans (using our recipe), those can also be made in advance. For a little extra time-savings, look for already-crumbled goat cheese (which is also a bit less messy), rather than the little 4-ounce logs that you'll need to crumble yourself.
Serving tips: This salad is literally loaded with toppings, which is exactly how my family likes it best. Feel free to tweak the exact proportions to suit your family's tastes. Also, if you're going to serve the salad buffet-style and want to pre-dress it, it's important to add the dressing just prior to serving, so the greens don't wilt upon standing too long. When pre-dressing the salad, you may want to reserve some of the dressing and offer it at the side, as some people prefer their salads more lightly dressed than others.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 11 servings Serving Size: 1 cupAmount Per Serving: Calories: 158Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 73mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 2gSugar: 12gProtein: 3g
Nutrition information should be considered an estimate only, and may vary depending on your choice of ingredients or preparation. No guarantees are made regarding allergies or dietary needs. Always consult a physician or dietician for specific advice and questions.
Hey ladies, I’m looking forward to making this wonderful salad for one ofmy Thanksgiving contributions. I do have a question, however. I honestly have a very bad relationship with mustard. I tend to avoid buying anything that tastes like mustard because I usually can’t enjoy it. Is the mustard flavor in the dressing very strong? do you recommend leaving it out or replacing it with another ingredient for somebody who does not like mustard flavor, or does it tend to blend in very well with the other flavors to the point where you can’t really pick it out?
I’m sorry if I posted this twice, I’m not sure if my other one went through
Hi Victoria! As I just responded to another reader, I really have to apologize to you that I didn’t answer your question sooner! We’d planned a special week-long family getaway (trying to savor every moment before the kids are grown and gone!), so I tried not to be constantly working the whole time. I specifically checked in before Thanksgiving, though, in case there were questions about recipes that people needed help with for the big day, but I didn’t see yours posted at that point. I’m so very sorry! For what it’s worth at this point – I really don’t feel like the mustard is very strong, but it sounds like you’re much more tuned in to that flavor and more likely to notice it, so here’s what I’d recommend: The mustard actually mostly acts as an emulsifier to keep the vinaigrette from separating, so if you’re really worried about the flavor, you could trying leaving it out altogether, just knowing that you may have to whisk the vinaigrette back together or be ok with a bit of separation. Another idea: you could make the dressing and add just a teeeeeeny bit of the mustard, and see if you can taste it at all. If not, maybe add a tiny bit more, etc. – tasting as you go. I hope that maybe this info is helpful for you if you decide to make the salad another time in the future – and again, my apologies that I didn’t get this question answered for you in time to help with Thanksgiving this year. Hope you had a lovely holiday, though! ~Shelley
Is there a breakdown of the nutritional facts somewhere? I’ve already tested this recipe with my friends and it was a huge winning vote to use for my family thanksgiving!! So delicious. But I have family members with heart issues and are very conscientious of their sodium and fat intake and would like to know what the nutrition analysis is! Thank you for sharing this recipe 🙂
Hi Chrissy! I’m so thrilled this salad was a hit with your friends! It’s been a regular at our own family holiday celebrations for years now, and it makes me so happy to know that it’s winning my readers high-fives at their special meals, as well! 😀 Really great question about the nutrition analysis – I totally understand your concern, and I have a (sort of lengthy!) answer for you.
Here’s a little explanation of why we have (at least thus far) opted not to include nutrition info (including calorie counts and especially details like sodium) with our recipes – and how you might more accurately calculate your own. We’ve actually debated since the beginning of this blog whether or not we should supply nutrition info (and address it in our FAQ (http://twohealthykitchens.com/about/).
Especially with Gretchen’s (my original business partner’s) master’s degree in nutrition, she could easily have calculated that manually – plus there are loads of online calculators to use. However, for a variety of reasons, we have decided over and over again not to do that. One big reason is that we generally don’t specify exact brands (although on some occasions we need to), so the final nutritional profile of a recipe can vary widely, depending on the purchasing decisions our readers make. In the end, it could almost be a bit misleading to quote nutritional info, if readers make significantly different purchasing choices than we did in testing. Although that problem wouldn’t be a big issue with this specific salad recipe, it could be for a lot of other recipes on our site. For example, the final nutritional profile of our most popular recipe ever – our very simple 3-Ingredient Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos – could vary tremendously (particularly, in this case, the sodium) depending on which taco seasoning and which salsa someone purchases.
My best suggestion would be to use your own favorite online nutrition calculator, and plug in the exact brands you use to get the most accurate information. Also – do you subscribe to our newsletter? A while back, we sent out a whole list of different recipe calculators in our newsletter. Too long to publish here (this is already such long answer!), but shoot me an email if you’re interested, and I can send that along for you!
Also … having said all of this … I want you to know that we get questions like this from other readers from time to time, too. As a result, we are always re-evaluating this very good question and exploring how we may be able to offer nutrition information in a way that we can feel good about – a way that’s helpful and not potentially misleading. So stay tuned …
Thanks so much for reaching out to us! I hope this explanation helps you out at least a little, even though it’s not exactly the answer you were looking for.!
Happy, happy Thanksgiving to you, Chrissy! ~Shelley
Brought this to our family Thanksgiving dinner, made exactly as it is written.
Huge hit! Thank you so much!
Hi Katrina! Thank you so very much for taking the time to pop by and leave this lovely feedback! It really means so much to me, and it’s super-helpful for others to see your review, too. I’m just delighted that this Thanksgiving Salad was such a success for you! Mmmmmmm … with those fall pears and the maple-balsamic dressing, it’s just perfect for autumn, and especially as something a little different at Thanksgiving. I need to make this again SOON! Now you’ve got me absolutely craving it! 😉 ~Shelley
It isn’t very often a new salad recipe gets such great reviews from everyone around my table. This recipe is awesome and is officially moving into my “keep” binder. I just used what I had in the fridge, blueberries and an apple instead of cherries and a pear. It was still amazing. Really like the fact the candied pecan recipe is so easy and uses a lot less sugar than most other recipes.
thanks for sharing, looking foward to enjoying this recipe more often.
Thanks so much for the sweet comment, Brenda! 🙂 We’re always so glad to hear our recipes are being enjoyed! I think blueberries and apples sounds like a great substitution — I’ll have to try it sometime. 🙂 And I’m so happy to hear you liked the candied pecans, too — that’s one of my personal favorite recipes! ~Amy
Made it. Loved it! I just used regular pecans and subbed fresh blueberries for the dried fruit since the dressing was sweet to me. The dressing was amazing. Definitely a new staple salad.
Thanks so much, Amber! I’m so happy that you enjoyed this! Fresh blueberries sound like a pretty amazing substitution, too — thanks for sharing!! ~Amy