Fall Harvest Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Fall harvest salad with apple cider vinaigrette is packed with fall fruits and veggies! This easy main dish salad takes about 20 minutes to put together and makes a quick weeknight dinner.

This fall harvest salad is the perfect weeknight dinner for the transition from summer to fall! It’s light enough that it won’t feel heavy on those warmer fall nights, and it’s full of delicious fall flavors.

The salad only takes about 20 minutes to put together, which makes it a perfect dinner for busy weeknights. The recipe is also very flexible, and there are several variation ideas below.

The salad can be served as a lighter main dish with warm no-knead bread (or cranberry no-knead bread for even more fall flavor) or dinner rolls on the side. Or serve the salad with roast chicken or rotisserie chicken for a more substantial main dish.

What you’ll need to make fall harvest salad

• Pecans: The toasted pecans give the salad flavor and crunch.
• Brussels sprouts: The sliced Brussels sprouts add crunch to the salad.
• Spring mix
• Apples: For the best results, use a good eating apple, like Honeycrisp.
• Dried cranberries
• Pomegranate seeds: The pomegranate seeds add flavor and color to the salad. If you can’t find pomegranates, feel free to omit the seeds.
• Feta: Or a similar crumbled cheese.
• Apple juice: Or use a good-quality apple cider.
• Apple cider vinegar
• Maple syrup: Honey will also work.
• Dijon mustard
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Olive oil

How to make fall harvest salad

Step 1: To toast the pecans, preheat oven to 350 F.

Step 2: Spread the pecans out in an even layer on a small rimmed baking sheet.

Step 3: Toast for about 7-10 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly golden brown. Set aside.

Step 4: Add the brussels sprouts to a food processor with a slicing attachment and slice the brussels sprouts until broken up into thin pieces. You’ll have about 8 cups of sliced brussels sprouts.

Step 5: Mix the brussels sprouts with the spring mix and add to a large serving bowl or platter.

Step 6: Top the lettuce mixture with sliced apples, dried cranberries, pomegranate seeds, toasted pecans, and feta.

Step 7: To make the apple vinaigrette, whisk together apple juice, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl or glass measuring cup.

Step 8: Slowly stream in the olive oil as you continue to mix until thick and well incorporated.

Step 9: Serve vinaigrette drizzled over the top of the salad.

Tips

• Toasting the pecans: Here you can find more tips for toasting pecans, including how to toast the pecans on the stove.
• Apples: I like to use two different types of apple in the salad. Using different types of apples gives you more flavor and color.
• Dressing the salad: The recipe as written makes about 1 cup of salad dressing. Slowly add dressing to your salad until it is dressed to your liking. You may have some left over. If so, store the extra dressing in an airtight container in your refrigerator up to 1 week.
• Cutting the Brussels sprouts: You can also use a knife or mandolin to thinly slice the Brussels sprouts. I prefer the food processor when working with a large amount.
• Apple juice: I like to use apple juice or cider with little to no added sugar, so I can adjust the sweetness of the dressing to my own taste, using the maple syrup. If you can’t find no sugar added juice, you may choose to omit the maple syrup.

Variations

The salad is very flexible and can easily be changed up depending on your tastes and what you have on hand. Here are some suggestions:

• Walnuts or candied walnuts work well in this salad.
• This salad can also be made with romaine lettuce or an herb salad blend.
• Feel free to substitute sliced pears for part of all of the apples.
• Blue cheese or gorgonzola cheese could be used in place of the feta.
• To make the salad more of a meal, serve it with leftover roast chicken or add chilled and chopped rotisserie chicken.

Storage

The salad is best eaten when freshly made. Store the leftover salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The salad will keep for about 2-3 days when properly stored in the fridge.

More fall recipes!

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