Total Time: 10 minutes
Published: December 1, 2022
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This Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad features crisp apples, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and hearty walnuts to create the perfect Autumn-inspired salad. It is an easy and delicious side dish for any of your favorite meals!
Looking for more fresh salads? Try my Simple Tossed Green Salad, Olive Garden Salad Copycat, and Apple Pecan and Bacon Salad.
Why This Recipe Works
Fresh & Flavorful: This apple cranberry walnut salad is the perfect fresh addition to any holiday meal! Let’s be honest, the holidays bring a lot of food that isn’t exactly healthy for us. So this salad is great to pair with all of those heavy meals as a way to brighten them up and add some vegetables. The apple salad dressing is bright and tangy, and pairs perfectly with the ingredients in this salad!
Easy to Make: Very little prep work goes into this beautiful apple salad recipe. Cut up the apples to your liking, mix up the dressing and then just toss everything together! Something I really appreciate when making a meal is an easy side salad that tastes delicious and doesn’t take a long time to prepare!
Homemade Vinaigrette: The homemade apple vinaigrette in this recipe really makes it special. Anytime I make a salad these days, I make my own dressing because they are usually easy to make with pantry essentials. Also, I like to know what is going into my dressing instead of having the bottled stuff! The dressing on this apple cranberry walnut salad is tangy with a hint of sweetness. You can also squeeze a slice of lemon on the top for added freshness!
Ingredients
For the Salad
- Salad- I used a combination of arugula and baby spinach, but any spring green mix will do here!
- Red and Green Apple– I like to use both a red and green apple. You can use your favorite apples for this recipe!
- Walnuts– Roughly chopped walnuts are great to get a little bite of walnut instead of a whole walnut!
- Feta Cheese– Feta cheese crumbles add a savory flavor to the salad. You can replace this with any of your favorite cheese.
- Dried Cranberries– Dried cranberries are great for flavor and texture in this salad.
For the Dressing
- Apple Juice- To continue with the autumn-inspired theme, an apple based dressing pairs super well.
- Apple Cider Vinegar– A bit of apple cider vinegar adds a tangy flavor to the dressing. You can use white vinegar in a pinch, but keep in mind that apple cider vinegar has a more apple-like flavor that will pair well here.
- Honey– A little bit of honey adds sweetness and balances the tangy flavor of the apple and vinegar.
- Salt & Black Pepper– Season with a bit of salt & pepper!
- Oil– Olive oil works really well here and adds some healthy fat!
Here’s How to Make It
Step by Step Instructions
- Core and chop apples to your liking. I like them in this slices or in 1 inch chunks. Toss the lettuce, apples, walnuts, feta, bacon, and cranberries together in a large bowl.
- Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients. Toss with the salad immediately before serving, and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- This salad is also delicious with my Lemon Poppyseed Dressing and I highly recommend giving it a try! However, if you don’t want to make homemade dressing then use a Balsamic vinaigrette.
- You can make this salad your own by switching out ingredients as you like. The apples make this salad autumn-inspired, but you can switch out the walnuts for pecans, or cranberries for any other dried fruit!
- If you aren’t crazy about feta cheese, you can add mozzarella, cheddar, or even goats cheese if you prefer!
- Toss the salad you plan to eat with the dressing, then you can store the leftover salad and dressing separately in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can eat is over a couple of days this way! If you toss all of the salad with the dressing and have leftovers, you can still store it in the fridge but not for more than one day.
More Salad Recipe to Try
Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad
This Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad features crisp apples, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and hearty walnuts to create the perfect Autumn-inspired salad. It is an easy and delicious side dish for any of your favorite meals!
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
Candied Walnuts (optional)
Instructions
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Core and chop apples (thin slices or 1 inch chunks). Toss lettuce, apples, walnuts, feta, bacon (if using) and cranberries together in a large bowl.
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Whisk together all dressing ingredients or combine in a jar and shake vigorously. Toss with salad immediately before serving. Enjoy!
Candied Walnuts
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Line a baking sheet with greased parchment or a nonstick baking mat. In a medium nonstick pan over medium heat, melt butter and sugar.
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Once butter is melted, stir in the walnuts, salt, and cinnamon. Continue to stir til walnuts are well coated. Remove from heat and immediately spread walnuts out in a single layer on prepared baking sheet. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes.
Notes
Walnuts: candying the walnuts is completely optional! Feel free to add them in raw, toasted, or even swap them out for another nut like pecans.
*This recipe and the photos have been updated to include candied walnuts and bacon (both completely optional).
Nutrition
Calories: 460 kcal, Carbohydrates: 32 g, Protein: 9 g, Fat: 36 g, Saturated Fat: 4 g, Trans Fat: 1 g, Cholesterol: 4 mg, Sodium: 283 mg, Potassium: 364 mg, Fiber: 5 g, Sugar: 22 g, Vitamin A: 496 IU, Vitamin C: 13 mg, Calcium: 53 mg, Iron: 2 mg
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