Chopped Autumn Salad with Apple Cider Dressing

Why This Recipe Works

Perfect for cooler weather — Presenting the fall salad of my dreams: chock-full of apples, pears, BACON, feta cheese, dried cranberries, and a sweet and tangy apple cider dressing, this salad just screams all things fall. 

Apple cider dressing — The apple cider dressing is one of my very favorite homemade salad dressings. It has a sweet-and-tangy flavor and comes together in about two minutes with just five ingredients. Feel free to crank up the amount of black pepper you’re using. Freshly cracked black pepper is definitely my preference but use what you’ve got!

So easy — You’re going to love how quickly and easily this fresh Autumn harvest chopped salad comes together, and how well it pairs with all of your favorite Fall dishes. I’m just gonna say it now, this salad needs to grace your Thanksgiving dinner table.

Healthier — Just because something is called a “salad” doesn’t always mean it’s good for you. But this one is loaded with good-for-you ingredients like fruit, lettuce, cranberries, onion, nuts, and apple cider vinegar. If you’re worried about the bacon you can substitute bacon bits or half the amount you put in your salad. Same for the nuts — you can leave them plain if you prefer to not have the sugary topping on them.

Ingredients

• Romaine lettuce — In my opinion romaine is the best lettuce for this salad because it’s nice and crispy and withstands the dressing (doesn’t get soggy too quick). But you could also use a red or green leaf or a spring mix. 
• Apple — I like to use a red apple like a fuji or gala but you can use whatever apple you like. 
• Pear — I prefer anjou or bartlett. Make sure it’s ripe! 
• Bacon — Pre-cook the bacon till almost crisp and crumble it up so you get bacon in every bite. 
• Red onion — I prefer smaller dices of red onion in this chopped autumn salad.
• Dried cranberries — Any brand, right out of the bag is good. 
• Feta cheese — I love the saltiness of feta cheese but you could also use blue or goat if you prefer. 
• Pecans — I love a pecan in this salad but walnuts work too. Get halves and/or pieces.  
• Brown sugar — Brown sugar is key in coating the nuts in a nice, crispy, sweet topping that gives this salad extra flavor and crunch. 
• Cinnamon — Cinnamon mixes with the brown sugar for the nut topping. 
• Apple juice — Apple juice offsets the bitter and tartness of apple cider vinegar. 
• Apple cider vinegar — However a bit of acidity goes a long way toward giving the dressing the slightest bit of tartness. 
• Olive oil — Olive oil mixes with the juice and vinegar in this dressing. 
• Honey — A bit of honey in the dressing for sweetness. 
• Black pepper — And of course, a little black pepper for bite.

Here’s How You Make It

1. First, combine all the dressing ingredients in a jar, add the lid, and shake it all together. Set it aside on the counter until you’re ready to pour over.
2. Next, mix together the lettuce, apples, pears, bacon, onion, cranberries, and feta cheese in a large salad bowl. 
3. Make the candied nuts by putting the pecans or walnuts to a medium pan on the stove and stirring over medium heat for about 1-2 minutes, or until they are toasted. Add brown sugar and cinnamon mixture over the nuts and continue to stir them all together until the sugar is dissolved and the nuts are coated in the sugar mixture. 
4. Transfer the nuts to a glass plate or a metal serving pan to cool. Once cooled, roughly chop them and add them to the salad.
5. Pour dressing over the salad and toss to combine.

Ideas for Customizing a Fall Salad

If this salad with apple cider dressing feels like it needs a little something different or you need to swap an ingredient, here are some of my favorite ways to customize it.

• Swap the feta for another cheese like goat or blue. 
• No pears? No problem, double up the apples (I like to do one red, one green). 
• Instead of bacon you could use prosciutto or another salty meat. If you don’t want too much bacon you could sprinkle over bacon bits. Or, if you don’t eat pork you could try veggie bacon or turkey bacon instead. 
• Instead of the nuts you could add some other yummy toppings like pomegranate arils, mandarin orange slices, dried figs, or cooked cubes of butternut squash. 
• Other dressings that go great on this chopped autumn salad include store-bought vinaigrette or just add a couple dashes of olive oil and balsamic and mix together for a simple dressing.

Expert Tips + Tricks

• Want to make this salad ahead of time? Then you’ll want to prepare it as written but do not toss with the salad dressing or nuts. Instead, store the salad and dressing in separate airtight containers in the fridge and the nuts in a container on the counter up to 14 hours before serving. Toss with dressing just before serving. 
• This salad may keep up to 1 day in the fridge if dressed. Otherwise, it will start to get soggy. I recommend dressing salads individually if you think you’ll have leftovers, then dressing the salad again a day or two later.