This Fall Harvest Salad combines the best autumn flavors in a salad. Toss spring mix with an easy apple cider vinaigrette dressing, apples, pecans, dried cranberries, and goat cheese. Versatile, customizable, and simple to make!
I love how versatile this fall harvest salad is! I like to pair it with many proteins like grilled or baked chicken (like honey mustard grilled chicken), chicken sausage, salmon (like crispy air fryer salmon), pork tenderloin, or as a side salad for the holidays (like alongside this air fryer turkey breast).
Jump to:
⭐Why I Love It:
- Easy Apple Cider Vinaigrette - This is one of my favorite salad dressings to make! It uses staple ingredients that I always have on hand and is the perfect balance of sweet and acidity.
- Fall Favorite Ingredients - The combination of apples, pecans, dried cranberries, and goat cheese gives this harvest salad the perfect fall flavors.
- Customizable - You can easily swap out the salad ingredients to suit your tastes!
🥘Ingredients Needed:
- Spring Mix - Baby Spinach or Kale is also a great choice!
- Apples - use your favorite! I love using Honeycrisp or Pink Lady. If you have extra apples, try making a simmer pot!
- Pecans - Feel free to use a different nut or seed! I also love walnuts, almonds, and pine nuts. You can also add a sweet spin but using stovetop candied pecans.
- Goat Cheese - Feta is a great substitute! But you can also omit the cheese all together if you want. Also check out these goat cheese stuffed dates.
- Dried Cranberries - I love added dried cranberries to salads like this Apple Broccoli Slaw Or try using dried cranberries in this White Chocolate Fudge.
- Plain or Honey Goat Cheese - you can buy crumbled or buy a log and crumble it yourself.
- Apple Cider Vinaigrette - Olive Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, Honey, Lemon Juice, Dijon Mustard, Salt, Pepper. Instead of the apple cider vinaigrette, this salad is also great with this Maple Balsamic Dressing.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
📖Variations:
- Add Protein - I love adding chopped or shredded chicken or sliced chicken apple sausage.
- Meal Prep in Jars - This salad is great meal prepped in mason jars, check out this chicken apple sausage mason jar salad recipe.
💭Recipe Tips:
- Use a small jar for the dressing - While you can mix up the apple cider vinegar dressing in a bowl, I prefer to use a small jar with a lid to make salad dressings. You just add all of the ingredients and give it a good shake to mix together and emulsify the oil and vinegar.
👩🍳Recipe FAQs:
Leftover vinaigrette will keep in the fridge for about a week. If separation occurs, just shake it up before using. In the fridge it may thicken and slightly solidify due to the olive oil.. Just take it out a few minutes before using so it can come to room temperature. Or if you're in a pinch, run the jar under warm water to speed up the process.
Yes! But a few things to keep in mind. You can mix up the dressing in advance (although you'll need to give another quick mix or shake before serving). But I would hold off on chopping the apples until right before as they will brown. I also wouldn't toss the salad together (especially the dressing) until right before serving. The greens will begin to wilt and get soggy once they are dressed.
When making a salad dressing, you can mix together olive oil and apple cider vinegar. You'll need to mix well with a whisk (or shake in a jar) in order for the two to emulsify and combine into a vinaigrette.
🥗Related Salad Recipes
Like this recipe? Sign up for my e-mail list so you get a weekly e-mail with new recipes from the week as well as occasional ‘bonus’ content not found on the blog! AND receive a copy of my FREE MINI EBOOK! E-mail list sign up!
Those ads on the page? A portion of all ad revenue is being donated to Warrior Dog Rescue. A MN-based dog rescue that I foster and volunteer with.
PrintRecipe
Fall Harvest Salad (Apple Cider Vinaigrette)
This Fall Harvest Salad combines the best autumn flavors in a salad. Toss spring mix with an easy apple cider vinaigrette dressing, apples, pecans, dried cranberries, and goat cheese. Versatile, customizable, and simple to make!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings
- Category: Salad
- Method: By Hand
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
Harvest Salad Ingredients
- 10oz Spring Mix, depending on servings
- 4oz Goat Cheese, crumbled
- ½ cup Dried Cranberries
- ½ cup Pecan Halves, roughly chopped
- 2 medium Apples, chopped or thinly sliced
Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- ⅓ cup Olive Oil
- 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 tablespoon Honey or Maple Syrup
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Mix up the Dressing. Mix up the dressing ingredients and season with a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste. I like to shake everything up in a mason jar, but you could also blend in a small processor/blender, or mix by hand in a bowl.
- Assemble the Salad. When ready to serve, add the lettuce, and other salad ingredients in a large bowl. I like to reserve a little bit of each add-in for sprinkling on top. Toss together with your desired amount of dressing. Depending on the size of your salad, you may not use all the dressing (see note).
- Serve and Enjoy. Serve immediately.
Notes
Apple Cider Vinaigrette - The recipe makes about ⅔ cup dressing. Depending on the size of your salad/your dressing preference, you may not use it all. Leftover dressing keeps in the fridge for about a week. Or, the recipe can be easily halved if you would like less.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ of recipe
- Calories: 461
- Sugar: 28.2 g
- Sodium: 251 mg
- Fat: 34 g
- Carbohydrates: 36.6 g
- Fiber: 5.4 g
- Protein: 7.6 g
- Cholesterol: 13.1 mg
Caitlin says
My husband is allergic to apples, so I swapped the apples for pears and made it with your Maple Balsamic dressing. It was a hit with the Friendsgiving crowd and I can’t wait to make it again with leftover turkey!
Kathleen Hansen says
Love the pear swap!
Stella says
Can avocado oil be used instead of olive?? I made this and it was awesome , but not a super fan of olive oil ... I’d like to serve this along with dinner next week ...
thank you
Kathleen says
Absolutely! You can substitute any oil that you prefer. Glad you liked it!
Becca says
This looks so perfect for fall! I've been trying to incorporate more salads, so I cannot wait to try it!!
Kathleen says
Thank you so much! I hope you love it 🙂