Apple Pear Pomegranate Salad
This colorful fall pomegranate salad will brighten your holiday table, bursting with fresh pomegranate, apples, red and green pears, toasted pecans, and a bright and flavorful homemade pomegranate dressing. It’s a perfect weeknight dinner salad as well to pair with chicken, seafood, or pork.
Servings 6 side salads
Calories
Ingredients
- 5 ounces O Organics half & half blend mixed lettuce
- 1/2 cup whole pecans toasted
- arils from 1 pomegranate
- 2 oz Primo Taglio Garlic & Herb Goat Cheese
- 1 apple sliced
- 1 red pear sliced
- 1 green Bartlett pear sliced
- 1/2 cup red onion thinly sliced
Pomegranate Dressing
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons 100% pure pomegranate juice or 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses see notes
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Toast the pecans in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat for about 7-8 minutes, stirring frequently until the pecans are crisp and aromatic. remove from the heat and allow to cool before adding to the salad.
- Layer the salad greens on a large platter and top with the thinly sliced red onion and the pomegranate arils.
- Fan out of pears and apples on the salad in small groups for a pretty presentation.
- Use a paring knife to cut chunks of goat cheese off the log and place them throughout the salad
- Top with the toasted pecans.
- How to Make Pomegranate Dressing
- For the dressing - you can either use 100% pure pomegranate juice in the dressing or for a more intense pomegranate flavor, you can make and use pomegranate molasses in the dressing. The way the recipe is written, it uses 3 tablespoons of juice, but as I was testing the recipe using molasses, I liked the molasses flavor just as well, so I'll include that in the notes.
- In a mason jar, combine the olive oil, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, grated ginger, granulated onion powder, salt, and pepper. Whisk or place the lid on the jar and shake vigorously until combined.
Notes
If you want to have a more intense pomegranate flavor in the dressing, use pomegranate molasses.
To make pomegranate molasses, take 2 cups of pomegranate juice and gently heat it in a small pot over medium heat. Do not bring to a rolling boil. After 25 minutes or so, the juice will reduce by more than half, leaving you with thicker pomegranate that can be used as a glaze or to make a dressing. Add 1 tablespoon of honey to the reduced juice to make pomegranate molasses.
If using pomegranate molasses in the dressing, I suggest 1.5 tablespoons of the molasses instead of the 3 tablespoons of pomegranate juice.