Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad
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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
- 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.
- 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.
- Oil– Olive oil works really well here and adds some healthy fat!
Here’s How to Make It
- 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
- Chopped Autumn Salad
- Apple Pecan Bacon Salad
- Chicken Bacon & Avocado Salad
- Broccoli Apple Salad with Poppyseed Dressing
- Cranberry Almond Salad with Sesame Dressing
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad
Ingredients
- 6 cups salad , (I used a combination of arugula and baby spinach, any spring green mix will do)
- 1 red apple
- 1 green apple
- 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped, (such as Diamond of California)
- 4-6 bacon strips, cooked and chopped (optional)
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
Dressing
- 1 cup apple juice
- 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, (or white vinegar in a pinch)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup oil
Candied Walnuts (optional)
- 1 cup walnut halves
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- 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.
- Whisk together all dressing ingredients or combine in a jar and shake vigorously. Toss with salad immediately before serving. Enjoy!
Candied Walnuts
- Line a baking sheet with greased parchment or a nonstick baking mat. In a medium nonstick pan over medium heat, melt butter and sugar.
- 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
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Yum! My mom makes a salad similar to this, so I knew I would like it. It turned out delicious. I followed the recipe exactly and used canola oil in the dressing.
Just a heads up – the dressing recipe makes way too much for the amount of salad. I was in a rush making dinner and just dumped all of the dressing on the salad, and it sat in a big puddle at the bottom of the bowl. Some of the ingredients are a little more expensive than I would typically spend for a week night dinner, so I’ll save this for special occasions. Thanks!
Made this for a lunch at work to go with a Turkey & Cranberry Sandwich. It was delicious! Hands down the best salad of this kind I have ever tasted. The only thing I did alter was I only used half the dressing. Even had a couple people ask for the recipe, so I sent them here. 🙂 Yum I’ll be making this again before the week is out no doubt.
Yay! Isn’t this salad the best?? I never get tired of it and neither does my family – so glad you enjoyed it Jennifer!! 🙂
it sounds delicious and beautiful and i will make it.
In the apple walnut salad if you use poppyseed dressing, how much do you use?
It’s totally up to you Lynn! I like a lot of dressing, I think I usually use about 1/2 cup. You can always add more if you need so maybe start with 1/3 cup and go from there!
I really cannot imagine a meal without salad. The first thing I look for is acid, for a refreshing taste. at the same time, I like to make it a little sweeter, just for balance. Also, I like some fruit to go with the veggies, because I think fruit serve as a bridge between the lemon juice or vinegar and the veggies. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.
I’m so glad you photographed this gorgeous salad, Tiffany!, it’s perfection for fall! I’m sure all these girls are now in love with salad.
I really liked this salad; I attempted the dressing but something seemed off about it as I was making it and I didn’t end up enjoying it. The flavors are good, but there is way too much apple juice… I feel like a couple table spoons would be sufficient. There’s nothing to emulsify it. Usually if I encounter a recipe like that I add a little bit of dijon mustard to pull it all together, but I didn’t have any. I liked how the apply flavor complemented the salad but overall it was not a dressing I’d make again. All of your salads look so appetizing, and it’s fun to be able to choose one that will go with the main I’m making. Thanks for sharing.
Hey – amazing recipe and site, buuuuuut you seem to have ads with noise enabled, but not visible anywhere!! One of the most annoying things on any blog is not being able to turn the sound off on ads…
Hi Rose! Gah, I am SO sorry for that obnoxious audio – I am looking into it right this minute and will try to get it fixed as quickly as possible! Thanks for your patience and support! 🙂
Thanks for sharing this yummy apple cranberry walnut. I’m sure my teenagers will love this if i’ll give it a try at home.
YUM! this looks so pretty and delicious! I love how fresh it is! 😉