Crisp apples, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and hearty walnuts come together in a fresh Autumn Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad. An easy side dish for any favorite meal!
You see that gold bowl in the pictures here? It’s new. I flew out the door in a panic the other day when I realized I didn’t have a bowl for the salad I was about to photograph. At least, not one that would fit my vision for this salad. It’s an autumn salad and I had no idea what exactly I was looking for when I rushed into Target at 9:50 am in my fuzzy slipper boots (don’t judge. a gal’s gotta have some comfy go-to shoes) and mop-top hair. But when I saw this bowl it screamed “photograph me, I was practically made for for a fall salad!”
And I agreed. Naturally.
Yesterday though, this big gorgeous autumn salad bowl was sitting on my countertop when a whole bunch of neighborhood girls (girls=teenagers) came over to my house to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. One of them saw the bowl and said, “What’s that?” You should have seen the look on my face. I mean, obviously it’s a bowl…. Which is exactly what I told her. Except I said that it was a salad bowl. Her immediate reaction? “Ewe I hate salad. I don’t like the taste of leaves.”
She was dead serious.
Doesn’t everybody know that these “leaves” are really just a vehicle for getting loads of really delicious flavor combinations into your mouth? Because a bowl full of walnuts, apples, dried cranberries and feta cheese covered in dressing would be nothing short of wonderful, but also somewhat… odd. So we put it on top of some leaves, call it a salad, and dig it.
And as you can see, here I am doing just that…..
What people are saying about this Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad
“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.” – Jennifer
“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.” – Katie
“I really liked this salad… 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.” – Allison
“This was such a delicious fall salad. I made it for my family, and they loved it. I think the best part was the dressing (which also tasted surprisingly very yummy over some plain chicken). I ended up throwing about 2 T of water and a peeled apple into my ninja to make the apple juice for the dressing. Soooo delicious. ” – Katherine
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)
- 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
Instructions
- Core and chop apples (thin slices or 1 inch chunks). Toss lettuce, apples, walnuts, feta, and cranberries together in a large bowl.
- Whisk together all dressing ingredients. Toss with salad immediately before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
**Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled for a larger group.
Nutrition
This is the most DELICIOUS salad combination I’ve ever tried at home. I’m on my second week of eating this for lunch every day after stumbling on this blog! If you up the walnut and cheese content a bit it makes an extremely filling lunch to take to work. I put the mixed greens and feta together in one large bowl, and then the dried cranberries in a smaller container with the walnuts. Then mix everything together with the dressing at lunch time and it keeps me satisfied until dinner time. I tried it with Ken’s Balsamic with Honey and that is delicious as well! I’ve also tried it with raisins as they’re a bit cheaper than dried cranberries, and that’s super yummy also. Thanks so much for this delicious recipe. It’s going in my favorites for sure!
Simple ingredients but overall the dish is superb. I used roasted pecans (15 min at 350F) and the salad turned out fantastic.
Hi, I am making a fall salad like this one for thanksgiving but don’t have any apple juice can i substitute anything for it.
Another fruit juice that compliments the ingredients in the salad might work?
Such a yummy, refreshing salad! I featured it in a blog post of my favorite thanksgiving recipes!
Your apple walnut salad is delicious and i love your new bowl!