This Pear Almond Salad is sweet, fresh and the almonds and pear give it a crunch, plus it’s quick and easy to make. Ready to eat in less than 5 minutes.
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Why you will love this recipe
- Easy Recipe: This fresh crisp Pear Almond Salad comes together in 5 minutes or less, needing only 9 ingredients, which you may already have on hand and it's vegan.
- Enjoy Salads: I love quick and easy to make salads anytime of the year, for my main lunch meal or to easily add before a dinner meal.
- Taste: It has a sweet and savory flavor from the maple syrup and dijon mustard. A crisp crunch from the fresh pear and almonds giving this Pear Almond Salad the perfect crunch.
- Clean up: Extremely easy clean up, a small bowl for mixing dressing, cutting board and knife is all you need to clean than sit back, relax and enjoy your Pear Almond Salad.
For more easy salad recipes, check out my Chickpea Tuna Salad, Tomato Spinach Quinoa Salad, Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad, Spiralized Cucumber Strawberry Noodle Salad, and Cucumber Noodle Blueberry Salad next.
Ingredients
For the full list of ingredients and quantities for this Pear Almond Salad check the recipe card below.
- Nuts: I used almonds and walnuts but you can use any nut that is your favorite.
- Spinach: I like spinach but feel free to use arugula, romaine, ice berg, or a spring mix lettuce if you would like.
- Pear: I love pears in this pear almond salad but you can swap for peaches or apples or blueberries what ever is your favorite.
- Maple Syrup: Sweetens the salad just the right amount.
- Olive Oil: Adds a smooth sauce and fats to this salad.
- Lemon Juice: Gives a nice acid and tang flavor to this pear almond salad.
- Dijon Mustard: You can swap this for spicy brown mustard as well.
Variations
- Switch it up: Not a fan of spinach, switch it up to any greens you like such as, kale, lettuce, romaine lettuce, butterhead lettuce, or arugula.
- Toppings: Change up the chopped almonds and walnuts to any nuts or seeds that are your favorite like pecans, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds. If you love dried fruits, feel free to add any to those to this Pear Almond Salad as well.
How to make this Pear Almond Salad
Prep: First start by washing your lettuce if it is not pre-washed. Next, chop the nuts, and slice or chop the pear. Set aside.
Step 1: Mix the dressing by adding the maple syrup, olive oil, lemon juice and dijon mustard to a small bowl and stir.
Step 2: Assemble, place the spinach in the bowl first and drizzle the dressing on the spinach and mix well.
Step 3: Layer on the thinly sliced pears.
Step 4: Sprinkle on the chopped nuts. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve Immediately, or store in the fridge with the dressing in a separate container for 1-2 days.
Expert Tips
- Serve for Lunch or add to Dinner: This Pear Almond Salad is quick and easy to make is perfect for lunch, but also great added to your dinner meal as a side. Try my Lemon Broccoli Pasta or my Curry Pasta.
- Storing: This Pear Almond Salad is best enjoyed immediately but if you want to store the dressing separate you could put it in the fridge for 1-2 days.
- Vegan: To make sure this Pear Almond Salad is vegan, be sure to check that the Dijon mustard you have is vegan. (Vegan varieties are made with vinegar, some dijon mustards use white wine which sometimes can be filtered in a way that is not vegan).
Recipe FAQs
First wash and dry the pear. You can cut it into chunks, cubes or slices. Hold the pear up right and cut down on one side of the core. This gives you two large pieces with the core, cut both of these ½ pieces of pear in half. This gives you a total of 4 pieces. For each ¼ piece of pear lay it flat and at an angle cut the core out. You can thinly slice for long pieces or you can cut into chunks/cubes.
If serving to guests wait as long as you can before cutting pears.
Enzymatic browning generally starts when the pear is cut. One way to slow this process down is coating the pears with lemon juice and water. Two to three tablespoons of lemon juice and ¼ cup water, dip or mix pears. You can also use orange or pineapple juice in place of lemon.
There's a wide variety of options to name a few, walnuts, cashews and almonds go great with raisins, dates and cranberries similar to a trail mixture. Pecans are very popular in salads and mix well with dried cherries, dried strawberries or other sweet fruits. Walnuts and apples are a good mix.
More Salad Recipes
Pear Almond Salad
Ingredients
- ½ cup nuts (I used almonds and walnuts)
- 3 cups spinach (roughly chopped if desired)
- 1 pear (sliced or chopped)
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard (or spicy brown mustard)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
Instructions
- First start by washing your lettuce if it is not pre-washed.
- Chop the nuts, and slice or chop the pear. Set aside.
- Mix the dressing by adding the maple syrup, olive oil, lemon juice and dijon mustard to a small bowl and stir.
- Assemble, place the spinach in the bowl first and drizzle the dressing on the spinach and mix well.
- Layer on the thinly sliced pear and sprinkle on the chopped nuts. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve Immediately, or store in the fridge with the dressing in a separate container for 1-2 days.
Ceara @ Ceara's Kitchen
This healthy pear salad looks so delicious - I love a bit of sweet fruit in my salad! I would love to eat this for lunch 🙂
tworaspberries
girl it was de-lish! you would love it! happy wednesday!
Linda @ Veganosity
Haha! My little pups don't like the rain but they are troopers and will go outside to do their business. They just squat with their ears back and look at me wondering why I hate them. Poor babies. They get treats when they come inside and a towel rub, which they love. 🙂
This salad looks so healthy and fresh. I don't like a heavy salad dressing either, so this is perfect for me.
tworaspberries
lol so funny! if only they knew we didn't do it on purpose! (the rain) 😉 ... and thanks Linda it was totally YUM with the lemon juice! 😉
Kelly - Life Made Sweeter
Our family dogs when I was growing up didn't like going out in the rain or snow either. We would sometimes have to carry them outside too 🙂
I love adding fruits to salads! This looks delicious! The pears sound fantastic with the almonds in here!
tworaspberries
so funny! 😉 and I totally agree fruit in a salad give a perfect sweet-ness! thanks Kelly 😉
Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice
Oh what a pretty salad, Michele! I love the idea of combining pears and almonds. Sounds delish!
tworaspberries
thanks Gayle! it was super yummy pears+almonds is a great combo! 😉
Mallory
This looks absolutely delicious! Gotta try this one!
tworaspberries
it was super YUM 😉 definitely try it! thanks girl!
mira
This is such a gorgeous salad! Pinning! My dog doesn't like the rain 🙂
tworaspberries
thanks for the pin girl! 😉 hope you had a beautiful day!
Nichole
YUM! I love fresh lemon and over pears..? I can't wait to try this salad! In other news, yes my pups refuse to go out in the rain - they are so super spoiled, lol!
tworaspberries
lemon add so much flavor to things right! 😉 your going to love it! ... and hahaha i know mine are totally spoiled too!
Mir
This is the time of year when I so badly WANT salad. Especially with nuts and fruit. So delicious!
tworaspberries
right! warm weather just makes you crazy cooler foods! 😉 thank Mir 😉
Chelsea @chelseasmessyapron
What a GORGEOUS salad!! I absolutely love pears and almonds and your simple dressing sounds perfect!!
tworaspberries
me too, I love them! 😉 thanks Chelsea!!!
Alex Caspero MA,RD (@delishknowledge)
Gorgeous salad! And yes, as a pear ripens more of the starch converts to sugar- so it tastes more sweet! beautiful looking salad!
tworaspberries
wow! good to know thanks for telling me 😉 and thanks so much Alex 😉
Harriet Emily
Now this is one beautiful salad! I looove pears and almonds, and they work so perfectly together! I will definitely have to make this. Thank you so much for such a great recipe!
tworaspberries
you will love it! so sweet and crunchy! thanks Harriet 😉