Winter Salad

This Winter Salad brings together crisp spinach with juicy apple slices, tangy feta cheese, crunchy pecans, and a light, sweet vinaigrette. The flavors balance each other, creating a satisfying combination of sweet, salty, and fresh. It’s a perfect side salad for a cozy dinner or a refreshing, healthy lunch option! 

Salads aren’t just for summer! I love a fresh green salad any time of year. Making one with seasonal ingredients like apples and pecans makes this salad perfect for the cozy winter months. The apples add a pop of sweetness, while the pecans provide a nutty crunch. The vinaigrette ties everything together with a hint of sweetness. 

Why You’ll Love This Recipe 

• If you’ve ever admired those amazing, colorful salads your friend makes, then you’ll be happy to show off this salad recipe! It has all the elements that make a salad memorable- flavor, texture, and variety!
• This salad is winter in a bowl! Pomegranate and pumpkin seeds bring in the flavors of the season. The red pomegranate seeds combined with the salad greens makes a festive salad for the holiday season, too!
• Salad lovers will love the fresh combination of bright flavors in this delicious salad!
• It only takes about 10 minutes to make this epic winter salad.

Ingredients for Winter Salad

Gather together the following ingredients for your salad:

• Baby spinach
• Apples (I like to use a sliced Honeycrisp apple for this recipe)
• Feta cheese
• Chopped pecans
• Pomegranate seeds or arils
• Pumpkin seeds
• Mint

Vinaigrette Dressing Ingredients

• Avocado oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Honey
• Garlic powder
• Salt and pepper

See the complete ingredient list with amounts and instructions in the recipe card below.

Equipment Needed 

Making a great salad means using the right tools. Here’s what you need to make the perfect winter salad:

• Cutting board 
• Knife 
• Bowl 
• Spoon 
• Measuring spoons and cups

How to Make a Fresh Winter Salad

Making a salad isn’t a recipe as much as a set of simple directions. The key is not to drown your salad in dressing. Start with a little, and you can always add more to taste!

1. Arrange the salad ingredients in your serving dish or large bowl.
2. In a separate small bowl, add the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Mix them with a fork until combined.
3. Drizzle the vinaigrette salad dressing on top of the salad or toss to coat. Enjoy!

Recipe Substitutions and Additions

You can customize this winter salad any way you like! Here are some suggestions:

• For this salad you can use blue cheese, goat cheese, gouda, or shaved parmesan cheese.
• Instead of apples, you can use other fresh fruit like pears or blueberries.
• You can use olive oil in place of avocado oil.
• In place of the pomegranate arils, try using dried cranberries or goji berries.
• Quinoa or brown rice is a great addition to this salad.
• Add grilled chicken, salmon, or chickpeas to add protein when serving this as a dinner salad.
• Any vinaigrette would go great with this salad if you don’t want to make your own dressing.

How Do I Store Leftover Winter Salad?

You can keep the undressed salad in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. One of my favorite ways to meal prep salads is to put individual servings in a mason jar to keep them fresh.

Once you’ve added the dressing it really doesn’t last, so it’s best served fresh!

What goes well with this Winter Salad Recipe?

Try serving this with Crockpot Pot Roast on a cold winter evening. It pairs nicely with chicken, like this Barbecue Chicken or this Air Fryer Whole Chicken.

Or serve this salad with a warm, comforting pasta dish, like Ravioli Lasagna, Sausage Alfredo Rigatoni, or Baked Macaroni and Cheese!

Don’t forget the Homemade Bread!

My Favorite Salad Recipes

If you’re a salad fan like me, you’ll want to try one of these tasty salad recipes next time you make salad:

• Strawberry Spinach Salad brings fresh ingredients and a pop of color to your table! Tossed with poppyseed dressing, this easy summer salad recipe can be served as a side dish or topped with chicken for a light meal. 
• This Couscous Chicken Salad is made with pearl couscous, grilled or cooked chicken, bell pepper, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, spinach, arugula, and feta cheese, tossed with a paprika vinaigrette! It’s an easy and delicious salad to eat warm for dinner, and again the next day cold for lunch.
• This is the perfect classic Chicken Caesar Salad recipe! Crisp romaine leaves are tossed with tangy Caesar dressing, fresh Parmesan, and crunchy croutons for a delicious, refreshing meal idea with slices of boneless skinless chicken breast added.

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