Arugula Salad with Pomegranate & Pear

The whole family will love this amazing salad! Made with crisp apple and pear slices, crunchy + sweet pomegranate arils, and lots of greens. Paired with a simple dressing, it’s perfect to serve as a Christmas side salad or to compliment your favorite meal!

This salad has a little bit of everything in it – lots of texture, sweet fruit taste, and leafy greens. You will fall in love with the flavors and find that it compliments almost any meal! You’ll need a handful of simple pantry ingredients for the homemade dressing and only a few minutes to throw it together.

Ingredients You’ll Need

First, let’s make sure we have everything we need to make this amazing side dish. This salad is made with just 9 simple ingredients that are available at most grocery stores and will be quick to throw together. 

• Greens: For the base of the salad, I love using arugula, but mixed greens, spinach, or kale would work great as well.  
• Apples: my favorite apples for salads are honey crisp or granny smith apples.
• Pears: I use bartlett pears
• Pomegranate seeds: these sweet seeds add the perfect pop of flavor and color to the salad. 
• Nuts: for the crunchy texture, I used chopped candied pecans. Chopped walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts would work well also. 
• Goat cheese: for tartness! You could also use feta for a more salty flavor.
• Oil: for the salad dressing! I recommend using a good quality olive oil. 
• Champagne vinegar: a good quality vinegar to flavor the salad dressing. 
• Honey: to sweeten the salad dressing! You can also use maple syrup or coconut sugar. 

To Serve This Salad 

Simply whisk all the dressing ingredients together! This salad really makes a statement when it’s spread across a large serving platter like this one. Spread a hefty layer of greens across your platter. Fan out slices of pear and apple and arrange them across the platter in sections. Top with pomegranate arils, goat cheese and candied pecans. Lightly drizzle dressing over top right before serving. Serve remainder of dressing on side for guests to serve themselves.

Tips

• Apples: You can use almost any apple for this salad – I recommend pink lady, honey crisp, or fuji apples. 
• Greens: Use your favorite greens for this salad such as kale, arugula, spinach, or mixed greens. 
• Make dairy-free: If needed you can eliminate the cheese all together or swap for goat cheese.
• Make this salad ahead: If this salad needs to be prepped ahead of time, I recommend storing all the prepped ingredients in separate ziplock bags, then assemble the salad as needed close to the time of serving. You can also make the dressing a day or two in advance, if you’d like.

What to Pair it With

This salad goes perfectly with just about any meal. We also love serving this for a holiday meal, it’s always a crowd-pleaser and is full of delicious flavor.

Extra Tips for Success

• Make dairy-free: If needed you can eliminate the cheese all together.
• Add protein: you can pair this salad with chicken or turkey breast as a protein or for plant-based try lentils or chickpeas.

Believe me, this salad tastes as good as it looks. All of the flavors come together to create a beautiful and delicious salad. The dressing whisks together in no time and is the perfect finishing touch. It’s easy to make and pretty to serve. It will brighten up your holiday table, and liven up a regular weeknight dinner. Your friends and family will love it!

If you tried this Arugula Salad with Pomegranate & Pear recipe or any other recipe, don’t forget to rate it and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you! You can also follow me on INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, FACEBOOK YOUTUBE and TWITTER for more crave-worthy content.

Print

SHOP THE POST

This post contains affiliate links. I may make a small commission if you purchase.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE