This pear salad recipe is mixed greens with fresh sliced pears, pomegranate seeds, blue cheese and candied pecans, all tossed in a homemade balsamic dressing. A fresh and colorful salad option that pairs perfectly with chicken, fish and pork.
You can never go wrong with a flavorful salad to accompany any meal, some of my favorites include kale salad, arugula salad, and this sweet and savory pear salad.
When the colder weather months roll around, I stock up on fresh pears. They come in all different colors, shapes and textures, and are totally delicious! This pear salad is one of my favorite salad recipes. It has the perfect blend of flavors.
It goes perfectly hearty dinner entrees like crockpot meatloaf, turkey soup and blackened chicken. I also love to make this salad for Thanksgiving. Try this salad and you will understand why it is one of my best fall recipes!
Table of Contents
Pear Salad Ingredients
To make this delicious pear salad you will need greens, pears, pomegranate arils, blue cheese and candied pecans. For the dressing make sure you have olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, salt and black pepper. See the recipe card below for amounts and details.
- Pears: Pears are the star of this salad so you want nice ripe pears that are not mushy. Look for pears that are just a little soft near the stem, that have a nice pear smell and that don’t have dark spots or bruises. You can use practically any kind of pear you like for this salad. I often use Anjou pears, Bartlett pears, Comice pears and Bosc pears.
- Blue Cheese: Get a nice blue cheese that crumbles well and doesn’t have too much moisture.
- Candied Pecans: You can purchase candied pecans or make your own candied pecans. I roughly chop them for this salad.
- Greens: I often use a packaged spring mix. You could also use other types of lettuce like iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce or butter lettuce. Simply chop your lettuce into bite sized pieces.
How Do You Make Pear Salad?
This pear salad starts by placing in a large bowl thinly sliced pears, lettuce leaves, blue cheese crumbles, chopped candied pecans and pomegranate seeds. In a separate small bowl, make a homemade balsamic dressing by whisking together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Pour the balsamic vinaigrette over the salad, then toss to combine. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Tips For The Perfect Salad
- I like to buy a wedge of high quality blue cheese and crumble it myself. Pre-crumbled blue cheese often contains anti-caking agents and stabilizers, and doesn’t taste as fresh.
- This salad is best served immediately, as the cut pears will brown if they sit out too long. You can toss your pear slices in lemon juice to slow down the browning process.
- The balsamic dressing can be made up to 3 days in advance. Just store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it, then shake well and pour over the salad.
- When I’m looking to save on prep time, I buy a container of pomegranate seeds at the grocery store instead of removing the seeds from a whole pomegranate.
- No pomegranate seeds on hand? Substitute dried cranberries or dried cherries instead.
- You can also make your salad dressing by placing the ingredients in a sealed jar and shaking the jar.
Quick Tip
Use multiple colors of pears for a fancier presentation.
Recipe FAQs
You can use pretty much any type of pear you like in a salad. Some of my favorites include Anjou, Bosc, Bartlett and Comice varieties. The important thing is to choose pears that are ripe, but still firm. You can gently squeeze the pear, it should have a bit of give if it’s firm. Avoid soft pears, as they can get mushy in the salad.
Pears in salads are enhanced by dressings with vinegar, mild cheeses and candied or regular nuts. The goal is to balance the sweetness of the pears with bright acidic flavors and rich nutty or cheesy flavors.
The goal for cutting pears for salad is to have long, thin pear slices. To do this you need to cut each pear in half lengthwise. Remove the stem and cut out the bottom center of the pear from both halves. Next scoop out the core from both halves. Finally, lay the halved pears flat on the cut side and slice the pears vertically. It is optional to peel the pears as a first step. I prefer pears with the skin on because they provide color to the salad and stay intact better than peeled pears.
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Pear Salad Variations
This pear salad is delicious as-is, but you can switch up the ingredients to feature other great flavors.
- Nuts: Try almonds, walnuts, candied walnuts or pine nuts instead of pecans.
- Cheese: Feel free to use crumbled goat cheese, feta cheese, gorgonzola cheese, cheddar cheese or shaved Parmesan cheese instead of blue cheese.
- Other Flavors: You can add other ingredients to the salad such as sliced apples, dried apricots, shaved fennel or even bacon. You could add a little minced garlic to the salad dressing.
- Sweet: For a sweeter dressing add a tablespoon of maple syrup.
- Protein: Make this salad a meal by adding sliced grilled chicken breast.
Try this salad with fall and winter drinks like slow cooker apple cider, a cranberry Moscow mule or a Jack Frost cocktail. While this salad is perfect for the fall, I find myself making it year round. The combination of flavors and textures just can’t be beat!
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Pear Salad Video
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Pear Salad
Ingredients
For the salad
- 6 cups mixed spring greens
- 1 pound pears firm but ripe, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds can substitute dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbled
- 1/2 cup candied pecans chopped
For the dressing
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the mixed greens, pears, pomegranate seeds, blue cheese and pecans in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients until smooth.
- Drizzle the dressing over the pear mixture, gently toss to coat. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Use multiple colors of pears for a fancier presentation.
- I like to buy a wedge of high quality blue cheese and crumble it myself. Pre-crumbled blue cheese often contains anti-caking agents and stabilizers, and doesn’t taste as fresh.
- This salad is best served immediately, as the cut pears will brown if they sit out too long. You can toss your pear slices in lemon juice to slow down the browning process.
This salad was a hit! Thanks for the recipe!
I love a pear salad! This one was delicious. Great flavors and textures, and the dressing was lovely and simple.
What a fabulous combination of flavors in this salad. The balsamic dressing really brings it all together nicely.
This salad was a hit!! The flavor combination is PERFECT and so is the texture. Thank you for sharing my new favorite pear salad!
This was incredible. I am a sucker for sweet and savory salads and this one hit the spot! Thank you!