Easy Pear and Walnut Salad Recipe with Orange Dressing

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Sweet pears, crunchy walnuts and dried fruits lightly coated in a tangy mustard orange dressing make this pear and walnut salad a refreshing and colourful dish and the perfect combat to the January Blues it is!

It’s a bittersweet time of year. The Christmas buzz is fading away, happy memories mingling with dark, cold days and the next holiday’s still probably a long way off.

So I thought I’d take an easy salad to mirror the mood.

This pear and walnut salad is the perfect balance of two distinct types of flavour – we mix the naturally tangy, bitter taste of the rocket or lamb’s lettuce with the sweetness of pear and dried dates, cranberries or raisins, topped off with a hint of orange.

Oh, and let’s not forget the added texture and flavour those crushed walnuts bring to the bowl.

It also has a light and wintery taste to it to – perfect for brightening up chilly days or gloomy evenings!

Ingredients

Salad Dressing ingredients

If you’re feeling you’ve slightly overindulged during the holiday period (like most of us, I imagine), this vegetarian salad is a great way to get back to a better eating regime.

Boring salads suck and are a major turn-off, opt for something inviting instead. A dressing can make or break a salad – so how about one made of added balsamic cream, fresh orange juice, extra virgin olive oil and a little dijon mustard mixed together? Sounds (and tastes!) good to me.

You can also use stone ground mustard instead of the dijon if you wouldn’t mind a milder vinaigrette with tiny seed chunks, another citrus like lemon juice to give your pear walnut salad a sweet tang and any flavourful oil of your choice would be a good substitute for the olive oil

Don’t forget some salt and pepper to taste!

Fruits, nuts and greens

The more depth in flavour the ingredients of a salad have, the more exciting and tastier it becomes. That’s why I chose the bitter rocket to perk up the salad, rich-tasting crunchy walnuts to give it more texture, a nice ripe pear to add some sweetness and dried cranberries to give the salad that tart touch.

Make your salad with spinach, watercress or kale if you don’t fancy rocket and raisins or even sundried goji berries instead of those cranberries would still work wonders here. If you want to get creative, swap the sweet juicy pears for some crisp apples instead.

Either way, you should end up with a tasty, refreshing and easy bowl of salad filled with different textures and various flavours!

How many calories are in this pear and walnut salad?

This pear and walnut salad contains right about 372 calories and 6g of protein in each serving.

Here’s a full breakdown of the main nutrients in a portion of this salad:

• kcal 372kcal
• Carbs 34g
• Fat 27g
• Protein 6g

Vegan, healthy and refreshing? Seems like one heck of a deal for a ten-minute meal if you ask me!

Health benefits

If your body is feeling in need of a quick pick me up, then look no further than rocket (often known as rucola or arugula). It’s packed with a wide range of vitamins such as A, K and C, as well as all-important minerals like calcium, magnesium and iron.

Fresh pears are also a bit of a fiber beast – just one small pear contains nearly one-fifth of your fiber needs for the day and most people get nowhere near their recommended amount! Needless to say, having some pears is an easy way to add more fibre to your diet. It also helps against so many things, including heart disease, diabetes and even weight loss.

Yep, I know, it’s awesome.

Just as awesome as walnuts it seems, with a study showing that regular consumption of these flavour-rich and nutrient-dense bad boys leads to a decrease in LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels. And, that’s just one out of the many many health benefits walnuts provide.

With that tangy orange dressing, the arugula, pears and nuts – it’s safe to say this pear salad recipe checks all the boxes for what it takes to make a tasty, refreshing and colourful dish.

How to make the best pear and walnut salad

• For the dressing: Stir your oil, mustard, orange juice and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl with a dash or two of salt and black pepper.
• For the salad: Start off by giving your arugula a good wash and setting it aside before chopping your walnuts and cranberries into smaller bits. Next, dice the pears into teeny tiny bite-sized cubes before throwing all the chopped ingredients into a large bowl.
• Assemble: Pour your tangy balsamic vinaigrette into a salad bowl containing the pear slices, walnuts, cranberries and arugula. Give it a nice toss with a wooden spoon and… and that’s about it!

FAQs for pear and walnut salad

What nut goes best with pears?

Chopped pecans, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts are the nuts that go best with pears. Chop them into tiny bits and use them as a topping for freshly baked pears, as the garnish for some pear pie or tossed into a pear salad.

How do you cut pears for salad?

Pears can be diced into chunks or sliced into flat wedges for salads. I cut the pears into dice in this recipe, but you use sliced pears if you prefer them much thinner.

How can I make them ahead?

You can make this salad ahead by buying your pears ahead of time (so they can ripen a bit) and mixing the ingredients of your dressing and refrigerating the mixture in an airtight container. That should keep well for a day or two but I’d recommend prepping the fresh ingredients right before you have it as salads are best served fresh.

What goes with pear and walnut salad?

Serve this pear and walnut salad as a side dish to some pasta, casserole or lasagna to make your meal more wholesome, an appetizer to an entree or you could skip the main and have it on its own as a light lunch.

More pear recipes

Cinnamon Baked Pears – another pear and walnut favourite!
Breakfast Pear Crisp
Couscous Pear Salad with Goat’s Cheese
Pear Soup
Cottage Cheese Salad

This pear and walnut salad is a beast of a fruit, leafy greens and nut mix and a certified banger for the holidays still to come. Try it out and don’t be scared to add your own unique spin to it. Tell us how it went in the comment section below and have a look at our other salad recipes for more!