Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad with Pecans, Avocados (and Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing)

This Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad with Pecans, Avocados (and Marzetti® Simply Dressed® Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing) is so good, you might as well double the recipe when you're making it! The recipe is filled with so much flavor, that I'm having a hard time finding the right words to describe it but I will try. 🙂 Let's start with the salad ingredients. They are amazing: fresh produce (spinach), combined with fresh fruit, nuts, and dried cranberries:

Look how pretty the salad looks when all ingredients are mixed together. Just look at all those natural colors. I love to make salads that use the most vibrantly colored fruits and vegetables:

But what really boosts the flavor of this salad and combines all the fresh fruit and the fresh produce together so well is the amazing dressing: Marzetti Simply Dressed Balsamic Vinaigrette. The dressing is so good that my husband, who never eats salads for lunch, ate a whole bowl of it at noon and asked for seconds! Eating a huge amount of salad for lunch is so out-of-the character for my husband that I was shocked.  It is really one of the best tasting store-bought balsamic vinaigrettes that I ever tried!

What I also love about this dressing is that it uses a minimal number of simple ingredients, such as extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, etc. It has no MSG, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial flavors or colors added. I see this dressing as a great way to incorporate more fresh green leafy vegetables, fresh fruit, and other produce into my family's diet. Perfect for a fresh lifestyle!

There is something else that I really appreciate about this dressing. I am currently gluten free. Naturally, first thing I did was to visit the Marzetti Simply Dressed website, and, lo and behold, all of their dressings (except Ginger Sesame) are clearly marked as gluten-free! Few things in life make me happier these days than seeing a clear gluten free label on a product I like! 🙂

Because Marzetti Simply Dressed dressings have no preservatives, they have to be refrigerated, so make sure to look for them in the refrigerated section of grocers’ produce departments. You will definitely find me looking and searching for more flavors of this brand: I really want to try their Champagne Salad Dressing, Pomegranate Salad Dressing, or Strawberry Poppyseed Salad Dressing, to name just a few!

Make sure not to add the dressing to the salad until serving time, otherwise the spinach will wilt quickly. Add the dressing right before you’re ready to serve! Also, drizzle just enough dressing to coat the leaves--don’t pour all of it at once--let your taste buds be your guide and use just enough to coat the salad lightly! Enjoy!

4.67 from 18 votes

Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad with Pecans, Avocados (and Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing)

This Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad with Pecans, Avocados (and Marzetti® Simply Dressed® Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing) is so good, you might as well double the recipe when you're making it! The recipe features fresh produce (spinach), combined with fresh fruit, nuts, and dried cranberries.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save RecipeSaved!

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Servings 6 people

Calories per serving 355 kcal

Author: Julia

Ingredients

• 8 oz baby spinach about 10 cups of torn leaves
• 1 Granny Smith apple sliced
• 1 Gala apple sliced
• 1 avocado sliced
• 1 cup pecans halves
• 2 mandarin oranges whole fresh, peeled; or 1 can of mandarin oranges, drained
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• Marzetti® Simply Dressed® Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Salad Dressing

• ¼ cup mayo
• ⅓ cup Balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons honey or more, to taste

US Customary - Metric

Instructions 

• Chop ¼ cup of pecan halves into smaller bites - set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients except for ¼ cup of chopped pecan halves.
• You can use store-bought creamy balsamic dressing of your choice, or make one from scratch using this recipe.
• Combine all salad dressing ingredients in a mason jar and whisk to emulsify with a fork. Taste, and add more mayo for more creaminess, if desired. Add more honey for more sweetness, if desired.
• Drizzle the salad with the dressing and toss. Sprinkle chopped pecans on top of the salad. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Nutrition Information

Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad with Pecans, Avocados (and Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing)

Amount per Serving

Calories

355

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

24

g

37

%

Saturated Fat

 

3

g

19

%

Trans Fat

 

0.02

g

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

9

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

12

g

Cholesterol

 

4

mg

1

%

Sodium

 

152

mg

7

%

Potassium

 

591

mg

17

%

Carbohydrates

 

36

g

12

%

Fiber

 

7

g

29

%

Sugar

 

26

g

29

%

Protein

 

4

g

8

%

Vitamin A

 

3845

IU

77

%

Vitamin C

 

26

mg

32

%

Calcium

 

77

mg

8

%

Iron

 

2

mg

11

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition Disclaimer:

The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Keyword apple spinach salad, cranberry spinach salad

Tried this recipe?Be sure to leave a comment and provide a Star Rating below - I love your feedback and try to respond to every comment!

Note: This post is sponsored by Marzetti and the product has been provided by them. The opinions and ideas expressed are my own.

How will you use Marzetti Simply Dressed refrigerated salad dressings to make fresh and simple meals for you and your family? Leave a comment below to enter for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card.

Entry Instructions:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 4/1/2015 – 5/31/2015.

Be sure to visit the Marzetti® Simply Dressed® brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

This is a sponsored post. This post is brought to you by Marzetti® Simply Dressed® and BlogHer.