Pear Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Pecans, and Honey-Lemon Dressing is a simple and healthy salad that will pair with any dinner. Easy enough to make on weekdays - presentable enough to serve for a special occasion! Serve it as a side, or add protein to make it a complete meal.
The best and the easiest pear spinach salad
- Simple ingredients and easy recipe instructions. The recipe features only 7 basic ingredients (including spinach, pears, goat cheese, and pecans) and takes 20 minutes! It's simple enough to serve with your weeknight dinner or to make it for lunch and snack. My other easy-to-make favorites are apple spinach salad and mango blueberry spinach salad.
- This is the perfect everyday salad. Drizzled with a simple homemade Honey-Lemon Dressing, this basic salad will add freshness to any weeknight dinner.
- A great salad for special events. Pear spinach salad looks fancy (yet is easy to make!) - a definite crowd-pleaser to share with friends and family for special occasions and to bring to picnics, potlucks, parties, and cookouts.
Salad ingredients
- Pears. I used 2 pears. I did not peel them for presentation purposes. You can peel the pears if that's your preference. I cooked them with olive oil, honey, and lemon juice.
- Spinach is packed with nutrients and antioxidants. It’s high in fiber and a good source of many vitamins and minerals. Spinach is a great source of vitamins A and C, as well as folic acid, iron, and calcium. I used baby spinach. I also recommend using baby spinach + arugula mix.
- Pecans add crunch and texture to any salad. They are packed with fiber and rich in many nutrients, including zinc and Vitamin B1. I like to lightly toast them in the preheated oven at 350 F for about 10 minutes.
- Goat cheese adds creaminess. I used Humboldt Fog goat cheese, but any goat cheese will work.
Homemade Honey-Lemon Dressing
Dress this quick and easy pear spinach salad with a delicious homemade dressing made with just 3 ingredients: honey, olive oil, and lemon juice. Plus juices from cooked pears. I recommend using freshly squeezed lemon juice (not the bottled kind) and extra virgin olive oil. You can use either maple syrup or honey. Combine all dressing ingredients in a mason jar and whisk with the fork for 1 or 2 minutes until combined and emulsified.
How to make it ahead
This easy spinach salad is great for bringing to picnics, potlucks, and barbecue parties and serving to a large crowd. In this case, you can double or triple the salad ingredients, and it might be helpful to prep some ingredients in advance. Here are my tips:
- Toast the pecans in the oven at 350 F for about 10 minutes. Cool them off and keep them in an airtight plastic bag.
- Cook pears up to 24 hours in advance and keep them refrigerated (together with the salad dressing, which is, essentially, juices from the cooked pears + olive oil + lemon juice + honey) in an airtight container!
- The assembly should take 10 minutes before serving for the best results and freshness.
- Tip: don't add the pecans, goat cheese, and salad dressing until right before serving to keep the pear spinach salad fresh and to prevent the nuts from getting soggy.
Make it a meal
- Light meal. Pear spinach salad makes a great lunch, midday snack, or even dinner for when you want to keep things light.
- Add protein, such as grilled, baked, or cooked chicken, steak, shrimp, or salmon, to make it a complete meal! I recommend simple garlic butter shrimp or juicy, pan-seared chicken thighs.
Variations, substitutions, and recipe notes
Not only does this easy pear spinach salad feature really simple and easily accessible ingredients, but it's also an incredibly flexible recipe that you can easily adjust depending on what you have available.
- Greens. Use your favorites: spinach, arugula, mixed greens, garden greens, lettuce, or butter lettuce.
- Nuts. Dress it up with your favorite nuts: pecans, walnuts, cashews, or almonds. If using raw nuts, toast them briefly in the oven to make them crunchy. You can also purchase roasted nuts or use candied nuts.
- Add seeds. Add toasted sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds in addition to or instead of the pecans.
- Add dried fruit. I recommend Craisins (dried cranberries), dried figs, blueberries, or cherries.
- Cheese. I recommend using goat cheese, feta, or gorgonzola.
- Lemon juice in a salad dressing can be replaced with lime juice.
- Honey can be replaced with maple syrup or agave nectar.
Storage Tips
- It's best to serve pear spinach salad right away, so I recommend making just enough so you have no leftovers.
- If you have leftovers, the salad can be refrigerated for 2 days. It's best to refrigerate the salad and the dressing separately.
What to serve with pear spinach salad?
One of the easiest ways to dress it up is by adding pre-cooked shrimp, cooked rotisserie chicken, or even sliced cooked steak strips. Pear spinach salad also pairs great with any grilled meats and seafood. Here are some other ideas:
Other spinach salads you might like
- Strawberry Spinach Salad with Blueberries, Feta, and Pecans
- Spinach Salad with Peaches and Blueberries
- Apple Spinach Salad
- Strawberry Orange Salad with Spinach and Arugula
Pear Spinach Salad
Ingredients
Cooked pears
- 2 large pears cored and sliced lengthwise
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- ¼ cup honey
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salad ingredients
- 5 oz baby spinach
- 1 cup pecan halves toasted, chopped
- 5 oz goat cheese I used Humboldt Fog, you can use any goat cheese
Instructions
Cook pears
- Core the pears and slice each one length-wise. You don't need to peel them.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat.
- Add sliced pears and cook them for about 3 minutes per side or until soft and pliable. Remove from heat.
- Add honey, lemon juice, and another tablespoon of olive oil and stir everything together.
Assembly
- I prefer to arrange the salad in individual bowls for presentation purposes.
- Add baby spinach to each salad bowl.
- Add sliced Humboldt Fog goat cheese on top. If using regular goat cheese, crumble it first, then add it to the salad.
- Top with cooked pears.
- Top with chopped toasted pecans.
- Drizzle the honey-lemon juices from the skillet over the salad.
- Alternatively, you can combine all the salad ingredients (except pecans) in a large serving bowl, including cooked pears and all the juices from the skillet, and toss to combine. Then, top the salad with chopped toasted pecan halves.
Notes
- Toast pecans. If using raw pecans, toast them in the preheated oven at 350 F for about 5 or 10 minutes until slightly darker in color and crunchy. Be careful not to burn the nuts.
- You can use roasted, flavored, or candied pecans. In this case, you don't need to toast them.
Nutrition
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.
Hello Julia,
This recipe sounds fantastic and I'm going to make it tommorow. The recipe states "Mustard" in the dressing in the description. Is this just a typo?
Yes, it's a typo; I just corrected it. 🙂 Thank you, John! 🙂
Julie: I imagine that your response would be "any pear," but what type of pear do you use in this recipe? Thanks, David
David, any pear would work. 🙂 The only criterion is to choose firmer pears (not overly ripe) since they will hold up better when cooking.
Is there mustard?
Dawn - no mustard, it's a typo! 🙂