Apple Spinach Salad

20-Minute Apple Spinach Salad with homemade maple-lime mustard dressing will make a healthy and refreshing addition to your favorite weeknight dinner! The addition of fruit, nuts, and cheese elevates this simple spinach salad to a new level. Easy enough to make on weekdays - presentable enough to serve for a special occasion! Serve it as a side, or add protein to turn this into a complete meal.

Course Salad

Cuisine American, Mediterranean

Keyword apple spinach salad, simple spinach salad

Prep Time 20

Total Time 20

Servings people

Calories 357kcal

Author Julia

Ingredients

Salad dressing

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 large lime juice freshly squeezed

Salad ingredients

6 oz baby spinach
1 cup pecan halves toasted, some of them chopped finely
½ cup dried cranberries
1 small green apple (Granny Smith), cored and diced
1 small red apple (such as Fuji or Gala), cored and diced
⅓ cup goat cheese crumbled

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make salad dressing

Combine all salad dressing ingredients in a mason jar. Whisk well with a fork, until emulsified. Add more lime juice to taste.

Assembly

I prefer to arrange the salad in individual bowls for presentation purposes.
Add spinach to each individual salad bowl. Chop up half of the nuts. Nestle the remaining salad ingredients on top of the spinach.
Drizzle with the salad dressing.
Alternatively, you can combine all the salad ingredients (except pecans) in a large serving bowl, add the dressing, and toss to combine. Then, top the salad with toasted pecan halves (some of them chopped).

Notes

Note about nuts

If using raw pecans, toast them in the preheated oven at 350 F for about 5 or 10 minutes until a little bit darker in color and crunchy. Be careful not to burn the nuts.
You can also purchase roasted, flavored, or candied pecans. In this case, you don't need to toast them.

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Nutrition