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.
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.
Looking for more THANKSGIVING salads?
I have created a comprehensive recipe collection of 30 Thanksgiving salads - this collection exclusively features Thanksgiving salads that highlight Autumnal ingredients, such as apples, roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes, beets, Brussels sprouts, green beans, pecans, cranberries, pears, pomegranates, mandarin oranges, pumpkin seeds, and the list goes on and on! These Fall salads will add freshness, colors, and vibrancy to otherwise heavy and creamy comfort food (stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes) that we often cook for the holidays. These salads would also be perfect for Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Looking for THANKSGIVING SIDE DISHES?
I have created a comprehensive recipe collection of 60 Thanksgiving side dishes conveniently categorized by ingredient: Green Beans, Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, Potatoes, Acorn Squash, Spaghetti Squash, Asparagus, Broccoli, etc. It's a great resource to browse through for a last moment holiday inspiration! This side dishes will also work great for Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Looking for a complete THANKSGIVING MENU?
Be sure to check out my 50 Best Thanksgiving Recipes (The Complete Holiday Menu) - it includes everything: Fall-inspired holiday appetizers, side dishes, salads, main courses, pasta recipes, desserts, and even breakfast. This holiday menu features proven, tried, and true Thanksgiving dishes that have been reader favorites for years (I've been publishing recipes since 2012).