It’s not always easy to stay motivated to eat salads in late fall and winter, when tastes run to warm comfort foods. Try these cool-weather savory salads, in which bursts of sweet flavor from apples, oranges, pears (and even pineapple) make them more tempting.
These salads add plenty of flavor and texture to the fall and winter plate. Serve them with your favorite comfort foods — vegan mac and cheese, potato casseroles, rice dishes, and more.
Salads using mixed baby greens, other tender or hardy greens, cabbages, and nuts are particularly welcoming to the inclusion of fruits.
Savory Salads Using Apples
Arugula and Apple Waldorf-Style Salad: Inspired by the classic American Waldorf salad, this recipe features two kinds of apples along with celery, baby arugula, and walnuts. Grapes are added for extra refreshment.
Mustard Greens Salad with Apples & Pecans (or Walnuts): Full of color and crunch, this salad is especially good in the fall and winter, but you can enjoy it any time you can get your hands on fresh mustard greens (the domestic or Chinese variety). It goes with just about any kind of meal.
Butternut Squash & Kale Salad with Apple & Cranberries: This gorgeous salad has “fall” written all over it, though you can enjoy it all through the winter. It’s a lively composition of seasonal fruits and vegetables. If you like your kale salad with apples, you’re going to love this one!
Bok Choy Salad with Apple and Carrot: Here’s an easy, colorful bok choy salad recipe featuring bursts of sweet apple, carrot, and almonds, all pulled together with sesame-ginger dressing. There’s something about a bok choy salad that feels very clean and refreshing.
Fruity Red Cabbage Slaw: When your dinner plate could use some color and crunch, this fruit-filled slaw is a pleasing option. Granny Smith apples are fantastic in this recipe, but use any crisp apple you have on hand.
Crunchy, Colorful Cabbage Apple Slaw: This colorful and subtly sweet and tangy slaw has an appealing crunch. Featuring crisp apples, red and/or green cabbage, and a lemony dressing, this easy salad goes with many kinds of meals.
Savory Salads Featuring Oranges
Bok Choy and Daikon Salad with Green & Oranges: Featuring tender greens, sprouts, and tiny oranges makes a lively accompaniment to stir-fries and noodle dishes. It goes beautifully with many types of dishes, not just Asian-style specialties, and is a fantastic late winter-to-spring salad.
Orange and Watercress Salad with Bok Choy or Belgian Endive: This festive salad has a lively citrus flavor provided by fresh oranges and their juice. Choose between bok choy or Belgian endive.
Watercress Salad with Oranges and Cucumber: Embellished with oranges, cucumber, and sprouts, this watercress salad is a lovely way to highlight this delectable, vitamin-packed leafy green.
Jícama and Fennel Salad with Oranges and Herbs: A tasty cool-weather dish using two classic fall vegetables, this salad gets a lovely citrus lilt from fresh oranges and lime dressing.
Orange and Pomegranate Salad with Toasted Walnuts: If you’re a fan pomegranate seeds, you’ll love this simple orange and pomegranate salad. Embellished with lots of toasted and walnut seeds and greens (arugula, spinach, or mixed baby greens), it’s all pulled together with a citrusy dressing.
Citrus-Flavored Spinach and Millet Salad: Fresh oranges plus their juice and zest pep up this lively millet salad. Cherry tomatoes, red onion, and sprouts make it as festive to the eye as it is to the palate.
Savory Salads that Include Pears
Mixed Greens and Pear Salad with Maple-Glazed Pecans: Pears and pecans provide bursts of flavor and texture for fall and winter meals. With the vivid color and subtle bite of radicchio, it’s festive enough for special occasions, and easy enough for everyday fare.
Watercress and Radicchio Salad with Beets, Pear & Avocado: The colorful selection of fresh produce in this salad needs little embellishment to offer a heaping portion of refreshment. The mellow flavors, beets, avocado, and pear (or apple) are a nice contrast with the bracing greens.
Savory Salads Using Pineapple
Thai Pineapple Salad with Peanut Dressing: Inspired by the house salads served in North American Thai restaurants, this salad with is the perfect side dish or first course to serve with Asian-style noodle, rice, or tofu dishes.
Spinach Avocado Salad with Pineapple & Pomegranate: Pretty much all the main ingredients in this simple salad are listed right in the title! Fresh lime juice and extra virgin olive oil are enough to pull the flavors together.
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