This mixed green salad with fruit and nuts is full of flavor and so healthy, too. It's a garden of flavors that we love served with a delicious pomegranate vinaigrette. It's the perfect summer salad with berries! Yum!
I love salad, but it can get so boring. I mean, how many times can you eat the same lettuce-based salad and dressing over and over? The answer is a lot, and it gets boring.
That's why I love this easy mixed greens salad. It's loaded with various greens, berries, apples, pears, nuts, dried fruit, and more.
I love it served up with my homemade pomegranate vinaigrette but it works with others too. You can't beat this easy to make and fresh tasting salad.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- All you need are a few simple ingredients and there's lots of room for versatility!
- Packed with fresh fruit and nuts, it's as healthy as it is delicious.
- It's never boring and makes a delicious addition to meals.
- A salad even the kids will love!
Ingredients
This salad has a complex flavor profile, but it only uses simple ingredients you can easily find at your local store. See the recipe card at the end of the post for exact amounts of each ingredient.
- Greens: I love making this mixed greens salad with baby arugula and baby spinach. The baby greens are more tender which works well with the fruit in the salad.
- Fruit: We're using blueberries, fresh pear, and apple.
- Goat cheese: This salty flavored, yet creamy cheese is perfect for salads with fruit.
- Grape or cherry tomatoes: For a bit of color and their juicy and slightly acidic flavor works well with the fruit.
- Nuts: The best nuts for salad are pecans, almonds, or walnuts but you can use your favorite.
- Dried fruit: We love using dried figs or dried cranberries but you can definitely explore using other fruits.
- Pomegranate seeds: With natural sweet and tart flavors and a little bit of crunch add a nice punch to the salad.
- Pomegranate vinaigrette: Perfectly sweet and tangy, you are going to love this homemade pomegranate vinaigrette recipe.
Substitutions and Variations
- Goat Cheese: Bleu (blue) cheese, feta cheese or bocconcini (mozzarella balls or pearls) cheese work great!
- Blueberries: Try this salad with any summer berries such as strawberries, blackberries, grapes, gooseberries or raspberries.
- Baby Greens: You can also use baby kale or swiss chard. If "baby" versions are not available to you use regular fresh spinach, kale, arugala, swiss chard, or any combination. Just be sure to chop them into smaller pieces and remove the hard spine on the leaves.
- Add More Fruits and Veggies: Avocado, mandarin oranges, grapes, orange segments, or grapefruit taste beautifully in this salad.
- Want More Crunch? Add some croutons.
- Add Cooked, Crumbled Bacon: It makes everything taste better, so why not add it to this salad?
- Add Hard Boiled Eggs: Chopped or sliced, they make a tasty addition and some added protein.
- Swap the dressing: You can opt for a storebought pomegranate vinaigrette or try something completely different. We love this chardonnay vinaigrette and lemon mustard vinaigrette too!
If you love recipes like this, you may also enjoy this strawberry spinach salad.
How to Make Mixed Greens with Berry Salad
Like any salad, this is a super easy recipe to make. It only takes one step!
- Layer the greens first in the bottom of a large salad bowl and add the remaining ingredients on top.
- Drizzle with pomegranate vinaigrette.
- Toss everything together and serve it up!
Storage
Refrigerator: Store the greens in the refrigerator for up to a week. Don't combine them with any other ingredients until just before serving.
Make Ahead: You can mix the greens together and store them until ready to make the salad.
How to Serve Salads with Fruit
This delicious salad is perfect when topped with a delicious pomegranate vinaigrette.
It's perfect to serve in the summer when berries are in season! And makes a great side for cookouts and BBQs.
Turn this mixed greens and berry salad into a main dish by adding some sliced grilled chicken or shredded rotisserie chicken.
This salad also makes the perfect side for main courses like:
Tips
- Store your mixed greens separately form the other ingredients, and only make the salad right before you're ready to serve it.
- Slice the apple and pears thinly for easier eating.
- Soak the apples and pears in a bit of lemon water after slicing so they don't turn brown so quickly.
FAQ
Yes! They generally contain more nutrient-dense greens like spinach, arugula, and kale.
In general, yes. They're made with olive oil, a healthy fat and in most cases they're far healthier than creamy dressings.
It sure can, especially if you add protein like lean chicken, beef, or pork or eggs to it.
More Easy Salad Recipes
Here some more salad recipes you may also like to try.
Ready to get cooking? Remember that you can print this recipe if you would like.
Mixed Green Salad with Fruit and Nuts
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups baby arugula handful
- 1 ½ cups baby spinach handful
- 15 blueberries
- 2 tblsp goat or feta or bleu cheese
- ½ pear sliced
- 6 grape tomatoes
- ½ apple sliced
- 10 pecans almonds or walnuts
- 6 figs or dried cranberries
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
- 1 recipe pomegranate vinaigrette
Instructions
- Place the baby spinach and arugula in a large salad bowl. Cover and refrigerate until serving.
- Scatter on sliced apple, berries, pear, tomatoes, cheese, nuts, dried fruit and seeds right before serving. Add dressing and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published June 2016. It has been republished with new content and images.
Leave a Reply