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This Apple Pecan Salad is made with crisp sweet apples, grapes, fresh spring lettuce greens and spinach, crunchy toasted pecans and a flavorful mustard vinaigrette. Adding chicken makes it a perfect main dish salad.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
Copycat Recipe: This Apple Pecan salad is a copycat recipe of my daughters favorite salad from Cubby’s, a restaurant in Provo Utah. It’s the one she orders everytime!
Amazing flavor, texture and color: This salad is loaded with crispy green apples, red grapes, crunchy candied pecans, and topped with a delicious homemade mustard vinaigrette.
It is a great side salad, but I love to add some grilled chicken to it and make it a meal.
Ingredients Needed
- Spring Greens
- Baby Spinach
- Cooked chicken. A great way to use leftover chicken.
- Green Apples. My favorite is Granny Smith
- Red Grapes
- Candied Pecans
- Cheddar Cheese, grated
- Olive oil and vegetable oil
- White Vinegar
- Honey
- Dijon Mustard
- Minced Garlic
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Salt
How to Make Apple Pecan Salad
- Dice cooked chicken and green apples into bite size pieces.
- Slice grapes in half.
- Grate cheddar cheese.
- Combine oil, vinegar, honey, mustard, and seasoning in a small bowl or jar and stir to combine.
- Put salad ingredients in a bowl, dress with homemade mustard vinaigrette, and toss to coat.
Tips from leigh Anne
- This salad is perfect for leftover chicken, but if you want to grill some specifically for this salad, I like to marinate it in olive oil, salt and lemon juice for an hour before grilling. You can also cook the chicken in the microwave or in the slow cooker.
- If you haven’t made candied pecans before, check out my candied pecans recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can apple pecan salad be made ahead of time?
Parts of the salad can be prepared ahead of time. I recommend waiting to assemble and add vinaigrette until right before serving.
Things to do ahead of time:
Make the vinaigrette and keep refrigerated.
Sugar the pecans using the instructions here. Keep them stored in an airtight container until ready to use.
Wash greens. Keep stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
Grate the cheese and keep stored in the fridge in an airtight container.
Cook the chicken. Keep it stored in the fridge until ready to use.
Slice the grapes. Keep stored in the fridge.
Can I use a different cheese?
You can use any of your favorite cheeses. This salad would also be good with Feta, Gorgonzola, Goat Cheese, Monterey Jack just to name a few.
Can I substitute in a different dressing?
Of course, use whatever you like. The dressing in the recipe is similar to the one used by the restaurant. It would also be great with this balsamic vinaigrette.
Check out more of my favorite salad recipes:
Be sure and follow me over on You Tube for weekly cooking demos.
Apple Pecan Salad
Ingredients
- 1 green apple Granny Smith apple, diced or sliced
- 1 cup red grapes cut in half
- 1/2 cup sugared pecans
- 1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese grated
- 2 cups chicken diced
- 8 cups spring greens and spinach
Mustard Vinaigrette
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- dash of red pepper flakes
Instructions
Mustard Vinaigrette
- In a small bowl combine all ingredients. Stir until combined
- Chill until ready to serve.
- Assemble salad and top with vinaigrette
Tips & Notes:
- This salad is perfect for leftover chicken, but if you want to grill some specifically for this salad, I like to marinate it in olive oil, salt and lemon juice for an hour before grilling. You can also cook the chicken in the microwave or in the slow cooker.
- If you haven’t made candied pecans before, check out my candied pecans recipe.
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Dawnne says
I love all of your posts. They are great for switching up our dinner rotation.
Kelly says
Pinning this to try! I love the idea of a mustard vinaigrette over this. There is a chain restaurant in the South called O’Charley’s that has a fried chicken salad I used to order as a teen with a honey mustard dressing. Probably about 1200 calories! This sounds like the healthier, grown up (but still tasty) version of that. Thanks!
Leigh Anne says
We have been loving this vinaigrette and putting it on everything!
Susan says
This looks delicious.
Trisha @ Home Sweet Homemade says
I love re-creating foods from restaurants! This looks so delicious!
I love the cheddar cheese… I usually see this type of salad with crumbled blue cheese but cheddar looks like such a nice change!
I can’t wait to try this!
Leigh Anne says
The cheddar is a nice change and I’m not a big blue cheese fan either.
tiffany says
Looks great. I love a salad with a homemade vinaigrette dressing and sugared pecans are pretty good, too! 😉
Leigh Anne says
Thanks Tiffany – it’s a yummy salad!