Cozy up to this Harvest Salad recipe with it’s delicious Lemon Poppy Seed dressing. You’ll love the flavors of apples, pears, cashews, and Swiss cheese in this hearty salad recipe!
While we love potluck classics like potato salad and macaroni salad, a leafy grean salad can be equally delicious. Try our spinach salad for a delicious side.
Why This Recipe is Best
This Harvest Salad has crunchy, sweet and savory all wrapped into one colorful and healthful salad!
The fruits and vegetables here are the perfect way to welcome autumn and this salad is very versatile for serving alongside your main protein for dinner.
- This recipe has the ultimate salad trifecta of fruit, nuts and cheese all combined!
- The salad can be assembled and the dressing can be made and refrigerated separately if you need to prep this ahead.
- The homemade lemon poppy seed dressing comes together so quickly in a blender and makes the perfect complement to the salad!
Ingredient Notes
- Romaine lettuce – This has a great crunch and holds its texture well, but you could also swap it out for baby spinach or mixed greens.
- Apples – Choose a firm, slightly sweet apple that you love, such as Gala or Fuji. Honey crisp apples would be terrific here as well.
- Cashews – The flavor and slight saltiness of these nuts goes well here, but you could swap them out for another nut if you’d like.
- Swiss cheese – The shredded cheese incorporates well into the salad and complements the other flavors, but you could also try a creamy goat cheese if you prefer.
- Lemon juice – Fresh juice from real lemons is important for the best flavor in this dressing.
Easy Instructions
Make the poppy seed dressing. Process the sugar, lemon juice, onion, mustard and salt in a blender, then add the oil and poppy seeds and blend until creamy. Store in the fridge. When the salad is ready, the dressing will be perfectly chilled.
Assemble the salad. Layer the romaine lettuce with the apples, pears, cashews, cheese and dried cranberries.
Toss with dressing and serve. When ready to serve, drizzle with the lemon poppy seed dressing, mix well and serve.
Tips and Tricks
- Adjust to your liking. This salad is super versatile. Love apples? Add more! Not a fan of cashews? Swap them out. You can play with the recipe and make this your own.
- Make it less sweet. Opt for a more tart apple to cut down on the sweetness a bit. You can also reduce the amount of sugar in the dressing to suit your taste if you want a less sweet dressing.
- Go semi-homemade. The homemade dressing is super quick and easy to make, but we won’t tell if you want to swap in a store-bought salad dressing instead.
Recipe FAQs
This Harvest Salad is vegetarian as is, but you can leave off the cheese to make it vegan.
Yes, you can make the dressing ahead of time and also assemble the salad ingredients. However, it’s best to wait to add the dressing to the salad until you are ready to serve.
This Harvest Salad goes great with grilled chicken, pork, steak or any main protein. It even works well as a side for fish and other seafood. It’s very versatile!
More Savory Side Dishes
- Strawberry Salad Recipe
- Candied Sweet Potatoes
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Hashbrown Casserole
- Coleslaw Recipe
Harvest Salad and Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup lemon juice
- ¼ small yellow onion
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
For the salad:
- 1 large head romaine lettuce torn
- 1 large apple diced
- 1 pear diced
- 4 ounce shredded swiss cheese
- 1 cup lightly salted cashews
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- In a magic bullet or small blender (or food processor), combine the sugar, lemon juice, onion, mustard, and salt. Process until smooth. Add in oil and poppy seeds. Blend until creamy. Refrigerate dressing until ready to serve.
- In a large salad bowl, add torn pieces of fresh Romaine lettuce. Top with apples, pear, cheese, cashews, and dried cranberries.
- When ready to serve, toss with fresh lemon poppy seed dressing and enjoy!
Notes
- Adjust to your liking. This salad is super versatile. Love apples? Add more! Not a fan of cashews? Swap them out. You can play with the recipe and make this your own.
- Make it less sweet. Opt for a more tart apple to cut down on the sweetness a bit. You can also reduce the amount of sugar in the dressing to suit your taste if you want a less sweet dressing.
- Go semi-homemade. The homemade dressing is super quick and easy to make, but we won’t tell if you want to swap in a store-bought salad dressing instead.
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