Apple Pomegranate Salad

Fresh and tasty, with apples, pomegranate seeds, homemade vinaigrette, and optional blue cheese, this Apple Pomegranate Salad is a perfect winter salad.

Apple Pomegranate Salad

Is there any fruit that says celebrate more than the Pomegranate.  Red, juicy, and almost jewel-like, it looks good sprinkled on… almost anything!

Apples are the other fruit of the season.  Put them together with pomegranate seeds, crisp lettuce and a homemade vinaigrette and you can’t help but feel cheery! 

This salad has the option of adding blue cheese (or any crumbling cheese) for some extra indulgence (and calcium)—or not.  But even without it’s delicious and suitable for vegan or dairy-free diners. 

Apple Pomegranate Salad

Why You’ll Love This!

Flavorful.  With bright, fresh flavors plus a hint of sweet and savory, this salad is a taste delight!

Healthy.  Healthy lettuce, two fruits and optional cheese make this as healthy as it is tasty!

Festive.  Put together crisp greens, bright apples, jewel-like pomegranate seeds and crunchy pecans and you can’t help but feel fun and festive!

Apple Pomegranate Salad

What You’ll Need

Ingredient Notes

  • Shallot.  This adds savory flavor to the dressing.  You can use a comparable amount of chopped onion if needed.
  • Honey or maple syrup.  This adds sweetness and flavor.  With its greater intensity, honey is my first choice.  You can also use a sweetener such as stevia.
  • Orange juice.  This adds flavor and sweetness.
  • White wine vinegar.  This adds tartness and volume.  You can substitute another quality vinegar.
  • Extra virgin olive oil.  This adds volume, richness and flavor.
  • Salt, pepper.  These enhance flavor.
  • Lettuce. My first choice is half spring mix, half arugula, but any lettuce mix should work.
  • Apple.  This adds crunch, flavor, sweetness and color.  You could substitute a red pear,
  • Pomegranate seeds.  These add crunch, flavor, sweetness and color.
  • Pecans halves.  These add flavor and crunch. Ideally use toasted nuts, but if time gets away from you, people probably won’t notice you didn’t toast them (ask me how I know this).
  • Optional crumbled blue cheese.  If you’re not a blue cheese lover, you could use feta or fresh goat cheese–or any cheese that you can crumble. 

Special Tools

  • No special tools required!

Step by Step Directions

In a small bowl combine the dressing ingredients and whisk until emulsified.

whisk vinaigrette

Add vinaigrette gradually to the lettuce and toss gently, until the lettuce is well coated. (You may use more or less to taste). 

toss lettuce with dressing

Top dressed lettuce with cheese (optional), pecans, apple and pomegranate seeds, adding pomegranate seeds last (so they are sure to be visible)

Add toppings

Serve immediately.

How to Serve

This would make a lovely first course salad for a special dinner.  And wouldn’t it be perfect on a brunch or buffet table?

Of course, an Apple Pomegranate Salad can also make a lunch or light supper more special.  Serve with a bowl of tasty soup like Oyster Chowder or Cream of Spinach Soup with Potatoes.

Or add a half sandwich (or full sandwich if you’re especially hungry).  How about making a grilled cheese and cranberry jam sandwich to keep with the holiday spirit!

Apple Pomegranate Salad

Variations and Special Diets

You should be safe making any of the substitutions listed in the ingredients section.  Or for another delicious salad with cheese and fruit, check out my Red-WIne Poached Pear Salad, Kale Sweet Potato Salad or Arugula Pear Salad with Goat Cheese.

Special Diets

Add cheese or not depending on your guest list, preference, and contents of your pantry!   Without it this salad is vegan (as long as you use maple syrup instead of honey) and dairy-free.

And if you’re serving dairy free or vegan guests but still want some cheese, you can serve that on the side.

For sugar free, use some sweetener instead of the honey or maple syrup.

Apple Pomegranate Salad

Leftovers

If you have dressed your salad, you will need to finish it since leftovers will turn damp and limp. 

But if you are worried that you might not eat it all, serve the dressing on the side and let guests dress their own.  Then the leftovers will last a few days, sealed and refrigerated.

Tips and FAQs

You can buy your pomegranate seeds already removed from the pulp but it’s easier to seed a pomegranate than you think.  Just click for instructions on how to deseed a pomegranate–even without special tools.

salad-narrow

More Side Dish Recipes:

Apple Pomegranate Salad

Apple Pomegranate Salad

Fresh and tasty, with apples, pomegranate seeds, homemade vinaigrette, and optional blue cheese, this Apple Pomegranate Salad is a perfect winter salad.
Author: Inger
5 from 5 votes
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Servings 4 -6
Calories 221 kcal

Ingredients
  

Vinaigrette

  • 1 small shallot diced
  • 1 Tablespoon honey or maple syrup or other sweetener
  • 1 Tablespoon orange juice
  • 1 Tablespoons white wine vinegar or other quality vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salad

  • 8 cups lettuce mix I like half spring mix, half arugula
  • 1 apple cored and cut into 1/2" cubes
  • 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds put these on last
  • 1/3 cup pecans halves toasted
  • Optional 1/4 cup 2 ounces crumble blue cheese

Instructions
 

  • In a small bowl combine the dressing ingredients and whisk until emulsified.
  • Add vinaigrette gradually to the lettuce and toss gently, until the lettuce is well coated. (You may use more or less to taste)
  • Top dressed lettuce with cheese (optional), pecans, apple and pomegranate seeds, adding pomegranate seeds last (to they are sure to be visible) Serve immediately.

Notes

Calorie count is without cheese

Nutrition

Calories: 221kcalCarbohydrates: 18gProtein: 2gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gSodium: 307mgPotassium: 271mgFiber: 3gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 4234IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 33mgIron: 1mg
I am not a health professional and nutrition data is calculated programatically. Accuracy may vary with product selection, calculator accuracy, etc. Consult a professional for the best information.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Updated from original, published on Nov 16, 2014

100 thoughts on “Apple Pomegranate Salad

  1. olympic

    Pomegranate fruit is eaten as a sweet or sour and sweet pomegranate is a fruit that has many health benefits. Pomegranate juice contains vitamin C and also contains minerals that are beneficial to the body in high doses.

  2. Deanna Middendorf

    I help with children in need at our church as well as many other places, e.g. the school, the shelter, etc…

  3. Madalyn Haire

    We eat with my family almost daily…since my dad’s stroke & my mom’s health decline they are unable to work so My husband & I buy all the food and share it with my parents & whoever comes over.

    Also for Thanksgiving my family picks up a mentally challenged family and they eat diner with us every year.

  4. Sherri J

    We donate to the salvation army and we shop at Goodwill. There is also a Domestic Violence Shelter that protects women and children and we actively donate to them. I’m trying to teach my children to help others. My teenage daughter donates her free time to helping at our local library and helping with the smaller children activities there.

  5. Kimberly Schotz

    One of the high points of our holiday season is when we bring gifts to our local Marine Office for Toys for Tots.

  6. LynneMarie

    I donate toys to either Toys for Tots or one of the local toy drives at Christmas time. I also donate money to various charities throughout the year.

  7. Elizabeth Newsome

    We donate extra blankets to the animal shelter to help keep the little animals warm in winter!

  8. debbie

    We help support a school in Haiti by monthly donations. We also sponsor local children for Christmas through a non-profit I work for.

  9. Mary Beth Elderton

    I spend an extra $1-$5 per grocery shopping trip to buy something for a donation bag–for example…last trip, I bought a couple of cans of chocolate pudding…I might buy cans of chili or boxes of rice or just-add–water bowls of oatmeal. I might buy feminine products when I see them on sale. When the bag is full, I donate that to my neighborhood food pantry. I don’t miss a dollar or two on my shopping, but it adds up to help out our local pantry as much as I can.

  10. Nancy

    My husband and I volunteer in our community and donate gently used items to charity for resale.

  11. Elizabeth W.

    I’ve purchased many items from the World Vision Gift Catalog & I donate to St Jude’s Childrens Hospital whenever I’m able.

  12. Amanda Baker

    I don’t think I’m a super humanitarian or anything, but I do try to help others. I donate things that I no longer use. I have done a lot of volunteer work in soup kitchens, community centers, and drug rehabs. In the last month I knew a girl that was having twins. She is a single parent and couldn’t afford to get what they needed and thankfully my mother and I were able to pull together to get most of what she needed for the babies. I think that helping others is a wonderful thing!!

  13. andrea v

    We are donating toys for tots, adopting an elderly person and making/taking doggy treats to the animal shelter.

  14. Mary Dailey

    We donate to the Salvation Army and pick an Angel from the tree at the mall for those who are not as fortunate.

  15. Laura H

    I donate clothes to Goodwill and lately I’ve been helping my dad to clean his house and donate dishes and unused items to charity.

  16. Louise

    I just bought chocolate covered pomegranate seeds at Trader Joe’s! I bet they would work with this salad too:)

    Thanks for sharing, Inger…

  17. paige jagan

    I try to give to the food banks when I can..I am mostly there to pick up food though! But we do try to share the love.

  18. Billie Wilson

    We donate to the local food bank. We also donate all of our clothing and toys we no longer have use for.

  19. Pingback: Serving Spoon Set Giveaway - Giveaway Promote

  20. saralynns2

    I try to give back to others through giving them time and a listening ear… our family volunteers in many ways focused on counseling/mentoring.

  21. Lauri

    I also started following Art of Natural Living on Twitter. My twtter user name is Mysterysinc.

    I have just read the benefits of the pomegranate, and while I have never had one before, I think it is about time to start.. The salad looks delicious, but I think I might try it with Feta cheese first.

    Thank you for the chance to win such a nice prize.

  22. Lauri

    I have slowed down in the last few years due to a chronic illness. I am no longer able to drive or stand up for any length of time, so this has limited my charitable donations, however, I can and still do a little.

    While I am not cash rich, I do have & get a lot of “stuff” for a small side business. We sell vintage and antique items in order to supplement our income. My husband has since surpassed me in being the bargain hunter, and we usually end up with more then we can sell. I donate these items straight out, or sell for profit and donate that. I am also a great couponer. I get a lot of items for free and donate them to my local church or I make up a package to give to someone in need. I also do the same with clothing. There are usually a few piles of whatnot lying around the house, ready to be shipped off, to someone at any given time.

    I also do some small things that might not really seem like a big thing, but it can make someones day. I always carry more than one great coupon, (for a free item or perhaps $10.00 off a $25.00 purchase…something significant) to find someone in line that might really need it. You would be surprised at the way a face lights up when something that is unexpected happens. I also leave coupons on shelves with a note that says…”from the coupon fairy. I also intend to donate a lot of new toys for Christmas presens, I have in one of the storage units I just bought.

  23. Sara Sullivan

    My family picks up donations from grocery stores for our local food pantry every Sunday.

  24. Kathy

    Beautiful salad! It looks so beautifully fresh and I love the addition of the apples and pomegranates! Perfect for the holidays!
    I give to several organizations that help homeless and runaway kids. I also give to our local soup kitchen and used to donate my time, as well.

  25. Ivy Sew

    Hi Inger, this Apple Pomegranate Salad is very healthy and nutritious. Great for snacking too. Not forgetting the lovely hand-carved olive wood serving set comes in a hand-sewn African fabric gift bag. They are so unique and classy! Hope you enjoy your week and warmest regards 🙂

  26. grace

    i weeded through my closet and took out everything i didn’t wear at least a few times this past year, then took it all to good will. i felt good about that and have been looking for other things to donate too! lovely salad. 🙂

  27. Kelly

    I try to give every day. It might just be a smile, to someone who looks sad, or lending a hand to someone in need. I am a crocheter, and we donate hats to the cancer department at our local hospital, and donate baby blankets to the hospital to send home with families that don’t have much. My husband plows the driveway of 3 of our neighbors that are older and shouldn’t be out in the cold weather. We are blessed to live in a tiny town, where we know everyone, and we all lean on each other. We try to give, but it comes back tenfold.

  28. Judy Perkins

    I donate to an organization that pairs a needy child with a police officer (“cop and shop”). Each child is taken by a police officer for a meal and shopping trip, where they are given a $150 gift certificate for Target to allow them to shop for Christmas presents for members of their family. Judy

  29. Tammy Catterton

    I donate when I can around the holidays this year I am donating toys for Christmas what ever I can do.

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