Pomegranate Pear Salad

5 from 2 votes

Our Pomegranate Pear Salad is a showstopper! Sweet pear slices, crisp greens, blue cheese chunks, sugary pecans and bright red, jewel-like pomegranate arils. A lemon Dijon vinaigrette brings it all together.

Prep Time15

Total Time15

Course: Salads

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Pomegranate Pear Salad

Servings: Servings

Author: Pat Nyswonger

Ingredients

6 cups mixed salad greens
1/4 small red onion thinly sliced
2 pears halved, cored and fan-sliced
1 cup pomegranate seeds
4 ounce blue cheese crumbled
1/2 cup candied pecans

For the Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Toss the salad greens and onion slices together in a bowl.
Cut each pear in half and remove the core. Lay one pear half, flesh side down on a cutting board and make cuts from about 1/2-inch from top to the bottom of the pear. Press lightly on the pear to fan it out then slide your knife beneath it and transfer it to the salad greens. Continue with the remaining pear halves.
Spoon the pomegranate arils (also called pips or seeds), blue cheese crumbles and the candied pecans on the salad greens.

For the Vinaigrette:

Combine all the ingredients in a small jelly jar and shake vigorously to combine.
Drizzle the vinaigrette over the top the salad or on individual servings.

Notes

Use any pears of choice, it should be ripe, sweet and ready to eat.
To keep the pears from discoloring juice a lemon in a small bowl of water and dip the pear. Blot with a paper towel before adding to the greens.
The blue cheese is very complimentary to the pears and can be substituted with a variety of cheeses. A soft goat cheese or an aged goat cheese also works well.
The vinaigrette will make about 1 cup but you will only need about 1/3 to 1/2 of it. The unused portion will keep in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks.
The nutritional value does not include the vinaigrette

Nutrition