Take a break from your usual salad with this refreshing and flavorful cherry-apple salad. This salad has different textures and crunches with a tangy and bright orange champagne vinaigrette and smooth, creamy goat cheese that will make your mouth happy!
Friday, I went to The Fresh Market and was happy to see huge boxes of cherries from Washington State. I scooped them right up and placed them into the cart. David and I did not realize how much I loved cherries until the last couple of years. They are good for snacking, for breakfast with yogurt, and of course, there is always pie, even easy mini pies. You can also enjoy cherries on Meatless Monday with this salad.
Ingredients to Make This Salad
- Mixed Greens: a variety of mixed greens goes beautifully with the cherries and apples.
- Cherries: Fresh pitted cherries are essential for this salad.
- Apple: cored, large diced. Envy is my favorite. Any crispy apple, such as honey crisp, gala, or fuji.
- Goat Cheese: crumbled. Feta will also work if you can’t find goat cheese.
- Almonds: provide lots of texture and more crunch. Walnuts or pecans are good substitutes.
- Orange Champagne Vinaigrette: the recipe for this follows. You can use any fresh, zippy dressing for this salad.
How To Make Cherry-Apple Salad
Combine all of the vinaigrette ingredients in a small jar with a lid; close and shake well. (If you don’t have a jar, you can whisk the ingredients together in small bowl, drizzling in the olive oil last; whisking vigorously.)
In a medium bowl, toss mixed greens, cherries, apples, goat cheese, and almonds. Drizzle with the orange champagne vinaigrette.
This salad is so full of flavor, I get excited just thinking about it. The cherries and goat cheese are probably one of my favorite combinations. I haven’t tried it, but I am sure it would be good using strawberries instead of cherries, but cherries will win me over every time.
I know you’ll love this cherry-apple salad too.
Cherry-Apple Salad With Orange Champagne Vinaigrette
Ingredients
The Salad
- 1 to 2 cups mixed greens
- 6 to 10 fresh cherries pitted
- ½ apple cored, large dice
- 1 ounce goat cheese crumbled
- 2 tablespoons almonds
- 1-2 tablespoons Orange Champagne Vinaigrette (recipe to follow)
The Orange Champagne Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup champagne vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all of the vinaigrette ingredients in a small jar with a lid; close and shake well. (If you don’t have a jar, you can whisk the ingredients together in small bowl, drizzling in the olive oil last; whisking vigorously.)
- In a medium bowl, toss mixed greens, cherries, apples, goat cheese, and almonds. Drizzle with the orange champagne vinaigrette.
Jenny says
This salad sounds great! I love cherries too, and can’t wait to start finding them at farmers markets and grocery stores! I have had dried cherries in salads, but not fresh ones–I look forward to trying this!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thanks, Jenny. The combination of goat cheese and cherries is amazing, you’ll love it. I do love dried cherries too. I missed out on cherries for a really long time. Now I am making up for it. Have a good week! 🙂
Dana @ IveGotCake says
I’ve never tried making Champagne Vinaigrette with orange juice but now that I see it, it makes like perfect sense!
The Mountain Kitchen says
It’s kinda like shazam! ❤
Ann says
I will definitely try, looks yummy !
CakePants says
What a great combination of flavors – I especially love the sound of orange champagne vinaigrette! We always have lots of cherries in Michigan over the summer, but I’m still waiting for the first of them to hit the stores…I suppose I’ll just have to be patient!
The Mountain Kitchen says
This salad is bursting with flavor. It does seem to take forever for cherries to hit the stores. I suppose that is what make them so special. Thanks for stopping by and taking time to comment. Hope you’ll give this salad a try! ☺