Autumn Chopped Salad features pears, apples, roasted peanuts, and dried cranberries in a filling fall dish bursting with flavor and texture!
Got room for one more fall recipe?
Say hello to the Autumn Chopped Salad, aka a fresh and filling entree-sized salad that’s bursting with seasonal flavors and ingredients!
This gorgeous chopped salad contains all the ingredients that make autumn wonderful, including sweet pears, crisp apples, crunchy roasted peanuts, chewy dried cranberries, and bacon.
I suppose bacon isn’t inherently autumnal but hello, it’s bacon. Do we need an excuse to throw it into a salad?
(The answer is no, we don’t!)
The toppings-to-lettuce ratio in this crunchy salad is off the charts (a MUST for any entree-sized salad), and the combination of sweet and salty flavors, plus crispy and chewy textures is so satisfying.
Plus, I repeat, there’s bacon. You will love this quick and filling salad recipe!
Start by adding chopped romaine lettuce to a large mixing bowl.
Next microwave center-cut bacon until crisp. Here’s my muss/fuss-free way to microwave bacon with perfect results every time:
- Place bacon strips onto a folded paper towel on a microwave-safe plate then cover with another folded paper towel. Microwave for 1 minute then rotate the plate 1/4 turn and microwave for 30 more seconds. Continue rotating and cooking in 30 second increments until the bacon is crisp, 2-3 minutes, then let it cool and chop it up.
While the bacon’s cooling, chop the rest of the salad ingredients, including a fresh pear.
Use whatever variety is your favorite — bartlett, bosch, asian, etc.
Next chop an apple — use whatever you’ve got in the fridge!
Finally add dried cranberries, chopped peanuts, and crumbled feta cheese, plus the chopped bacon.
Time to get dressed!
That is to say, drizzle on your favorite dressing. I love a mixture of store-bought Poppy Seed Dressing thinned out with a little balsamic vinegar. This easy combo tastes delicious with the fresh pears and apples, especially.
Divide the salad between two bowls then devour. A feast for the eyes and stomach! Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 3 slices center-cut bacon
- 1 pear, chopped
- 1 apple, chopped
- 1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/4 cup store-bought Poppy Seed Salad Dressing, or more or less
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar, or more or less
Directions
- Place bacon strips on a folded paper towel on a microwave-safe plate, then cover with another folded paper towel. Microwave for 1 minute then rotate the plate 1/4 turn and microwave for 30 more seconds. Continue rotating and cooking in 30 second increments until the bacon is crisp then let cool and chop.
- Add chopped bacon, romaine lettuce, pear, apple, peanuts, dried cranberries, and feta cheese into a very large bowl, then add salad dressing and balsamic vinegar to taste. Toss to coat then serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
Pretty salad!!
I want one right now!! Yum.
I just found this recipe on Pinterest a few months ago – it looks delcious! Now I have to try it! I love the dollar section at Target too – you never know what you might find! :)
Oh Yum!!! your blog is some serious food porn!!! haha
xo Rach
rachiecakes-rachael.blogspot.com
This salad is being printed out, in Color, as I write. It’s going on the fridge so I can make this all season long. My favorite way to eat this is to make sure I have some of everything on the fork. The flavors and textures together in my mouth as I crunch away…yum! Thanks for another great recipe and all the ideas that go with it.
Hahah I eat all the lettuce first too!! The toppings are totally best when saved for last :)
I will be eating this asap. Nothing is better than a salad with 3 times more toppings than lettuce. But who are we kidding, you had me at bacon. Thanks!
This definately looks like my kind of salad! I love the use of the word Autumnal too! Fall just doesn’t cut it I think. Autumn just sounds so much more…cozy!
Also, that Bryanna’s Poppy Seed dressing is my mothers Favourite, she has it on everything! We can’t really get it in the UK, so my dad imports boxes of the stuff!! She once had to trek half a mile down their lane in the snow, and cart the heavy box back up the hill, because the posman couldn’t make it up their lane! Now that’s a serious love for salad dressing!
omg I love that story! Go Mom!
I got to try this salad and fast now that they are saying there is a shortage of bacon!
Ahh, I know! Relieved I got a package while I still can! ;)
I am waiting for honeycrisp to go on sale too! I’m thinking I need to talk to Hyvee about it.
And I agree on the cooking bacon in the microwave – I never pan fry it.
This looks super tasty. My favorite part of a salad is the last few bites, where a little bit of everything has sort of crumbled at the bottom of the bowl so each bite has a morsel of each individual flavor. But getting the majority of the lettuce out of the way first is a MUST.
My pocketbook reeeeally wishes you hadn’t told me about the autumnal fun at Target…
you haven’t posted any pics of yourself, or anything about the delicious fall brews that are out. are you expecting?!?!?!?
Haha, no I’m not! I just posted about having my first pumpkin beer of the season on Sunday! :) https://iowagirleats.com/2012/09/23/50-fall-recipes/
I stocked up on honeycrisps last week when Fareway had em on sale for $1.99! I was so excited!
This salad is right up my alley! All my favorite things!