Apple cranberry spinach salad filled with greens, crisp apples, dried cranberries, walnuts, feta cheese and a delicious honey dijon dressing. This seasonal salad is a favorite!
I love easy salad recipes that are full of flavor! My winter salad, mandarin orange salad and pear salad are other ones I love to serve at holiday gatherings.
Table of Contents
Spinach Apple Salad
When I need an easy and delicious homemade salad recipe when entertaining, this apple cranberry spinach always comes to mind. It’s so tasty and the honey dijon dressing really takes it over the top!
I like to use baby spinach as the base of this spinach salad with cranberries and add in a spring mix, too. Then the spinach salad is topped with sliced apples, dried cranberries, walnuts, feta cheese and a honey dijon dressing. If I’m feeling extra fancy, I’ll throw in some candied pecans, which are a real treat.
Spinach Salad Ingredients
- Fresh baby spinach or spring mix
- Apple
- Cranberries
- Walnuts or pecans
- Feta cheese
- Honey dijon dressing (Extra virgin olive oil, honey, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, S&P) or dressing of choice
Substitutions and Variations
This recipe is super easy to throw together and can be customized based on what you have on hand.
- Nuts: Instead of walnuts, use pecans or even almonds.
- Cheese: No feta cheese on hand? Try using goat cheese instead.
- Fruit: You can even substitute pears and pomegranates for the apples and cranberries if you prefer.
- Other dressings: This balsamic vinaigrette or easy vinaigrette could be used. For an apple cider vinaigrette, swap the red wine vinegar for apple cider vinaigrette .
How to Make a Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad
- Whisk together the honey dijon dressing ingredients in a small bowl, then store in fridge until serving.
- When ready to serve, add spinach to large bowl and then top with remaining spinach salad ingredients.
- Stir the dressing, then drizzle on top of spinach salad. Toss until combined.
The Best Dressing to Use
The homemade honey dijon dressing is what really takes this recipe over the top. I love to use this dressing on so many different salads, like my mandarin orange salad. It is so yummy and only takes a couple minutes to whip up.
All you need for this honey dijon dressing is olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, dijon mustard, salt and pepper. To make things easier, you can toss the ingredients in a mason jar, shake it up and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it. It will keep in the fridge for about a week. Before serving, just make sure to shake up the dressing before drizzling it over your salad.
Quick Tips
- To make a complete meal, add extra protein like shredded chicken, leftover steak with my steak marinade or grilled salmon.
- Add some pasta like I do in my mandarin spinach pasta salad.
- I like to mix in some spring mix to give the salad more depth.
- Feeling extra fancy? Make your own candied pecans to give this salad a boost!
- If prepping ahead of time, add apples and honey dijon dressing right before serving.
- Store the dijon dressing in an airtight container or mason jar for up to 1 week in fridge.
More salad recipes to try include this Waldorf salad recipe, cobb salad or Caesar salad.
More Salad Recipes
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Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad
Ingredients
Honey Dijon Dressing:
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup honey
- 3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Spinach Salad:
- 6 to 8 cups prewashed spinach or spring mix
- 1 large apple , cored and thinly sliced
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup walnuts or pecans
- ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Make dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup honey, 3 Tablespoons vinegar, 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve and stir before serving. The dressing stays good up to one week.
- Assemble salad. When ready to serve, place 6-8 cups spinach in a large bowl. Top with 1 large apple cut into slices, 1/2 cup cranberries, 1/2 cup walnuts and 1/4 cup feta cheese. Drizzle with the dressing and toss until combined. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Fruit Salad, Gluten-Free, Salads, Side Dishes, Vegetarian, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
Will make this again! Received many compliments.
Glad you enjoyed the spinach salad :)
absolutely delicious!
So glad to hear! Thanks for your review Mary!
This spinach salad recipe is one the best I’ve had in a long time. I used a gala apple because it’s what I had (all the Granny Smith’s were just used for the apple pie). I omitted the nuts because of my son’s nut allergy & it wasn’t even missed.
My daughter doesn’t like fruit in her salad, but I saw her eat the apple slices. Very tasty and will be made again & again. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for leaving a comment Misty. :)
Easy and delicious!
Not yet, but when I will next week, I’ll reply for sure.
It looks Amazing & easy to make.
That’s what attracted me about it.
Can you use whole berry cranbysauce if you don’t have cranberries
You could, but I prefer the dried cranberries!
This is such a fabulous salad! So yummy!
Love apples in my salads!
Looks so festive and fabulous! I will definitely have them on our table, love it!
This looks like such a tasty salad! I have spinach in the fridge and some pears that need to be eaten. This dish will be lunch this week! Thanks for the inspiration!
This is such a perfect salad! Love how simple it is!
I can’t wait to try your dressing! This salad looks amazing!
I’m allergic to apples so I made it with pear – it’s awesome!
I also modified the dressing – I served with (equal parts of) olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard and maple syrup – DE LI CIOUS :)))
Thanks for sharing your substitutions! I’ll have to try it with pears next time.:)
I’m craving this salad just looking at the photos, too! It looks so delicious and healthy! (I’d say the same thing even if the nuts were candied :)) I’ve never made a honey dijon dressing before, but I’m definitely going to have to give this salad a try!