This Just Might Be Your New Favorite Fall Harvest Salad

Celebrate the season with this vibrant Fall Harvest Salad, bursting with color, texture, and fresh autumn flavors. It’s dairy-free, gluten-free, and drizzled with a silky homemade Almond Apple Dijon Dressing that ties everything together perfectly.

A Salad Worth Gathering For

There’s something special about creating a big, beautiful salad that feels like the centerpiece of a fall feast. I love pulling out my oversized serving bowl, layering greens and roasted veggies, and watching it transform into a mix of earthy, sweet, and tangy flavors.

This salad actually made its debut at my mom’s 60th birthday party (she’s a Harvest Moon baby!), and I still remember my aunts “ooo-ing” and “ahh-ing” as I brought it to the table. Since then, it’s become my go-to fall crowd-pleaser.

The secret? Combine 5–6 seasonal ingredients with contrasting colors and textures, and top it all off with a homemade dressing that’s full of character. It’s simple, stunning, and always a hit.

Ingredients:

This salad contains a wonderful mixture of seasonal ingredients;

• mixed greens
• roasted sweet potatoes (I usually make these ahead of time)
• chopped beets (using the pre-cooked beets from the store is a big time-saver!)
• crisp apples
• ripe pears
• pumpkin seeds
• chopped pecans
• crumbled feta (I used dairy-free)
• dried cranberries (I completely forgot to put add cranberries when I made this salad for the photos #mombrain, but they are a must)
• fresh dill

This particular combination of fall ingredients creates a tasty mix of flavours and textures; sweet, savory, filling, and nutritious. 

Almond Apple Dijon Dressing

This creamy, tangy, slightly sweet dressing is what makes the salad unforgettable. It’s a blend of smooth almond butter, crisp applesauce, and Dijon mustard – with just enough apple cider vinegar to balance the richness.

You’ll need:

• 2 tbsp almond butter
• 3 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp pure honey (or maple syrup for a vegan option)
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Blend everything until silky smooth. If you want to level up, use an immersion blender – it makes the dressing luxuriously creamy (and yes, you’ll feel like a pro chef while doing it).

Pro tip: Try serving the dressing slightly warm over your salad – it softens the greens just a bit and brings out the cozy autumn flavors.

It’s an incredibly sturdy and sleek immersion blender that has a great soft-grip handle and comes with a dishwasher-safe jar and lid for storing dressings, sauces, and purees. I’m not going to lie…I felt like a legit badass chef with my immersion blender mixing up this almond apple dijon dressing to perfection! 

The KitchenAid 2-Speed Hand Blender can also be used to make healthy homemade baby food, soups, smoothies, and sauces. When I shared about it over on Instagram stories I received tons of messages from others who absolutely love this must-have kitchen tool. 

The delicious almond apple dressing works perfectly with the ingredients in the fall harvest salad and it can even be served warm! If you’ve never had a slightly warmed dressing over salad, fall is definitely the time to try it. 

With this season comes Thanksgiving and there will always be birthdays and other gatherings to attend, so this salad is a perfect option for any occasion (or for no occasion at all…any old day of the week is opportunity enough for this delicious salad!).

Whether it’s Thanksgiving, a birthday, or simply a crisp autumn afternoon, this salad brings the season to your table in the most delicious way.

Save it, share it, or pin it – and tell me in the comments:

What are your favorite fall salad ingredients?

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Have a wonderful Saturday,