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!).
Fall Harvest Salad
This delicious salad is loaded with seasonal ingredients, gluten free, healthy, and can easily be dairy free! The almond butter apple dijon dressing is creamy and a perfect addition to the salad.
Ingredients
- 10 cups mixed greens lettuce
- 1 cup sweet potato, diced into small cubes
- 1 cup red beets, diced into small cubes (or you can use pre-cooked packaged beets like LoveBeets and cut into cubes)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 gala apple, sliced or chopped into cubes
- 1 ripe pear, sliced or chopped into cubes
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- ¼ cup crumbled feta or dairy-free feta
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
Almond Apple Dijon Dressing
- ¼ cup almond butter
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons grainy Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons raw honey
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tablespoons pure apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Spray a baking pan with cooking spray, and toss the sweet potato and beets with salt to season.
- Roast for 20 minutes or until just browned.
- Set beets and sweet potatoes aside to cool completely (you can also roast them the day before to save time!)
- In a large serving bowl add mixed greens and layer with the apple, pear, cooked beets and sweet potatoes, pumpkin seeds, pecans, cranberries, and crumbled feta or dairy-free cheese.
- Using a hand blender (I used my KitchenAid 2-Speed Hand Blender) add the dressing ingredients to a bowl (or the container that comes with the hand blender) and blend the dressing for 1 minute until completely emulsified (alternatively you can add ingredients to a jar and shake vigorously until all ingredients are blended and the dressing is emulsified).
- Warm the dressing in a saucepan, or keep at room temperature, or chill, then drizzle over salad just before serving!
- Enjoy!
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What are your favorite fall salad ingredients?
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Have a wonderful Saturday,
