This Pear and Blue Cheese Salad is a delicious little side salad that is a great transition from summer into cooler temperatures–you could serve it at, say, a Labor Day potluck with grilled goodies or you could serve it alongside your favorite roast beef or pork. You could also add strips of grilled chicken to make and serve larger portions as a dinner salad. It’s a versatile recipe to have in your arsenal!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Dressing
- Red wine vinegar
- Granulated sugar
- Course-grain mustard – Such as Creole mustard.
- Fresh garlic
- Kosher salt
- Onion – White onions can sometimes be quite strong. Yellow onion or other sweet variety may be the best choice.
- Olive oil
- Black pepper
Salad
- Romaine lettuce
- Fresh pears
- Avocado
- Granulated sugar
- Chopped pecans
- Blue cheese – Gorgonzola, Roquefort, or anything labeled “Blue Cheese” will work great here.
- Dried cherries – Optional.
How to Make a Pear & Blue Cheese Salad with Candied Pecans
Dressing
- In the jar of your blender, combine some red wine vinegar, granulated sugar, mustard, garlic, kosher salt, and onion. Blend until smooth.
- With the blender running, slowly add the Olive oil in a steady stream until completely blended. Add black pepper to taste and refrigerate until ready to dress your salad.
Salad
- Prep your candied nuts: Toss your chopped pecans in a skillet with some sugar and stir constantly over medium heat until the sugar melts and coats the nuts then spread the nuts out to cool on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Assemble salads: While the nuts are cooling, toss the chopped lettuce, diced pears, and avocado. Add the crumbled blue cheese and candied nuts.
- Dress: Drizzle with desired amount of dressing and toss gently to combine then serve immediately. This will serve about 4-6 as a main dish and 8-10 as a side dish.
Storing and Other Tips
- Assembled salads are best eaten fresh! If you have leftovers or want to plan ahead, store salad components in the refrigerator (except nuts) and build your salads as needed.
- Store your finished dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
- This recipe will serve about 4-6 as a main dish and 8-10 as a side dish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this ahead of time?
Like most salads, this one is best eaten fresh. You can certainly make your dressing a day ahead of time and candy the pecans to help assembly go more smoothly!
I really don’t like blue cheese. Could I use something else?
Feta would be a great substitution here!
Could I use other fruits?
You could absolutely use sliced apples in this salad.
Pear & Blue Cheese Salad with Candied Pecans
Candied walnuts, pears, avocado, and crumbled blue cheese come together in this versatile salad. Great as either a side or as a main dish if served with grilled chicken.
Servings side salads
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 head Romaine lettuce 2 two heads of Romaine hearts
- 3 pears seeded and diced
- 1 avocado pitted and diced
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 4-5 ounces crumbled Roquefort or Gorgonzola cheese
- dried cherries optional
Dressing
- 6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon course-grain mustard such as creole mustard
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup roughly chopped onion
- ⅔ cup olive oil
Instructions
Dressing
- Combine the vinegar, minced onion, sugar, mustard, garlic, and salt in the jar of your blender and blend until smooth. With the blender running, add the olive oil in a steady stream until combined. Season with black pepper to taste and refrigerate.
Salad
- Spray a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In a small non-stick skillet (if possible), stir the nuts and sugar constantly over medium heat until the sugar melts and the nuts are evenly coated in the sugar syrup. Spread the nuts over the prepared sheet of foil or parchment and let them cool completely.
- While the nuts are cooling, toss together the chopped lettuce and diced pears and avocado. Add the crumbled cheese and candied nuts, and dried cherries if using, then drizzle the dressing over the salad as desired and toss gently to combine. If serving as a meal, you can add grilled chicken. Makes 4-6 main dish servings or 8-10 side dish servings.
Notes
- Note: This dressing recipe has been edited from the original version posted due to reader feedback.
- Nutrition information reflects the salad only, without dressing.
- Assembled salads are best eaten fresh! If you have leftovers or want to plan ahead, store salad components in the refrigerator (except nuts) and build your salads as needed.
- Store your finished dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
Nutrition
Calories: 199kcal, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 11mg, Sodium: 165mg, Potassium: 264mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 13g, Vitamin A: 165IU, Vitamin C: 5mg, Calcium: 89mg, Iron: 0.5mg
Calories: 199kcal
Cost: $7
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Questions & Reviews
I LOVE this salad sooooo much! It’s one of those meals where I eat until my stomach hurts from being so full. I just can’t stop because it’s so delicious! For those of you who hate chopping fresh onion unless you absolutely have to (like me) I substituted the fresh onion for dehydrated onion and added 2/3 of Tbsp of water to make up for the lost moisture. If you don’t add the water it won’t be the creamy goodness it’s intended to be 🙂
Oh, I loved this and shockingly had all the ingredients on hand. Always awesome. I substituted onion powder for the onion in the dressing because all I had on hand were yellow onions which I thought would be waaaay too powerful for pears and candied pecans. Still a delicious salad.
I just got done eating this and it was amazing!
So my Mom and I made this for lunch today… thank you very much! This salad is the bomb.com! We added dried tart cherries to it too. (amazing!) A new fave for sure!! Freaking heaven on a plate!