Spinach Apple Salad with Cheddar & Cranberries — The flavors just POP in this fast, easy, and healthy spinach salad! There are so many wonderful textures and flavors in every bite you can’t help but like it!
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Easy Spinach Apple Salad Recipe
There are so many wonderful textures and flavors in every bite of this spinach apple salad, you can’t help but like it. It’s filling, satisfying, and healthy.
Hearty spinach, crisp juicy apples, salty cheese, chewy orange-flavored dried cranberries, and Fisher Natural Sliced Almonds for extra crunch.
I made a simple shake-it-together vinaigrette that’s tangy-yet-sweet from the apple cider vinegar, honey, and mustard. It coats each and every bite perfectly. Dressings can make or break salads and this one is a keeper.
Honestly though, this is the food I crave day in, day out. I loved this healthy spinach salad and so did my family.
If this salad looks like a good to you, also check out its cousin, which is made with chicken. Namely, this Apple, White Cheddar, & Grilled Chicken Salad.
Spinach Apple Salad Ingredients
To make this spinach and apple side salad, you’ll need:
- Spinach
- Apple
- Grated white cheddar cheese
- Orange-flavored cranberries
- Fisher Natural Sliced Almonds
- Olive oil
- Honey
- Apple cider vinegar
- Mustard
- Salt and pepper
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Spinach Apple Salad
This easy spinach side salad with apples couldn’t be quicker to prepare! Here are the basic recipe steps:
- Prep the salad ingredients and add to a large bowl.
- Add the dressing ingredients to a small container with a lid and shake vigorously to combine.
- Taste the vinaigrette and tweak as necessary to taste before pouring it over the spinach apple salad.
How Many Servings Does This Recipe Make?
This recipe serves two generously or four more modestly.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! You can shake up the dressing and store it in the fridge for up to 1 week. If the oil hardens somewhat in the fridge, let the dressing sit on your counter for 15 minutes before shaking it up and drizzling over your salads.
Of course! I love eating this as an apple spinach salad, but kale, lettuce, or another leafy green will also work.
You’re welcome to use any variety of apple you’d like in this spinach apple salad. Just be sure to slice it very thinly so it’s easy to eat.
I found the orange-flavored cranberries at Trader Joe’s. If you can’t find them at your local grocery store, feel free to use regular dried cranberries.
If you wind up with extra spinach salad dressing, it’ll keep airtight in the fridge for a week.
Other Dressings to Pair with Spinach and Apple Salad
I love the apple cider vinaigrette in this fall spinach salad, but you can toss the salad with pretty much any dressing you like. Try one of these homemade salad dressings instead of the apple cider vinaigrette:
- Strawberry Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- Cranberry Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- Mediterranean Vinaigrette
- Homemade Chimichurri Sauce
- Balsamic Reduction and Glaze
- Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
What to Serve with Spinach Apple Salad
Pair this apple spinach salad with grilled chicken for a more filling main course salad, or serve it as a simple side salad with one of the following entrees:
- Maple Glazed Pork Chops
- Stuffed Acorn Squash
- Apple Cider Chicken
- Loaded Zuppa Toscana Soup
- Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin
- Sheet Pan Sausage and Potatoes
- Chicken Pot Pie Soup
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Apple, White Cheddar, and Spinach Salad with Honey-Apple Cider Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Salad
- about 6 cups fresh spinach
- 1 large apple, cored and sliced very thin (try Envy, Gala, Fuji, or similar)
- 1 cup grated aged white cheddar
- ½ cup dried orange-flavored cranberries, I use Trader Joe’s; plain dried cranberries may be substituted
- ½ cup Fisher Natural Sliced Almonds
Honey-Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons mustard, I like either dijon or honey mustard
- ¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
For the Salad:
- To a large bowl or platter, add all ingredients in the order listed; set aside.
For the Vinaigrette:
- In a small glass jar or container with a lid, add all ingredients, put the lid on and shake vigorously until combined; taste vinaigrette and tweak as necessary to taste.
- Drizzle over salad, toss to combine, and serve immediately.
Notes
- If you don’t use all the vinaigrette, extra will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Side Salads:
Apple, White Cheddar, & Grilled Chicken Salad — All the flavors just POP in this fast, easy, and healthy salad!! The Honey-Apple Cider Vinaigrette doubles as marinade + salad dressing to save time!!
Spinach Blueberry Superfoods Salad — This Whole Foods Copycat salad is incredibly flexible based on what you have on hand and enjoy. There are so many wonderful textures and flavors in every bite of this hearty salad filled with superfoods!
Spinach and Artichoke Quinoa Salad – All the flavors of classic spinach and artichoke dip are in this HEALTHY salad!! The only thing that’s missing is tons of fat and calories! FAST, EASY, naturally gluten-free, vegetarian, and tastes DELISH!!
Kale Caesar Salad with Fried Chickpeas — This isn’t a traditional Caesar salad and that’s what I love about it. I used kale rather than romaine and fried chickpeas instead of croutons!
Kale Strawberry Avocado Salad — Make a kale lover out of anyone with this kale strawberry salad! It’s topped with creamy avocado, juicy berries, and homemade strawberry vinaigrette!
Twelve Superfoods Salad — This superfood salad is packed with 12 superfoods! This is a great clean out the fridge meal and is easily customized to suit whatever you need to use up.
Strawberry Chicken Salad — The grilled chicken is so JUICY and moist thanks to a homemade pecan butter marinade!! Sweet strawberries and crunchy pecans add extra texture and FLAVOR!!
Post is brought to you by Fisher. The recipe, images, text, and opinions expressed are my own. #thinkfisher
Originally posted February 2, 2015 and reposted September 9, 2020 with updated text.
We really liked this. I did add a little extra apple cider vinegar to the dressing to make it a little less sweet. Very easy and good!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Francine, and I’m glad you really enjoyed this – and yes with dressings and sauces, always tweak to your personal preferences like you did.
Lovely salad. My family loved it, my 6 year old was smitten, he gobbled it up.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad the whole family loved this salad!
Wow this salad is so good! I made it on the weekend with some pork chops and potato wedges. My husband also enjoyed it and I have added this recipe to my favourites.
Wow this salad is so good! I made it on the weekend with some pork chops and potato wedges. My husband also enjoyed it and I have added this recipe to my favourites.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it turned out so well and you added it to your favorites!
This salad is AMAZING and it’s easy too. I made the vinaigrette in the morning and let it sit in the fridge until I was ready for it. Just make sure you shake it up again before using it. This salad is best served right after adding those apples because you don’t want them to brown. Also, it’s best eaten the day of. Once you dress that salad with the vinaigrette, it doesn’t make for good leftovers because the spinach will become wilted. This really wasn’t a big problem for me. You could easily make single servings of this salad and just dress individual bowls. I served the almonds on the side to be added to individual servings because we have someone with a nut allergy. With or without the nuts it’s fabulous! I used the suggested Envy apple and it was just perfect. I just cut my apple up into bite sized pieces for ease of eating. Don’t skimp on the cheese. You will want that aged white cheddar because it really goes so well with the apple and dried cranberries. I couldn’t find orange flavored dried cranberries, so I used craisins and it worked out perfectly. Beautiful fall/winter salad I plan on making often!
This salad is AMAZING and it’s easy too. I made the vinaigrette in the morning and let it sit in the fridge until I was ready for it. Just make sure you shake it up again before using it. This salad is best served right after adding those apples because you don’t want them to brown. Also, it’s best eaten the day of. Once you dress that salad with the vinaigrette, it doesn’t make for good leftovers because the spinach will become wilted. This really wasn’t a big problem for me. You could easily make single servings of this salad and just dress individual bowls. I served the almonds on the side to be added to individual servings because we have someone with a nut allergy. With or without the nuts it’s fabulous! I used the suggested Envy apple and it was just perfect. I just cut my apple up into bite sized pieces for ease of eating. Don’t skimp on the cheese. You will want that aged white cheddar because it really goes so well with the apple and dried cranberries. I couldn’t find orange flavored dried cranberries, so I used craisins and it worked out perfectly. Beautiful fall/winter salad I plan on making often!