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!
Table of Contents
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.
Love the vinaigrette!
I’m making this salad tonight! Just replacing the almonds with sunflower seeds. Should be yummy!
Tried this salad yesterday. My family – not cranberries lovers. Well, they are now. Food presented in the right way can make wonders.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it made cranberry lovers out of those who thought they ‘didn’t like cranberries’! Love stories like this!
Yep, most were fairly flat. It did seem to be too much butter and there wasn’t enough chocolate (but after 10 minutes of creaming butter/sugar/egg with a hand mixer I wasn’t thinking I wanted to mix anything else in). I’ve made the compost and the blueberries and cream before…with the same results. I do like the crumbly bits in them tho’ (yeah, i cheated on the graham cracker pie crumbs and broke up a Kebbler crust). I really like some of the ideas so I guess I’m going to work on making the parts I like work in practice. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your stuff!!
Sorry to hear yours were flat-ish (but it’s common with her recipes I’ve found and not surprising, as frustrating as it is!). She had great ideas for add-ins, crumbly bits, unique textures and flavors, it’s just a matter of working those things into a dough base that holds up better, IMO :)
Make it today! Yum!! Ok, used glazed walnuts because I used the last of the pecans to make spiced nuts.
p.s. I’m cheating on you with Christina Tosi and making cornflake, marshmallow and chocolate chip cookies. lol
I’ve made those! https://www.averiecooks.com/2012/05/cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow-cookies-milk-bar-mondays.html Okay I will say (sorry but just being honest here) her cookies don’t turn out super well for me or most any home-bakers when I do google searches and talk shop with other bloggers/bakers. I swear her recipes are written for commercial scale, and scaling them down and with at-home-equipment, I never get thick and puffy cookies. Her cookies ALWAYS come out thin for me. Too much butter for the amount of everything else and they spread, my .02 anyway. I would personally use this dough base https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/02/the-best-soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies.html, scale the flour back a little, add some cornflakes and marshmallows, and call it a day. Please LMK how things turn out if you make her cookies following her recipe!
And the salad…the glazed walnuts sound heavenly! I actually wanted to use spiced/glazed nuts for this recipe but ran out of time and just used them as-is. Your salad was probably amazing!
So, learned something new today. Those cranberries my husband “hates” somehow are perfectly awesome on salad. Go figure. Made it for myself thinking he wouldn’t want any since it has all the elements of nothing he likes. But I think I am one step closer to incorporating non-ranch salad in my life. Can I get an AMEN!
That is awesome he liked the cranberries, even though he previously ‘hated’ them. Yeah, kids (and men) can be soooo fickle about what they think they don’t like, when it’s presented in a new way! Love it when this happens!
Can you substitute Guyere or Swiss cheese for the aged white cheddar?
Of course – use most any cheese you have on hand!
I made this salad for my wife, and couldn’t explain how much she loved it. Thanks for the recipe, Averie :)
Well that’s wonderful – thanks for sharing that story!
Averie I have to say your photos are gorgeous. I always have the hardest time photographing salads but yours looks fantastic!
Thanks for sharing that! I have a hard time with MOST salads actually. This one wasn’t too terrible but usually I am left taking wayyyyy tooooo many photos…of lettuce. As I think to myself, this really shouldn’t be that hard :)
I love the combination of moisty apple, sweet cranberries and salty cheese and crunchy almonds. I usually use toasted pines and fresh pomegranade in my salads, but this also looks really tasty! Thanks for a great recipe!
/F
https://globalspicedblog.tumblr.com/
This salad looks so refreshing and good. I just want to start eating from my screen. I love love love this recipe.
Delicious salad—–I love all the components.
ok this combo SOUNDS good so i’m sure it would taste even better, delish. i love your savory recipes just as much as your sweet ones, Avery. pinning and trying this one too. thanks!
Thanks for pinning and saying that about my savory recipes!
i am so glad you said white cheddar rather than gouda or blue cheese. I am just not a huge fan of blue cheese and I swear its on every salad I see on blogs! This looks great
Funny I have people in my family who are not blue cheese fans and while I like it, I’ve been conditioned over the years to not buy it often and so I never even think to use it for blog recipes :) So you’re safe here!
What a gorgeous photograph of a salad! I love salads and eat them almost every day. I have a pear-cranberry vinegar in my cabinet that’s looking for a salad to dress. Do you think I could substitute this vinegar for the apple cider variety? :)
Plain vinegar is harsher than ACV so you may need to play around with the seasonings and such to get it to taste the way you enjoy.
This looks delicious! I love creative salads like this!