Pear Salad

This crisp and colorful pear salad is often called an Irish Flag Salad because of its colors, which echo the orange, green and white of the Irish flag. It features two kinds of fruit, which give it a wonderful sweetness, feta cheese for texture and tang, and of course the fresh greens that any great salad needs.

Keeping on theme, this is a fun one to serve alongside the corned beef and potatoes you’re sure to enjoy on St. Patrick’s Day, but this easy-to-make salad would be just as welcome any day of the year. It comes together in just a few minutes and uses a from-scratch dressing that will taste great on other salads too.

Pear Salad Ingredients

Jonathan Melendez for Taste of Home

• Baby spinach: You’ll need about 6 ounces of baby spinach for this recipe, and make sure it’s good and fresh. You can store spinach in a slightly dampened cloth bag in the fridge to help maintain its freshness.
• Pears: Use two medium-sized pears, and thinly slice them shortly before you’ll prepare the salad so they don’t start to turn brown.
• Oranges: This salad uses two peeled and sectioned oranges, and be careful to remove any seeds if they’re present.
• Feta cheese: About 2 tablespoons of well-crumbled feta cheese are all it takes to add the tang and texture to this pear salad.
• Pistachios: The chopped pistachios lend a bit of crunch to the salad, along with their great taste.

Dressing:

• Canola oil: If you prefer to use a different oil than canola, you can use any neutral oil, like avocado or grapeseed oil.
• Orange juice: Freshly squeezed orange juice is ideal for this dressing, but regular orange juice is just fine too.
• Lemon juice: Same deal with the fresh-squeezed lemon juice: Fresh is best, but a store-bought lemon juice works if that’s what you have.
• Honey: Honey adds sweetness and helps out with the consistency of the dressing.
• Orange zest: Grate the zest off the oranges before you peel them to make producing the zest as easy as possible.

Directions

Step 1: Plate the ingredients

Jonathan Melendez for Taste of Home

Divide the spinach evenly among four plates, then top the greens with even portions of the sliced pears, diced oranges, cheese and pistachios.

Step 2: Add the dressing

Jonathan Melendez for Taste of Home

In a small bowl, whisk together the canola oil, orange juice, lemon juice, honey, orange zest and salt, then drizzle it over the salads. Serve the salads immediately.

Jonathan Melendez for Taste of Home

Pear Salad Variations

• Try a different dressing: If you prefer, you can use a store-bought dressing, or you can simply use balsamic vinegar and oil, that classic salad dressing duo.
• Use pecans instead: If you don’t like or don’t have pistachios, you can use chopped pecans or chopped walnuts instead.
• Swap the feta for blue cheese: If you want to take the tangy factor up a notch or two, use a fine blue cheese instead of the feta.
• Try it with kale: You can use sliced kale instead of baby spinach for a salad that has a bit more crunch and still tastes great.

How to Store Pear Salad

This salad is really best served fresh. Once the pears are sliced, they’re on the clock, as it were, and once the salad is dressed it needs to be on the table within a few minutes.

Pear Salad Tips

Jonathan Melendez for Taste of Home