Do you know how hard it is to spell the word Vinaigrette? Well I learned that this week while creating this apple cranberry salad and I misspelled it in the video a few times, oops. So if you have been following me for any period of time, salads are one thing you don’t see posted often.
I feel like I have been seriously robbing myself of simple, delicious and nutritious meals by avoiding salads. Using my favorite kitchen tool in the world (The Inspiralizer), this recipe was complete in under 10 minutes with minimal dishes and it tasted phenomenal. I may be a bit more inclined to create some new salad recipes now. Do you have any requests or suggestions? If so, leave me a comment and let us know.
Apple Cranberry Salad with Maple Vinaigrette
So I have a couple of facts/suggestions to share about this apple cranberry salad and the maple vinaigrette dressing that elevates this salad to a whole new level:
- Don’t use the whole red onion or your significant other won’t kiss you for 2 days and you will sweat onion
- The dressing recipe makes a lot of dressing because I like drowning my salad so use it according to your taste buds
- I don’t know how people live without the Inspiralizer. (This is not a paid endorsement, I seriously LOVE that thing)
- If you want to get your kids (Secretly yourself) eating more veggies, turn them all into noodles!
- I have found a renowned Passion for creating Videos and this is my favorite. PLEASE leave me a comment on the video or this post with your feedback. Words of encouragement, recipe requests, tips on future videos, and more are all appreciated!
How to Make Really Good Salads
One thing I have learned about food since going Paleo 6 years ago is that quality makes a huge difference. This includes all ingredients all the way down to the salt and pepper you use.
In my process of teaching myself how to cook, it became obvious that all the best chefs in the world always used simple ingredients. Only salt and pepper on their meats, simple dressings with 3 ingredients and nothing was ever hidden or covered in a sauce to hide crappy flavor like at most restaurants.
What does this have to do with salad? In order to love salad and make it delicious, you have to use quality ingredients both for your health and taste buds. Here are a few of my other recommendations on how to make really good salads which include some products I trust and love.
- Wash and dry the leaves thoroughly. Wet leaves or leaves covered in dirt won’t taste good and the dressing won’t stick.
- Don’t forget to salt your dressing. Food at nice restaurants always taste great because chefs have heavy salt hands. Bonus Tip: use a flavored salt to step the salad up. There is only one salt allowed in our house, it’s Real Salt and only Real Salt.
- Incorporate contrasting textures into your salad to please your palate. This salad uses soft apples, crunch onion and chewy fruit to accomplish this.
- Create balanced flavors by using different profiles: salty, sweet, acidic and bitter.
- Measure equal amounts of toppings. Don’t be like restaurants that give you one slice of avocado for a whole salad. Ensure you can have all the yumminess on every bite.
- Add depth of flavor by enhancing ingredients. In this apple cranberry salad, I will toast the pecans in butter next time to give it that flare.
- ALWAYS make your own dressings. It’s simple and the only Extra Virgin Olive Oil I use is from Kasandrinos. It is from a friends family farm in Greece and I occasionally just drink it.
Apple Cranberry Salad with Maple Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Salad
- 4 cups salad mix or just spinach
- 2 apples stems removed
- 1/2 red onion peeled
- 1 cup pecans chopped
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Dressing
- 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon each of salt & pepper
Instructions
- Prepare your apples and onion for the salad by spiralizing them with the blade of your choice. I used Blade C. (If you don't have a spiralizer, read the notes at the bottom)
- In a large bowl, add your salad mix, apples, onion, pecans, cranberries and toss well
- In a separate bowl, add your extra virgin olive oil, maple syrup, dijon mustard, salt & pepper and whisk until emulsified (around 20 seconds of whisking)
- Use this delicious dressing and pour onto your salad, toss the salad to coat everything and serve
- Garnish with a few extra pecans
Easy Caveman Coleslaw
Great video, well done! I am going to make this and eat with grilled chicken chicken breast. Thanks George!
You are welcome
This looks absolutely delicious! No spiralizer in my life yet, but I have it on my wish list, so looks like I’ll have to do this the hard way the first time – but it looks too good to wait! Great video – fun, clear and made my mouth water – good job :-)
Thanks Sylvia. You can totally do this with a julienne peeler as well but I always recommend the Inspiralizer
OMG! This salad is the bomb! My husband and I just loved it! Funny thing, my husband is eating Paleo and doesn’t even know it! He actually dropped 5 pounds just because of the way I am cooking! Thank you George, keep your passion for food and life a com’in! Love ya and sending a big hug your way! ??
Oh you are awesome, thank you for all the kind words
Aw dang! This looks delish! I can’t wait to try it. I assume this is one serving? Just kidding, but it looks so yummy it will be hard to share. I guess I will have to double the recipe.
Haha I ate it all myself and it was huge
The video is easy to follow, to the point and yet has a “fun” undertone. I think you did well.
Will be trying the salad later today!
Thank you
Very good video and recipe. Can’t wait to make it and will let you know how it goes. I like salad and I agreed the spralizer will make it much better.
Thank you Cindy :)
This recipe looks AWESOME! What kind of apples did you use?
I used Gala apples
Love your dedication to the best base ingredients, it really makes such a difference in flavor and how it makes you feel after. Even if things sometimes cost a bit more, it’s worth it! Delicious salad and great video!
I L.O.V.E. my spiralizer!! Zucchini noodles, sweet potato noodles!! Can’t wait to try this recipe – the dressing sounds absolutely de-lish!
Oh it’s so yummy, let me know how it goes :)
Love another use for my spiralizer…….very cool. Bet it would be good with a little Feta or Goat cheese added too. Yum!
Oh with goat cheese it would be phenomenal
What “version” of cranberries did you use? The recipe says “cranberries” so I assumed fresh but the picture seems to show dried cranberries. If they are dried, so you have a source for dried cranberries that are not filled with refined sugar? Thanks much. The salad looks delicious.
I didn’t catch that, thank you. I used dried cranberries and my local store sells them sweetened with apple juice.
No vinegar or lemon juice in this vinaigrette? Must be awfully sweet.
You can add it if you like, it isn’t a lot of maple syrup and everyone has loved it so far
Love the fun feel of the videos! Love the salad, great combination. I get into the same old rut with my salads so this is a great addition to my line up!
I am so glad you like it. I just avoided salads so this was fun!
I can’t wait to try this! Looks delicious! Thanks for all you do!
Thank you Jessica and thank you for commenting. I appreciate it :)
Hey George!
I love love love that you are making these fun recipe videos with yummy paleo and whole food ingredients! That’s what the (paleo) world was waiting for… or just me at least :D I also really do like the chill background sound, I can picture myself already spiralizing tons of veggies in a meditative way ^^ Can’t wait to see more of these videos of your gorgeous recipes, which make me wanna go rrright into the kitchen and get cooking! (or spiralizing)
#hugsandbacon
Ah that is so awesome. Thank you for commenting and encouraging me
Shared and on the menu for next week. (I’m even cheating on my Whole 30 for this but I don’t care!) I’ll come back and rate it after I eat some but I’m sure it will be another 5 star one. I’m so glad you’re looking at salads in a new light! Oh….and FYI….you crushed this video making thing….it turned out AWESOME!
So funny and thank you for your kind words about the video, I worked hard :)