Autumn Chopped Salad
Made with tiny pieces of sweet pear, crisp romaine lettuce, crunchy pecans, sweet and chewy dried cranberries and hearty bacon all tossed and coated with a poppy seed balsamic vinegar dressing. A fall favorite green salad recipe you’ll love!
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Cook Time0 minutes mins
Total Time20 minutes mins
Course: Salads
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 397kcal
- 8 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
- 2 pears, chopped
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- 8 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
- 4 ounces Havarti cheese, crumbled
- ½ cup Poppy Seed dressing
- ½ cup Balsamic dressing
Cook the bacon in a skillet until done. Once done, place the bacon on a plate covered with a paper towel. Once cooled, chopped the bacon into bite-size pieces.
Chop the lettuce into bite-size pieces and rinse well. Drain the water to ensure the lettuce is completely dry.
Chop the pears and pecans into bite-size pieces. Crumble the Havarti cheese.
In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, pears, dried cranberries, pecans, bacon, and Havarti cheese.
Mix the Poppy Seed and Balsamic dressing together and drizzle onto the salad. Toss the salad and serve immediately.
- This pear salad is best fresh. You can save any leftovers you might have but this salad tends to get soggy by the next day.
- Since you're just mixing the bottled poppy seed and balsamic dressing together, this homemade salad dressing will last as long as the good by date on the bottle.
- If you want to make a healthier version of this recipe, use a lite balsamic and poppy seed dressing. You can also use turkey bacon instead of pork bacon.
- To lower the fat content use feta cheese or skip the cheese entirely. And, lower the fat by using only a ½ cup of pecans.
- To lower the sugar level, use dried cranberries that contain less sugar.
- Add some fresh grilled chicken breast to turn this one into a grilled chicken salad!
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 397kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 614mg | Potassium: 276mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 4244IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 119mg | Iron: 1mg