This Gorgonzola Apple Salad topped with a homemade honey balsamic dressing is simple, refreshing, and ready in under 20 minutes!
Salads are great - they're healthy, light, and quick and easy to make. But they can become quite boring, especially if they only contain simple plain veggies.
That's why this Gorgonzola Apple Salad is loaded with flavorful ingredients and paired with a simple, sweet honey and balsamic dressing.
This gorgonzola salad is great at any time of year; it's perfect as a starter or side dish with a larger meal, or as a light refreshing lunch during the hot summer months.
The balsamic honey vinaigrette requires 3 simple ingredients and gives this gorgonzola salad a sweet twist. The salad comes together in just under 20 minutes, making it a super quick and easy meal for busy days!
Ingredients
You'll only need a few fresh ingredients for this flavorful salad, and only 3 basic ingredients for the honey balsamic dressing!
For the Gorgonzola Apple Salad, you will need:
- Leafy Greens: Use a mixture of your favourite leafy greens or baby greens. Some ideas include: Romaine lettuce, baby lettuce, arugula (rucola), red chard, tatsoi, and baby spinach or baby kale.
Use whatever is in season and available to you. - Gorgonzola Cheese: For this salad, I recommend using gorgonzola piccante as opposed to gorgonzola dolce. The piccante type crumbles more easily, making it perfect to toss with the salad. You can add more or less cheese to your liking.
Gorgonzola dolce is typically more creamy and does not crumble. It's better suited for creamy sauces or as a spread. - Apple: When using apples for salad, you'd want one that is crispy and doesn't brown quickly. I recommend using Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Fuji, Golden Delicious, or Red Delicious apples for this salad.
- Onion: Use a red or purple onion for this salad. These onions tend to have a mild-to-spicy flavour, a crispy texture, and a bright colour.
- Walnuts: Walnuts pair beautifully with Gorgonzola and give this salad an extra crunchy texture. You'll need a handful of coarsely crushed walnuts to sprinkle on top of the salad.
For the Honey Balsamic Dressing, you will need:
- Olive Oil - Use good-quality, extra-virgin olive oil for the best taste.
- Honey - Honey gives this salad and dressing its sweetness and pairs wonderfully with gorgonzola piccante. You can add more or less honey to your liking.
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Salt
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Gorgonzola Apple Salad
To make this salad, simply wash and toss your leafy greens and onions.
Then, add the crumbled Gorgonzola and walnuts.
Prepare your dressing by combining all ingredients together and stirring well until combined.
Before serving, slice and add the apple (make sure to do this right before serving to prevent browning), and finally, drizzle with honey balsamic vinaigrette.
Hint: Do not slice/add the apples early on as some apples tend to brown quickly. This should be the last step before adding the dressing and serving.
Substitutions
If you know how to make the recipe fit a certain diet, let the reader know here. Don't fake it - only provide guidance on topics you have actual experience with.
- Salad greens - Use whatever salad greens are in season, available, and to your liking.
- Gorgonzola - Although gorgonzola is a type of blue cheese, feel free to use other types of crumbly blue cheese if Gorgonzola is not available. However, I suggest decreasing the amount of other types of blue cheese. Gorgonzola tends to be one of the "milder" types of blue cheese and other types may be too strong or overpowering for this salad.
- Walnuts - If walnuts are not available, you can substitute with pecan nuts, almonds, or pine nuts.
Equipment
This salad requires minimal and basic kitchen equipment:
- Colander - to wash and drain your salad greens.
- Apple corer
- Kitchen knife - to cut vegetables, and to slice the onion and apple.
- Large salad bowl
- Gravy/dressing bowl - for the salad dressing
Making Ahead and Storing
You can prepare the honey balsamic dressing up to 2 days ahead and store, covered, in a refrigerator.
The salad (without apples) can also be prepared up to 1 day ahead and stored in a refrigerator. Slice and add the apple before serving to avoid browning.
Other Salad Recipes
Gorgonzola Apple Salad with Honey Balsamic Dressing
Ingredients
Gorgonzola Apple Salad
- 100 g mixed leafy greens or baby greens e.g, Romaine lettuce, baby lettuce, rucola, red chard, tatsoi, baby kale
- 100 g Gorgonzola cheese ideally Gorgonzola Piccante (or other crumbly blue cheese)
- 1 large red or green apple e.g., honeycrisp, Granny Smith, golden delicious, red delicious, Fuji
- 1 medium purple onion thinly sliced into rings
- 2 tbsp. walnuts coarsely crushed
Honey Balsamic Dressing
- 60 mL extra-virgin olive oil (¼ cup)
- 2 tbsp. honey
- 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Wash and drain leafy greens. Place in a large mixing bowl or salad bowl and add sliced onion rounds.
- Make the salad dressing: place all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl or a dressing server. Stir well until all ingredients are combined.
- Divide salad between two serving bowls/plates. Top with crumbled gorgonzola cheese and crushed walnuts.
- Before serving, core and slice apple and add to salad. Drizzle with dressing and serve immediately.
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