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    Home » Healthy Salad Recipes » Nourishing Quinoa Salad with Cranberries and Pears

    Nourishing Quinoa Salad with Cranberries and Pears

    Published: Sep 20, 2021 by Elaine · This post may contain Amazon affiliate links · As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This blog generates income via ads · 2 Comments

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    You'll love this gluten-free fall quinoa salad with cranberries and pears for a healthy lunch or side dish! Full of harvest fruit and nuts, this salad is tossed with a delicious apple cider vinaigrette. This beautiful fall salad is Vegan, Paleo and Whole30 compliant.

    Harvest Quinoa Salad in two bowls with a bowl of dressing

    This healthy quinoa spinach salad is studded with fresh pears and dried cranberries. It's sprinkled with pumpkin spice pecans, toasted almonds and tossed with an apple cider vinaigrette. A perfect salad for fall!

    While you may decide to put this on your menu as a side dish at your upcoming holiday dinners, once you taste it, you'll probably want to have this harvest quinoa salad make regular appearances for weekday lunches and dinners, too!

    Harvest Quinoa Salad with cranberries and pears

    While pears are available year-round, they're at their peak in the early autumn. Look for the firm varieties for this salad, like Bosc, Anjou, Seckel, or even the tiny Forelle pears will be delicious. You could also use an Asian pear, also known as Apple Pear.

    Ready to get started on this beautiful pear salad?

    Overhead view of Harvest Quinoa Salad on a red-rimmed plate with a bowl of dressing beside.

    🛒 Ingredients

    You'll find a complete list of ingredients in the recipe card below.

    • quinoa: cooked and cooled.  
    • baby spinach: or massaged kale
    • dried cranberries: for natural sweetness
    • dried apricots or raisins (optional)
    • pear any variety of firm pear, like Bosc, Anjou, Seckel, or even the tiny Forelle pears will be delicious. You could also use an Asian pear, also known as Apple Pear.
    • green onion: adds a nice contrast to the sweet fruit
    • flaked almonds: toasted to bring out their flavour. Almonds add extra crunch to this salad.
    • pumpkin spice pecans: these add lots of fall flavour to this salad
    • apple cider vinaigrette: brings fall flavours to this healthy salad!

    🔪 Instructions

    1. Cook the quinoa and spread it out on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet to cool.
    2. While it's cooking, combine the Apple Cider Vinaigrette ingredients and set aside to allow the flavours to blend.
    3. Prepare Pumpkin Spice Pecans
    4. Slice pears and toss with lemon juice to prevent browning.
    5. Chop dried apricots (if using) and green onions.
    6. Toast thinly sliced almonds.
    7. In a medium bowl, combine quinoa, dried cranberries, optional dried apricots or raisins, sliced pears, and green onions with the Apple Cider Vinaigrette, adding a little of the vinaigrette at a time, just until moistened. You may not need all the vinaigrette.
    8. Arrange this quinoa mixture on a bed of baby spinach.
    9. Garnish with toasted flaked almonds and pumpkin spice pecans just before serving.

    🔁 Possible variations

    I chose harvest fruit, like pears and cranberries, but you can easily substitute other seasonal fruit. Make it your own!

    Substitute Asian pears (also known as apple pears.)

    Toss it with this easy Maple Balsamic Dressing instead of Apple Cider Vinaigrette for a change.

    Use this fall quinoa salad with cranberries and pears recipe as a guide and try these variations.

    • Honeycrisp apples, raisins, and toasted walnuts
    • Bosc pears, dried figs, and pumpkin seeds
    • Granny Smith apples, golden raisins, and toasted pecans

    Storage instructions

    Like you, I'm sure, I like making a dish and having leftovers for lunch or dinner the following day. This quinoa and pear salad keeps well in the fridge, for a day. If I'm making more than I need, I keep the spinach separate, adding it just before serving.

    🍽 More healthy fall salad ideas

    Fall salads can be fun to create! You might also like these salads for autumn days:

    • Crispy Pear and Fennel Salad
    • Asian Pear Slaw with Ginger and Lime
    • Asian Pear and Cranberry Chopped Salad
    • Crispy Fennel Apple Chopped Salad
    • Apple Cheddar Smoked Salmon Salad with Maple Dressing

    📖 Recipe

    Overhead image of Harvest Quinoa Salad with Cranberries and Pears on a red rimmed plate

    Harvest Quinoa Salad with Cranberries and Pears

    Make this gluten-free spinach quinoa salad with cranberries and pears for a healthy lunch or a side dish. Full of harvest fruit and nuts and tossed with Apple Cider Vinaigrette.
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Main, Salads
    Cuisine: American
    Diet: Gluten Free, Vegetarian
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 15 minutes
    Total Time: 25 minutes
    Servings: 4
    Calories: 498kcal
    Author: Elaine
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    Ingredients

    • 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
    • 1 ¾ cups water
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • ¼ cup dried cranberries
    • ¼ cup dried apricots, finely chopped, optional
    • 1 medium pear, firm variety, thinly sliced and tossed in 1 tablespoon lemon juice to prevent browning
    • 1 green onion, thinly sliced
    • ¼ cup toasted flaked almonds*
    • ¼ cup pumpkin spice pecans

    Apple Cider Vinaigrette

    • â…“ cup olive oil, extra virgin
    • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
    • 1 tablespoon honey
    • ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
    • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ¼ teaspoon pepper
    • 6 cups baby spinach leaves

    Instructions

    • Cook quinoa in water and salt. Spread out on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and cool completely.
    • While it's cooking, combine the Apple Cider Vinaigrette ingredients and set aside to allow the flavours to blend.
    • Slice pears and toss with lemon juice to prevent browning.
    • Chop dried apricots and green onions.
    • Toast thinly sliced almonds and prepare Pumpkin Spice Pecans.
    • In a medium bowl, combine quinoa, dried apricots, dried cranberries, sliced pears, and green onions with the Apple Cider Vinaigrette, adding a little of the vinaigrette at a time, just until moistened. (You may not need all the vinaigrette.)
    • Add baby spinach to a salad bowl, or to individual salad plates and top with the quinoa salad mix.
    • Garnish with toasted flaked almonds and Pumpkin Spice Pecans just before serving.

    Notes

    * to toast almonds, heat oven to 400°F, spread almonds on a baking sheet and toast for 5 to 10 minutes, watching very carefully. Remove from oven when they just start to brown, as they will continue to brown on the sheet.
    Alternatively, heat a small skillet on the stovetop, and heat almonds until they begin to brown. Remove promptly and cool before adding to the salad.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 498kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 927mg | Potassium: 717mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 4542IU | Vitamin C: 15mg | Calcium: 96mg | Iron: 4mg
    Tried this Recipe? Pin it for Later!Mention @enessman or tag #flavourandsavour!

    This post has been updated with new information and photos and the recipe has been tweaked.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Evi

      September 09, 2021 at 8:36 pm

      5 stars
      Thanks for making me look good! I made this for a women's luncheon and I received lots of compliments! It was a perfect recipe to welcome fall.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        September 09, 2021 at 8:53 pm

        That's great news!

        Reply

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    Elaine from Flavour and Savour

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