Autumn Spinach Salad With Orange Poppy Dressing

A Delicious Autumn Spinach Salad

I knew from the beginning though that I would love it because I used my super delicious, super popular Orange Poppy Seed Dressing from my Cranberry Avocado Chicken and Spinach Salad. The flavors, the colors, the textures, the sweet, the salty, the tang it’s all spot on perfect in my opinion. You get those tender spinach leaves laden with crisp sweet apples, bright tangy oranges and those soft and juicy mellow pears. Then you add toasted crunchy pecans and salty feta to that blend and finally finish it all off with the most irresistible Orange Poppy Seed Dressing!

Ingredients Needed for This Salad

Baby spinach Fresh mandarin oranges Gala apples Bartlette pears Pecans Feta Cheese

Ingredients Needed for Orange Poppy Seed Dressing

Olive oil and canola oil Oranges Lemon Honey Dijon mustard Poppy seeds Salt

A Salad People Will Request Again and Again

This a salad that everyone is going to remember. And not only that they’ll be begging you to make it again, and again! But for a shortcut you can just tell everyone it’s Autumn/Fall Spinach Salad with Best Dressing :). It’s basically and autumn version of the beloved strawberry spinach salad with poppy seed dressing. If you like fruit and if you like salads you will be head over heals crazy about this one.

How to Let Those Colors Shine

If you want to be super particular like I was here and to let the colors shine you can layer the fruit over the top with the skin side of the apples and pears facing upward (in other words just cut them keep them together and move them skin side up when you transfer them to the salad, if that makes sense). And looaaddd on that dressing dressing! Or drink it straight up. Kidding, but it really it is just too good!

And do serve this salad right away. That soft spinach leaves will start to wither pretty quickly once that dressing is added if they sit. For make ahead you can prep the dressing a day or two in advance and chill in the refrigerator, crumble the feta, and toast the pecans. Then wait to cut up the fruit so it doesn’t brown until your ready to serve. I hope you love this one as much as my family does! My mom labeled it as “one of the best salads she’s ever eaten” so I’m not the only one :).