Pear Salad
Posted Jul 12, 2026
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In this pear salad recipe, fresh pears, crispy bacon, creamy goat cheese, and candied walnuts are all served over lettuce and tossed with a homemade balsamic dressing for a delicious, flavor-packed salad everyone loves!
This pear salad recipe looks and tastes impressive but it’s actually very easy to make!
With crispy bacon, creamy goat cheese, and sweet pears, there is a perfect balance of sweet and savory flavors and textures in every single bite. Toss it all with an easy homemade balsamic dressing, and this pear salad will become the star of the meal!
This recipe is easy enough for a weeknight dinner, but fancy enough to serve for holidays or when you’re hosting friends and family. Plus, you can prep most of the components ahead of time and just assemble the salad when you’re ready to serve, which means less stress and more time enjoying the people you’re feeding. Once you try this salad, you’ll want to make it on repeat during pear season!
Pear Salad: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Pears. Choose your favorite variety of pears. I suggest one of these: Bosc, Anjou, or Bartlett.
- Bacon. If you don’t want to cook and crumble your own bacon (see how to cook bacon in the oven here), then you can use pre-made bacon bits.
- Spring mix. You can use any greens you’d like such as spring mix, baby spinach, arugula, romaine, baby kale, etc.
- Green onions. Red onions are a great substitute.
- Goat cheese. I love the creamy tangy flavor of goat cheese in this salad. You can substitute feta or sharp white cheddar.
- Candied walnuts I highly recommend that you make your own candied walnuts for this recipe. You can also use candied pecans or candied almonds.
- Balsamic dressing. You can use maple syrup in place of honey and avocado oil in place of olive oil in the dressing if you’d like. Or use store-bought balsamic vinaigrette.
How to Make a Pear Salad
Like I mentioned earlier, you can prepare the dressing, bake the bacon, and make the nuts a day in advance if you prefer. Now, we’ll walk through this recipe together, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Make the Dressing
Begin by making the dressing. You can whisk it together in a bowl, or just put all the ingredients in a glass jar and shake until combined. I prefer the glass jar because then you’re mixing it in it he container you’ll store it in and serve it from.
Prepare the Pears
I almost wrote “prePEAR the pears” haha, food puns are the best. Anyway, dice two pears into small, bite-sized cubes. And slice one pear into thin slices. We use the slices to garnish the salad and make it look pretty, but you can just dice them all if you prefer.
Then, combine lemon juice and water in a large bowl and put the cut/diced pears in it. Stir and let sit while you make the salad. Soaking the pears in lemon juice helps prevent browning.
When ready to assemble, drain the pears in a colander and let the excess water drain out.
Assemble the Pear Salad
Now it’s time to assemble the salad. Put the spring mix, diced pears, green onions, goat cheese, bacon, and walnuts in a large bowl. Reserve about 2 tablespoons each ingredient to use to garnish the top.
Toss the pear salad with the dressing.
Alternatively, you can serve the salad with the dressing on the side. In this case, assemble the salad directly in a serving bowl/platter and let guests dress their salad portions individually.
Then transfer the pear salad to a large salad bowl or serving dish.
Next, garnish the top with the remaining ingredients, including sliced pears, and serve immediately.
Serve
Serve this pear salad a side dish to your favorite dinner recipes, or serve as a meal with some protein! Here are some serving suggestions:
- Enjoy it with some grilled chicken kebabs, buttermilk chicken or baked chicken breasts.
- It pairs so well with my baked salmon recipe and maple salmon.
- Make some homemade french bread or no-knead bread.
Store
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. Undressed salad stores much better than dressed, so keep that in mind when you’re deciding how you want to serve this recipe!
I do not recommend freezing this recipe.
More Delicious Salad Recipes
If you like this pear salad, you’ll love these recipes!
- Burrata salad is my fave!
- Strawberry Spinach salad is super easy and impressive.
- Fresh beet salad
- Green salad with apples
- And this Kale salad!
Pear Salad Recipe FAQS
The best pears are sweet, ripe pears of any kind such as Bartlett, Anjou or Bosc.
Soak sliced pears in a mixture of cold water and lemon juice for a few minutes like it states in the recipe. Lemon juice prevents oxidation that causes browning.
Yes! Prep the components – cook the bacon, make the candied walnuts, slice pears the pears and store them in the lemon juice mixture in the refrigerator – ahead of time. However you want to assemble and dress the salad just before serving so it doesn’t get soggy.
This recipe calls for spring mix, but arugula, spinach, romaine or a blend all work well.
Goat cheese is a my favorite, but blue cheese, feta, or shaved parmesan all taste great.
If you make and love my recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so I can see your creations!
Pear Salad Recipe
Video
Equipment
- chef's knife
Ingredients
- 4 ounces cooked & crumbled bacon (about 4-5 slices)
- 1 pound pears (about 3 medium pears)
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 cups water
- 10 ounces spring mix
- 4 green onions (sliced thin, ½ cup)
- 4 ounces Goat cheese
- 2 cups candied walnuts (8 ounces)
Balsamic dressing
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic (or ½ tsp garlic powder)
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Cook and Crumble the Bacon
- Follow the directions in this post: https://joyfoodsunshine.com/how-to-cook-bacon-in-the-oven/ to bake and crumble the bacon, then set it aside.
Prepare the Pears
- Dice two pears into small, bite-sized cubes. Slice one pear into thin slices (for putting on top).
- Combine lemon juice and water in a small bowl and put the cut/diced apples in it.
- Stir and let sit while you make the salad.
- When ready to assemble, drain the pears in a colander.
Make the Dressing
- Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl or glass jar. Whisk or shake to combine. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
Assemble the Salad
- Put spring mix, diced pears, green onions, goat cheese, bacon and walnuts in a large bowl. Reserve about 2 tablespoons each of cheese, onions, bacon and walnuts to use to garnish the top.
- Toss with the dressing, then transfer the salad to a large salad bowl or serving dish.
- Then garnish the top with the remaining ingredients, including sliced pears and serve immediately.
- Alternatively, you can serve the salad with the dressing on the side. In this case, assemble the salad directly in a serving bowl/platter and let guests dress their salad portions individually.
Notes
- Pears. Choose your favorite variety of pears. I suggest one of these: Bosc, Anjou, or Bartlett.
- Bacon. If you don’t want to cook and crumble your own bacon (see how to cook bacon in the oven here), then you can use pre-made bacon bits.
- Spring mix. You can use any greens you’d like such as spring mix, baby spinach, arugula, romaine, baby kale, etc.
- Green onions. red onions are a great substitute.
- Goat cheese. I love the creamy tangy flavor of goat cheese in this salad. You can substitute feta or sharp white cheddar.
- Candied walnuts I highly recommend that you make your own candied walnuts for this recipe. You can also use candied pecans or candied almonds.
- Balsamic dressing. you can use maple syrup in place of honey and avocado oil in place of olive oil in the dressing if you’d like. Or use store-bought balsamic vinaigrette.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
