Today I’m sharing one of my most requested recipes: The BEST SALAD EVER! If you enjoy the ingredients (Gorgonzola, apple, cherries [or cranberries], pecans, and bacon) with a sweet balsamic dressing, you’ll LOVE this salad. Trust me, you’ll be going back for seconds…maybe thirds – it’s that good!
Read the rave reviews from people who tried this recipe on Pinterest!
The Best Salad for Dinner Parties, Holidays, Special Occasions!
I created this recipe over twenty-six years ago while I was pregnant with my first child. I was craving something salty, sweet, and tart, so I came up with this. It’s become a favorite and people always ask for it. I make it for special occasions like dinner parties and holidays. My first child even requests it every year for their birthday – which is fitting.
I highly recommend using the salad dressing recipe below – no substitutions. The combination of flavors is what makes this salad so delicious.
Mary’s Best Salad Ever (My Most Requested Salad Recipe)
Recipe serves 6–8 people, depending on portion size
Ingredients
- 1 bag spring salad mix (9 or 10 ounce bag)
- 1 bag romaine (9 or 10 ounce bag)
- 3 oz bag of Oscar Mayer real bacon (It’s best to make your own bacon – but I almost always cheat – applewood smoked bacon is awesome with this salad)
- 1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries
- 1 large granny smith apple, chopped
- 1/2 cup toasted pecans or almonds
- 5 oz Gorgonzola or blue cheese crumbled
Directions
Clean lettuce, place in large bowl and top with ingredients – toss.
Mary’s Sweet Balsamic Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or canola
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon dry mustard (or a little squeeze of yellow or Grey Poupon mustard)
- Few twists of fresh cracked pepper Or use 1/8 tsp of reg ground pepper
Directions
Whisk all the ingredients together, until sugar and oil are blended. It takes a few minutes for the oil and sugar to blend. Keep whisking….it will blend.
Tips
You can substitute dried cherries with dried cranberries and sub Gorgonzola/blue cheese with goat or feta cheese.
The dressing is easy to adapt by adjusting the amount of sugar. If you like less sweet, add a little sugar at a time until you reach the desired sweetness.
Some people have made the dressing with olive oil and enjoyed the results. I have not used olive oil, so I am unable to tell you if it changes the taste of the salad. If you want to use olive oil, make a small batch to taste test.
Chop the apple right before serving to prevent it from browning.
Top with chicken (grilled is wonderful) for a meal.
If you make the salad, please let me know what you think.
Cheers!
Anonymous
How many does this serve? Would you suggest doubling recipe for a group of 8 adults?
Anonymous
The best salad I have ever made. Topped it with chicken breast cooked in a little olive oil and white wine. Awesome!!
Anonymous
This is wonderful! I want to put that dressing on everything!
Anonymous
Do you need to put hot water? Can't wait to try
dhflaf
Looks amazing! I'm not sure if you've heard about this tip for keep apples from browning or not. Cut the apples and pour sprite pop over the apple. Let apple sit with all parts cover or you can keep tossing around the sprite, for about 3 minutes. Drain and put on salad or put in ziplock with air out of bag and keep in fridge. Found this out from a friend who brought apples and Dip to potluck. Amazed how white they were and no taste change either!
marysweetlittlebluebird
I'm so happy so many people have given this recipe a try! I came up with this recipe when I was pregnant with our first child over 20 years ago. The dressing was tweaked from a spinach salad that called for eggs, onion and bacon – I switched the vinegar to balsamic…and then created the perfect salty, sweet, crunchy combination salad to cure my pregnancy craving. The rest is history. The dressing is what makes the salad. There are tons of similar salad recipes – but none have matched the combination of flavors like this one…the dressing ties all the flavors together perfectly. Any yes, the dressing is thick – and oh so good.
Unknown
I made this salad for a wedding I catered for 200 people! RAVE Reviews!!!
Mary Neumann
That makes me so happy to hear!!
Anonymous
This salad is a huge hit! Everyone I have made it for loves loves loves it 🙂 It is such a great blend of flavours – Excellent "restaurant quality" recipe. If you want to impress your guests, add this salad to your menu! Thank you for sharing!
Mary Neumann
Thanks so much for taking the time to share! Thrilled it was a hit!
Janelle
Made this recipe for a work potluck lunch last month. I doubled the recipe and all but 1 scoop was left! Everyone was impressed that it was so easy to make and tasted so delicious. Will be making it for Thanksgiving now. 🙂 I ended up substituting cherries for a bag of dried cranberries and blueberries, as well as instead of Oscar Meyer bacon bits I used Patrick Cudahy bacon bits. Those easy substitutes I was comfortable with knowing I wouldn't change the flavors of the salad.
Brenda Worley
I tried this recently and its now my favorite meal! The only change that i made was Stevia for sugar in the dressing. So yummy!
Anonymous
Delicious! I didn't have an apple so subbed a pear. I also cut down a little on the sugar! One of my favorite salads!
Kris
You were right, this is excellent!!! My husband loved it and is still talking about it after dinner! Every bite has a burst of flavor. I would totally recommend this to everyone. Thanks for this great recipe.
Anne Daniels
I had the same problem with the dressing. It tastes really good, but is too thick. Should whisk it until the sugar dissolves? Also, wondering if thinning it out a bit with water would work?
marysweetlittlebluebird
Andrea, the salad dressing is thicker than most, but should not be too thick not to be able to pour.
Andrea Evangelista
This was delicious but I don't know what I did wrong with the dressing. It came out way too thick. It tasted good but I couldn't pour it on the salad. Any idea what could have gone wrong?
Anonymous
This is best salad and everyone loved it, wish I had made extra. Thank you!
Marsha Baker
Awesome! This looks sooo good…would you fix it for me? ;-} I hate making salads at home, but just may have to give this one a whirl.
Alice in Texas
This is my families new favorite salad. They come every Sunday for dinner and LOVE when I make this! Thanks so much for sharing!!!
Dian Kim
Hi Mary,
I made this salad a few days ago, and that balsamic dressing has become my new favorite! I've even had salad for breakfast/brunch since.
Bright blessings to you and yours. Great blog.
Much love,
Dian Kim
Anonymous
I make a salad just like this but I use Ken's Rasberry Vinegarette.
Kate
Definitely going to give this one a try … you've used some of my favourite ingredients!
Julie
I have a rule of thumb (when entertaining or sharing food with friends) that I test – at least once before serving to those outside (my amazingly patient) family. I broke my own "rule" last night and brought this salad to a potluck type even though I had not tested it.
Wow. Just wow. Possibly the best salad I have ever eaten. Exceeded Trisha Yearwood's Strawberry Salad which is a fave. The salty, sweet yumminess is amazing. The only problem is I didn't bring enough so there wasn't any left for those those at the end of the line. I will say that I did cook my own good quality bacon until crazy crisp, used Maytag blue cheese, and used good quality balsamic.
Thanks for sharing.
Mary
Julie, Thank you so much for leaving this sweet comment! I am so glad you loved salad! Sorry you didn't make enough…:(
I'm making the salad for a bbq tomorrow! It's always a hit!
Mel@Mellywood's Mansion
Mary that looks and sounds divine! Pinning this
Danni Baird @ Silo Hill Farm
Easy to see why this would be your most requested! It looks delicious. I don't know what it is about basalmic that I love so much! The apples and cherries are something I almost always have so this will be a handy one to have!
Morgan
Mmmm delicious, I make something similar and it's one of my favorite salads!