Rocket and Pear Salad
This rocket and pear salad is made with peppery rocket (also known as arugula), sliced sweet pears, toasted walnuts, sharp blue cheese and a delicious honey vinaigrette. The pepper flavor of the arugula pairs so well with the nuttiness of the walnuts and the sweetness of the pear.
There’s nothing quite like a delicious salad to go with you main dishes for dinner. It doesn’t take much to spruce up the lettuce in your fridge. Another one of my favorite salads is my pomegranate salad recipe that has apple slices, pomegranate seeds and candied pecans. Adding fruit slices and toasted or candied nuts is a great way to elevate your salad recipes!
Why This Recipe Works
- Depth of flavor. I love this recipe because the rocket, pears and toasted walnuts really shine. Each of the ingredients add a new type of flavor to the salad, making the flavor much more complex and delicious!
- Simple salad dressing helps ingredients shine. This delicious, mild salad dressing is perfect for this rocket pear walnut salad! Since there are a lot of different ingredients in the salad, having a salad dressing that is mild and complements the ingredients is important so you aren’t completely masking those delicious elements with a super strong vinaigrette.
- Can use a few different cheeses to your liking. I’ve used blue cheese, but gorgonzola, feta or goat cheese would all be really delicious with this salad too!
Ingredient Notes
- Rocket: This is called arugula in the United States and Canada. The word “rocket” comes from “rucola” which is the Italian word for arugula. Rocket is the American word created in reference to rucola.
- Cheese: I used blue cheese, but gorgonzola, feta or goat cheese would also be really yummy!
- Walnuts: You could swap out pecans for the walnuts if there is a walnut allergy or if you prefer pecans.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Make the salad dressing.
- Toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan on medium low heat for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the rocket, pear, walnuts to a large bowl. Pour the salad dressing overtop. Crumble the cheese overtop. Serve. (Note: you won’t need all of the dressing).
Serve as a side salad (will serve 4) or serve as the main dish (will serve 2).
Recipe Tips
Substitutions: You can substitute apples for the pears, pecans for the walnuts and gorgonzola, feta or goat cheese for the blue cheese.
Only dress the salad you are going to eat.
Storing and Freezing
Store any salad leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 24 hours. Store the salad and the dressing separately. The salad will keep better if stored without the dressing and pears — as this will make the arugula go soft. I’d leave the nuts off too or else those could lose their crunch.
I do not recommend freezing the salad. The only element of this recipe that you could freeze would be the salad dressing. However, salad dressing keeps very well in the fridge. Store the salad dressing in a bottle or container with a lid in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.
You can make the salad dressing ahead of time for this salad. Anything else would be best to prepare day of.
FAQs
Rocket is also known as arugula. It gets its name from the word rucola in Italian (which means arugula). It’s a peppery tasting leafy green.
You can substitute baby spinach for the arugula. I do love the arugula with these salad toppings, though! However, if you prefer spinach, that’s the best replacement. Note: because of the peppery flavor of the arugula (peppery, not spicy!) the overall taste of the salad will be different if you use spinach.
Rocket, or arugula, is high in vitamin C, A, K and is high in iron.
More Salad Recipes
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Rocket and Pear Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 6 cups baby rocket - (arugula)
- 1 ripe pear - cored, thinly sliced
- 3/4 cup walnuts - toasted and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup blue cheese - crumbled, or gorgonzola
Dressing
- 3 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Toast walnuts by tossing in a dry frying pan for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the rocket, pear, walnuts to a large bowl. Pour dressing overtop. Crumble the blue cheese overtop. Serve. (Note: you won’t need all of the dressing).
Dressing
- In a small bowl whisk the cider vinegar, honey, salt, pepper, and olive oil.
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5 Comments on “Rocket and Pear Salad”
Love a simple but delicious salad especially with all the Christmas treats I have been eating! Used the box of mixed greens from Costco, did pear, apple, feta and pepitas (niece has nut allergy) at was delcious! I will be keeping a jar of the dressing in my fridge to use often.
Simple and tasty! Love the combination of pears, blue cheese, and arugula!
So glad you love the flavor combinations in this salad, Amanda! Thanks for the great review!
a very nice change of salad pace for me, forgot how much I love pears! Very nice with these other ingredients too, thank you
Pears are underrated! So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe Sabrina. Thanks for the comment ❤️