Cranberry Vinaigrette Recipe

Cranberry Vinaigrette with pear, walnut, blue cheese salad.

Cranberry Vinaigrette is a classic Holiday salad dressing and perfect for a pear and walnut salad. Made with canned cranberry sauce, this is an easy salad dressing to whip together.

Course Salads, Salad Dressings and Vinaigrettes

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free

Prep Time 15

Total Time 15

Servings

Calories 190kcal

Author Lea Ann Brown

Ingredients

For the Cranberry Vinaigrette
½ cup cranberry sauce canned
¼ cup orange juice
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
1 teaspoon ginger grated
¼ teaspoon salt
For The Salad
1-2 heads Delicate lettuce Bibb, Butter, Red Leaf. About 12 cups.
2 pears sliced
1 cup red onion chopped
½ cup blue cheese crumbled
3 Tablespoons walnuts chopped

Instructions

To prepare the cranberry vinaigrette: Place cranberry sauce, olive oil, orange juice, balsamic vinegar, sugar, ginger and salt into a medium bowl. Use a whisk to blend the ingredients to a smooth texture.
To prepare the salad: Divide washed and dried chopped lettuce leaves evenly among 6 chilled salad plates.
Thin slice the pears. Divide pear and onion evenly among leaves. Top each serving with about 1 generous Tablespoon blue cheese and 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts. Drizzle each serving with about 2 ½ Tablespoons of the cranberry vinaigrette.
Serve immediately.

Notes

Tip: Toss the sliced pears with a bit of the orange juice to preserve color in the pear. Do this only if you're making the salad about 30 minutes before serving.

Making the vinaigrette ahead makes this an incredibly easy salad to assemble right before dinner. Prepare the vinaigrette as early as three days in advance. Store the vinaigrette in a Mason style jar and give the vinaigrette a good shake before serving.

A good rule of thumb is serving 2 loose packed cups of greens per salad plate to serve 1 person.

Nutrition