Looking for a delicious and easy green salad? This amazing green salad with apples, cinnamon almonds, and craisins with an easy poppyseed dressing will quickly become your go-to salad!
The Best Green Salad
Green salads get a bad rap. Until now.
We love this salad with apples and cranberries (or Craisins.) And people who aren't big green salad fans love this, too!
The mix of the lettuce, granny smith apples, craisins, cinnamon roasted almonds, and poppy seed dressing is just amazing!
A Perfect Salad For
- Fall salad
- Summer potlucks & BBQs
- Baby shower or bridal shower
- Christmas dinner
- Thanksgiving dinner salad
Truly, salad with apples are perfect year-round since you can always find these ingredients readily available.
Ingredients
- Romaine lettuce or Spring Mix (don't use Iceburg)
- Apples (granny smith or gala)
- Craisins
- Cinnamon candied almonds (see below)
- Poppyseed dressing (see below)
What kind of lettuce to use
The great thing about this green salad ideas is that it's pretty forgiving, meaning that you can use almost any type of lettuce and it will be wonderful!
I personally use romaine, spinach, grean leaf, or a mix of them! Sometimes for a big crowd (like our White Christmas Ward Dinner Party, I just picked up the already made Spring Mix from Costco.)
The only type I wouldn't use is iceberg lettuce.
What kind of apple to use
Granny Smith apples add a great dimension to this green salad, but if you don't have them on hand, feel free to use any type of red apple. The tartness won't be there, but the apples will still add a nice crunch to the salad.
Easy Cinnamon Roasted Almonds Salad Topping
Whatever you do, don't forget the cinnamon almonds! These are the most delicious part!
Making the almonds will take you about 15-20 minutes, but I promise they are worth it! And don't worry, you can make these well in advance and keep them in the fridge so you always have some when you need to throw this salad together.
Poppyseed Dressing
The combination of lettuces, apples, Craisins, and candied almonds in this Spring Mix salad are irresistible! But it's the homemade poppyseed dressing that makes this green apple salad INCREDIBLE!
Poppyseed dressing will take you only 5 minutes to make. Prepare the homemade salad dressing in advance and you'll be able to throw this salad together even quicker.
MORE SALADS YOU'LL LOVE:
Recipes
Enjoy this recipe for the best green salad ever!
If you love this apple cranberry salad as much as we do, will you pretty please come back and leave a review so that others can find this recipe, too? Thanks so much!
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The Best Green Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
Description
This salad full of apples, craisins, lettuce and a poppy seed dressing is a popular one for any occasion!
Ingredients
- Lettuce of your choice (a mix of Spinach, Romaine, and Green Leaf is my fave)
- Granny Smith Apples, chopped
- Craisins
- Candied Almonds (see recipe below)
- Poppyseed Dressing (see recipe below)
Instructions
- Fill a salad bowl with the greens.
- Chop granny smith apples.
- Just before serving, toss the salad with poppy seed dressing and sprinkle craisins and cinnamon almonds on top.
Notes
Make a double batch of the dressing and nuts and keep them in the fridge so you can make this salad whenever you need a quick side dish!
To make it a meal, add bacon or chicken.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Salads
Keywords: salad, candied almonds, poppy seed dressing
Poppy Seed Dressing
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 3 cups 1x
Description
A wonderful and light dressing for green salad with craisins, apples, and cinnamon roasted almonds.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar (see note)
- 2 teaspoons dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
Instructions
- Stir all ingredients together until everything is dissolved.
- Keep in the fridge up to 1 month.
Notes
You may decrease the sugar. I usually use ½ cup sugar and it's plenty sweet!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Misc.
Keywords: poppy seed dressing, salad dressing
Cinnamon Roasted Almonds
- Total Time: 20 minutes
Description
Easy and sweet roasted almonds that add just the perfect finishing touch to the best salad ever.
Ingredients
- ½ cup chopped almonds
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- Cinnamon
Instructions
- Melt butter in a frying pan.
- Right before it is all melted, throw in the almonds.
- Stir around and then dump in the brown sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Keep stirring until the brown sugar and butter crystallize around the nuts. You will probably want to add more brown sugar and cinnamon as you go.
- Keep stirring until everything is cooked, but don't over do.
- Let cool in pan for a few minutes.
- Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.
- When you are ready to use, break up the nut clumps and sprinkle on salad. Stays well in the fridge for weeks.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Misc.
Keywords: cinnamon almonds, roasted almonds, candied nuts
