Romaine Salad with Pears, Blue Cheese and Pecans

Green crisp lettuce, sharp tangy blue cheese crumbles, perfectly ripe pears and crunchy sweet pecans, this romaine salad with pears, blue chesse and pecans makes a welcome leafy green complement to any dinner.

Click her to save this Romaine Salad with Pears, Blue Cheese, and Pecans!

With sides of mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, and syrupy sweet potatoes, our Thanksgiving menu begged for something else. I wanted to add a salad and lucky for me, my mother-in-law showed me this recipe.

This salad delivers with enough self-confidence and poise to hold its own on any table. It’s a fresh balance to starchy meals. Including Thanksgiving. For this I am thankful.

There’s another holiday tradition I treasure–the grateful alphabet game. Once everyone is seated, with our plates full and grace said, we go around the table. Oldest person starts with A. They say, “I’m grateful for…art.” Whoever sits next to them, B, says, “I’m are grateful for…balloons!” Next, C, says, “um…colors!” We go around, and everyone has their chance to be grateful, more than once. We get to Z and the last person says they are grateful for zebras… or zippers…or zee wonderful food.

Serve this romaine salad with pears, blue cheese and pecans for Thanksgiving. When the letters, S, P, or B come around everyone will give thanks for salad, pears or pecans and blue cheese.

Romaine Salad with Pears, Blue Cheese and Pecans recipe details:

• You can wash and tear the lettuce into bite-size pieces earlier in the day or the day before. Wrap the leaves in a tea towel and tuck into a resealable plastic bag. Keep refrigerated.
• Be gentle with the lettuce–tear it with your fingers, instead of chopping with a knife—torn lettuce looks and keeps better.

• Prepare the vinaigrette ahead too, but make sure it’s at room temperature when you toss it with the lettuce–you want to coat the lettuce lightly and that’s not easy with congealed olive oil.
• Crumble your blue cheese from a block–the quality and flavor is generally better than the crumbles that come n a plastic container. I used a Wisconsin blue cheese from Costco.
• If you wish, serve this salad on individual chilled plates. Place a mound of dressed lettuce on each plate, and then garnish with the pear slices, the blue cheese and lastly the pecans.
• A lettuce spinner (affilate link) is the kitchen tool we use almost every day. If you don’t already own one, hint around and you might get one for Christmas.
• You might also like this Wilted Spinach Salad with Green Lentils and Pecans.

To get my latest recipe posts and newsletters, subscribe here. (I hate Spam too and will never share your email with anyone.)

• Follow me on Instagram!
• For more vegetarian recipe ideas, peruse my Pinterest boards.

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps me continue to provide free content here on Letty’s Kitchen. Thank you!!
If you like this recipe, I’d be grateful if you’d give a ✮✮✮✮✮ rating on the recipe card below.

Print Recipe

4.91 from 10 votes

Romaine Salad with Pears, Blue Cheese and Pecans

Make this winner of a salad a holiday tradition that everyone remembers. You can prep everything ahead and put it together at the last minute. This recipe yields more dressing than needed for the salad. Save the rest for later.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blue cheese, pears, Pecans

Servings: 8 servings.

Author: Letty | @lettyskitchen

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 2 barely ripe pears (I used Bartletts)
• 4 ounces (¾ cup) blue cheese crumbles
• ½ cup toasted pecans

Instructions

• Whisk the vinegar, honey, mustard, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. (see note)
• Gradually drizzle in the olive oil, about a teaspoon at a time, whisking all the time, to make a smooth dressing.
• Wash the lettuce leaves, dry well. Tear into bite-size pieces.
• Just before serving, put about half of the vinaigrette in a large bowl. Add the lettuce and toss to coat the leaves lightly. Toss in a little more dressing if you think it’s needed, keeping in mind the lettuce should be lightly coated, not weighed down in oil.
• Build the salad in two layers: Transfer half of the dressed lettuce to a serving bowl. Core and slice the first pear and arrange it over the lettuce. Sprinkle with half of the blue cheese and half of the toasted pecans. Repeat with a second layer.

Notes

• The mustard provides flavor bite and acts as an emulsifier—to keep the vinegar and oil from separating. Add the oil slowly so the mustard can do its emulsify thing.

Nutrition

Calories: 223kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 322mg | Potassium: 305mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 6940IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 110mg | Iron: 1mg

Did you make this recipe?Mention @lettyskitchen or tag #lettyskitchen