Chicken Pear Salad with Goat Cheese sounds like a mouthful to say, but that’s what you will want once you’ve tried the Pear Dressing!
I had a heck of a time coming up with a name for this salad. I wanted to do it justice but thought Chicken, Pear, Blueberry, Pecan, salad with Goat Cheese…. and Pear dressing was just overdoing it. I’m getting hungry just thinking about this beautiful salad. Chicken Pear Salad with Goat Cheese will just have to do.
I used to think that I didn’t really need a recipe for a salad. All you had to do was throw a bunch of stuff together and add some dressing. Well, I don’t think all salads are created equal. Dressings definitely are not created equal. They’re easy to put together and taste so much better than store-bought.
This salad originated with some leftover chicken that we’d put on the grill the day before. With the weather getting nicer, I just had salad on the brain. When I ran (yea right…drove) to the store, I found some beautiful Anjou pears and blueberries and just ran with that idea. What resulted was a masterpiece of a salad. I hope you will agree.
Chicken Pear Salad with Goat Cheese
Ingredients
Sauteed Pears
- 1 anjou pear peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 cup apple juice
Pear Dressing
- 1/3 cup reserved juice from sauteed pears
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne optional
- 3 scallions sliced thinly (white and green parts)
Salad
- Greens of your choice
- Cooked chicken deboned and sliced
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1/2 cup pecans chopped (optional toasted or candied)
- Goat Cheese
- Homemade croutons
Instructions
- In a skillet, combine the apple juice, honey, and cinnamon. Once simmering, add the sliced pears. Cook for 3 minutes. Pears should be slightly softened but still firm. Remove pears from the liquid to stop cooking. Set the pears and liquid aside to cool.
- In a salad cruet or jar, combine the dressing ingredients. Shake to blend.
- Assemble the salad by placing greens on a plate. Add blueberries, sliced chicken, sauteed pears, pecans, crumbled goat cheese, and croutons. Dress lightly with dressing.
- Store in the refrigerator.
This salad made a great meal that filled us up and we weren’t digging through the cupboards looking for a snack an hour later. I really crave great salads and this one is at the top of my list. How about you? What is your favorite salad?
I love a great salad and here are some other salads that we really love!
Chipotle Grilled Chicken Salad
Fresh Greek Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
Green Salad with Sweet Poppyseed Dressing
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What an interesting combination! I love pear and often pair it with goats cheese but the the chicken and the blueberries?! Yum! 🙂
Thank you Petra!
I love chicken and fruit in my salads! This looks devine!
Thank you! We really enjoyed this one too.
This sounds so delicious! I love pears and goat’s cheese so you had me fairly sold before even looking at it but the recipe looks great too!
Thank you Caroline. We really enjoyed this combination too.
I agree with you – this is definitely a masterpiece of a salad! I love homemade dressing, nuts, and fruit in salad. I haven’t tried blueberries in salad very often, I don’t know why. I bet they taste great with the pears. Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe, Julie!.
Thank you Shari! It’s so easy and perfect for warmer months unless you live in AZ, then anytime!
I am getting hungry too Julie! It’s a delight for the eye and the palate.
Thank you! We like these easy salads with all the goodies.
Beautiful things can happen when there is leftover chicken in the fridge! Definitely trying this one. 🙂
Thank you Kate! Swimsuit season follows to close to salad season.
I love the idea of throwing leftover chicken in a salad. Do it all the time. But wow, what a nice combination of flavors! Pears and goat cheese go together so well, but it’s the blueberries that I think are just the right touch. Nice work!
Thank you so much Jeff for your great comments! Always appreciate seeing your creations as well!
What a delicious-looking salad! The pear dressing sounds wonderful!
Thank you Nancy! It really came out nice.
Another incredible meal! This is definitely my kind of salad!! Yum 🙂 🙂
Thank you Linda. It will be great this summer.
Julie, you come up with such lovely recipes! I have a hard time picking my favorite! Love this salad! Have a great weekend!
Thank you Su! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend as well!
I love the combination of fruit and nut in a salad. This sounds yummy.
Thank you Liz. I like all kinds of flavors and textures in a salad. It makes them a lot more special I think.
I so do not care if this one’s a “mouthful” to say or not, Julie! 😉 Loving that this recipe includes an incredible, homemade pear dressing. I’ll take two buckets, please. 😉 Also, I’ve been drooling over your homemade croutons all week, so I think this salad might just be EVERYTHING topped with some of that good stuff. xo
Awe thank you so much Demeter. LOL buckets? I love a good salad, and I’ll even throw off the chickie for you.
I get to officially welcome you to Fiesta Friday Julie 🙂 Thanks for bringing this wonderful dish to the Fiesta. I can totally see myself devouring an entire bowl of this refreshing salad. I like the sauteed pears and that dressing, yum…..the addition of goat cheese and chopped pecans have rounded it off so well. I know this will be popular at the Fiesta seeing as we are finally experiencing some warmer temps and summer is around the corner. I’m trying to stay away from carbs for a while (very hard for me), but this gives me another great summery meal idea. Enjoy your weekend! The girls are coming home as we are celebrating Bert’s retirement party on Sunday. Should be a lot of fun with music, dancing and it will all be catered thankfully and taking place at a local bar/restaurant.
Thank you Loretta! Two of my favorite ladies hosting FF this week. I can’t believe you’re doing it with the weekend you have planned! How exciting for Bert. You guys will now have a ton of time to travel. The party will be a smash, and how wonderful that you have your girls too. I love it when we are all together. Take some pics and put them on FB!