It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a warm salad dressing. Probably because the warm dressing recipes I come across usually involve bacon. That’s why I was intrigued by this warm dressing that replaces the bacon with something more nutritious, more delicious and more beautiful….dried cranberries!
If you like cranberries you will love this dressing. It’s the perfect blend of tart cranberry flavor balanced with just the right amount of sweetness. Yes, dried cranberries do contain some added sugar. You actually have to sweeten cranberries to enjoy them. In fact, fresh cranberries (the kind you make cranberry sauce with) have roughly the same amount of sugar as a lemon, so they need a little sweetener to be palatable.
I decided to test the dressing on my favorite go-to salad…my everything but the kitchen sink salad…my salad that I throw together more than a few times per week when I’m pressed for time. It’s a mix of baby spinach and kale, orange bell peppers, hearts of palm, cucumbers, avocado, a can of tuna and a handful of pumpkin seeds, all tossed together in this creamy warm cranberry dressing. YUM!
So let’s get you making this recipe, shall we?
Green Salad With Warm Cranberry Dressing
Ingredients
For the Dressing:
- 4 Tbsp cranberry juice
- 2 Tbsp dried cranberries
- 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 6 Tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the Salad:
- 4 cups baby greens like spinach and kale
- 1/4 English cucumber diced
- 1 orange bell pepper chopped
- 3 hearts of palm chopped
- 1 small avocado diced
- 2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 1 can tuna drained
- Whatever else you want to put in it!
Instructions
- Place cranberry juice and dried cranberries in a small pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Stir in vinegar and Dijon mustard. Gradually whisk in olive oil so the mixture becomes a dressing. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Rinse spinach and kale leaves and place in large bowl. Add vegetables, avocado and pumpkin seeds. Gently toss salad ingredients with the dressing and serve.
Disclosure: This dressing recipe is not mine. It was provided to me by the Cranberry Marketing Committee. The Cranberry Institute sent me free samples of cranberries to test this recipe but I was not compensated to write this post. I just really dig cranberries. Don’t you?
