I absolutely love the combination of flavours and textures in this Apple Fig Walnut Rocket Salad: crunchy apples, jammy dried figs, earthy walnuts and peppery rocket (arugula) coated in a garlicky pesto dressing!
I’d been wanting to make a salad for autumn/winter for a while, but had a hard time finding flavour combinations that would work without a cheese (namely goats cheese or blue cheese) to tie them together.
I love savoury fruit-based salads, so I just had to use something fruity – I went with seasonal apples and dried figs for extra sweetness, which, paired with the walnuts also adds a Christmassy touch.
I wanted something green yet seasonal, so went for rocket, and added avocado to make it more substantial.
I was really stuck about what sort of dressing to use – a blue cheese dressing was the first thing that came to mind, but I wasn’t sure how to make that one work without the cheese.
Then I remembered how I’d used pesto for salad dressings before, and thought that it’s salty, cheesy, garlicky, flavour would compliment the other components of this salad in a similar way to a blue cheese dressing. So I tried it, and it worked so well!
You can use store-bought pesto for this of course, but I really prefer to make my own as it tastes so much nicer.
I like to make big batches of homemade pesto and divide it up into smaller portions to store in the freezer. Leftover pesto is great for pasta dishes, or for making cooked vegetables more exciting.
It would be no exaggeration to say that this Apple fig Walnut Rocket Salad is my new favourite – I just love the combination of the crisp, fragrant apples, chewy, sweet dried figs, crunchy, slightly bitter walnuts and velvety, peppery rocket all covered in that deeply savoury yet fresh green pesto dressing.
I love having this salad as a side dish for things like pasta and soups. It’s also special enough to be the perfect seasonal salad for festive gatherings! And it happens to be vegan, gluten-free and incredibly healthy.
For more fruity salads, look out for my:
- Thai Mango Salad
- Papaya Mint Lime Salad
- Persimmon Avocado Rocket Salad
- Mango Daikon Radish Mint Salad
- Yuzu Dressing Persimmon Salad
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Helpful tools to make this Apple Fig Walnut Rocket Salad:
food processor
blender
hand-held stick blender
Apple Fig Walnut Rocket Salad (Vegan + GF)
Ingredients
For the pesto dressing:
- Handful of basil
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- Salt + pepper, to taste
For the salad:
- 2 red apples, cored and diced I like a crisp, tart-sweet variety such as Braeburn
- 4 dried figs, roughly chopped
- Handful of walnuts, roughly chopped
- Few handfuls of rocket (arugula)
- Squeeze of lemon juice
Instructions
For the pesto dressing:
- Add all the ingredients for the pesto dressing to a blender or food processor (or hand-held blender) and whizz until smooth
- If it’s looking a little too thick to be a dressing, add a little water to thin it out
For the salad:
- Place all the ingredients for the salad in a bowl and immediately squeeze over a generous amount of lemon juice to prevent the apples from oxidising
- Just before serving, pour the pesto dressing over the salad and mix well
- Best enjoyed immediately
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Hannah
Made this as a side dish for guests and everyone loved it thank you!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!