• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Rhian's Recipes

  • About
    • Contact
    • Work With Me
  • Recipes
  • Subscribe
  • Meal Plan
  • Cookbook
  • Blogging Tips
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Subscribe
  • Healthy Meal Plan
  • Cookbook
  • Blogging Tips
    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Recipes » Recipes » Lunch & Dinner

    Persimmon Salad (Vegan + GF)

    Last updated - July 14, 2021; Published - November 7, 2018 By Rhian Williams 6 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    This Persimmon Salad is super easy to make, sweet and fruity and beautifully colourful. It's got a great combination of fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, fresh leaves, and a delicious, well-balanced dressing that's salty, sour and sweet. It makes a great side dish for autumnal pastas and soups, but is also special enough to be the perfect seasonal salad for Thanksgiving or Christmas!

    Persimmon salad with sliced persimmon, dried cherries, chopped pecan nuts and rocket in a bowl

    What I love about this salad is that it bridges the gap between autumnal and festive, thanks to the rainbow of beautiful, almost Christmassy colours - the vivid orange of the persimmon, the bright green of the rocket (arugula), the ruby red of the dried fruit, and the earthy brown of the roasted nuts.

    Persimmon slices, dried cherries, rocket, chopped pecan nuts and a brown dressing in a bowl on a plate
    What are persimmons?


    Persimmons are a very common autumn/winter fruit in Japan, and are sometimes called sharon fruit or kaki (which is the Japanese word for them). They're sweet and juicy and become very soft when ripe.

    What type of persimmons should you use?


    For this salad, I'd recommend using a fairly unripe, firm persimmon that you can easily cut into small pieces. I've seen lots of people eat them with their skins on, but in Japan they're only ever eaten peeled (and I think this is pretty key to enjoying them as the skin is quite tough and doesn't taste very nice!).

    Two persimmons on a marble background

    Warning: Some varieties of persimmon taste very puckery and generally unpleasant unless they're very ripe, so make sure that the type you use are ok to eat when unripe/firm. Unfortunately it's hard to say exactly which varieties or shapes are like this as it will depend on the country where they've been grown, so it's best to check with someone from the shop you buy them from.

    Persimmon salad with sliced persimmon, dried cherries, chopped pecan nuts and rocket in a bowl with a spoon pouring brown dressing over it

    Substitutions you can make

    • You can replace the rocket (arugula) with any other salad leaves such as lettuce or baby spinach.
    • You can replace the dried cranberries with dried sour cherries or pomegranate arils.
    • You can replace the pecan nuts with hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds or walnuts.
    • You can replace the pomegranate molasses with any other sweetener.
    • If you'd rather make this salad into a proper meal rather than a side dish, you could even bulk it out with quinoa, buckwheat, or Puy lentils.

    More vegan salads

    • Thai Mango Salad
    • Papaya Mint Lime Salad
    • Apple Fig Walnut Rocket Salad
    • Miso Seaweed 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 #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.

    Persimmon salad with sliced persimmon, dried cherries, chopped pecan nuts and rocket in a bowl

    Persimmon Salad (Vegan + GF)

    This Persimmon Salad is super easy to make, sweet and fruity and beautifully colourful. A great festive side dish!
    4.20 from 5 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Salad, Side Dish
    Cuisine: Japanese
    Keyword: persimmon salad, thanksgiving salad
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 0 minutes
    Total Time: 10 minutes
    Servings: 4
    Calories: 79kcal
    Author: Rhian Williams

    Ingredients

    • 2 firm persimmons , peeled and sliced
    • Handful dried cranberries (or sub dried sour cherries)
    • Few handfuls rocket (arugula) leaves
    • Handful roasted pecan nuts , roughly chopped

    For the dressing:

    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses (or sub any other syrup e.g. date syrup, maple syrup, agave syrup)
    • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (or sub apple cider vinegar)
    • Pinch salt to taste

    Instructions

    • Place all the ingredients for the salad in a bowl.
    • Mix together all the ingredients for the dressing in a separate bowl.
    • Just before serving, pour the dressing over the salad and mix well.
    • Best enjoyed immediately.

    Notes

    For the purposes of this salad, I'd recommend using a fairly unripe, firm one that you can easily cut into small pieces. I've seen lots of people eat them with their skins on, but in Japan they're only ever eaten peeled (and I think this is pretty key to enjoying them as the skin is quite tough and doesn't taste very nice!).
    Some varieties of persimmon taste very puckery and generally unpleasant unless they're very ripe, so make sure that the type you use are ok to eat when unripe/firm. Unfortunately it's hard to say exactly which varieties or shapes are like this as it will depend on the country where they've been grown, so it's best to check with someone from the shop you buy them from.
    Nutrition Facts
    Persimmon Salad (Vegan + GF)
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 79 Calories from Fat 63
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 7g11%
    Sodium 2mg0%
    Carbohydrates 4g1%
    Sugar 2g2%
    Vitamin C 0.3mg0%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
    Made the recipe?Tag @rhiansrecipes on instagram and use the hashtag #rhiansrecipes!

    Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.

     

    More Lunch & Dinner Recipes

    • Gluten-Free Dinner Rolls (Vegan + No Yeast)
    • Tofu Burger (Vegan + Gluten-Free)
    • Vegan Sausage Rolls (Gluten-Free)
    • Gluten-Free Vegan Irish Soda Bread
    • Share
    • Tweet

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




    1. Anonymous

      April 30, 2018 at 3:37 pm

      5 stars
      Love persimmon and have been looking for a way to use it - will give this salad a go!

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        April 30, 2018 at 3:40 pm

        Thank you!

    2. Jackie

      November 08, 2018 at 2:47 am

      5 stars
      This looks wonderful! I'm pondering if I can locate this fruit in the Northern Rockies. I shall have a look-see. Thank you!

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        November 08, 2018 at 12:22 pm

        Thank you so much! Ah I hope you can find it, persimmon is so delicious!

    3. Victoria

      November 26, 2019 at 8:32 am

      Picture has avocados....

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        November 26, 2019 at 3:19 pm

        I'm sorry which picture are you referring to?

    Primary Sidebar

    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Photo of Rhian Williams from Rhian's Recipes

    Hi, I'm Rhian! I make easy, undetectably vegan + gluten-free recipes, including healthy comfort food and naturally sweetened desserts using plant-based ingredients.

    Learn more.

    Popular Recipes

    Three vegan blueberry muffins with a bite taken out of one with a bowl of fresh blueberries in the background

    Vegan Blueberry Muffins (Gluten-Free)

    A stack of oat flour pancakes topped with desiccated coconut and syrup on a blue plate

    Oat Flour Pancakes (Vegan + GF)

    A loaf of gluten-free rice bread topped with mixed seeds with two slices next to it against a sheet of brown baking paper

    Gluten-Free Rice Bread (Vegan)

    A loaf of coconut flour bread topped with sunflower seeds and poppy seeds with two slices next to it

    Coconut Flour Bread (Vegan + Gluten-Free)

    A loaf of gluten-free vegan oat bread topped with oats with two slices on the side

    Gluten-Free Vegan Oat Bread

    Five vegan coconut flour pancakes stacked in a pile decorated with fresh raspberries and coconut flakes on a green plate against a grey background

    Vegan Coconut Flour Pancakes (Gluten-Free)

    A loaf of oat flour bread with two slices

    Oat Flour Bread (Vegan + Gluten-Free)

    A sliced vegan baked cheesecake topped with wild strawberries and strawberry flowers

    Vegan Baked Cheesecake (Gluten-Free)

    Footer

    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About
    • Privacy Policy & Disclosure
    • Copyright Notice

    Newsletter

    • Subscribe for free updates

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Work With Me

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework ·