Watercress Salad

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A super simple watercress salad with fresh apple, pears, and toasted almonds tossed in an easy homemade honey mustard dressing. This salad is light, crisp, and refreshing, a perfect companion to start off a heavy meal. This nutritious salad is ready in just minutes and pairs well with your favorite protein.

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Why This Recipe Works

The sweet crunchy apple, juicy pears, and peppery watercress are complemented by the creamy and tangy dressing.
This simple salad is light and refreshing, a great way to start a heavy meal.
Ready in less than 20 minutes!
Healthy and nutritious with simple common ingredients.

Try my Chicken Club Pasta Salad!

What is Watercress

Watercress is a member of the cabbage family but tastes very different. With a bright, fresh, yet peppery flavor similar to mustard greens or radishes. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked and add a delightful twist to salads, or as a topping for main dishes.

Watercress is normally found in the produce section of the grocery store either next to the fresh lettuce, or prepared in a bag with the bagged salad mix.

In this easy salad watercress adds a vibrant peppery bite to the salad which works well with the fresh apples, pears, and toasted almonds. The creamy honey mustard dressing plays into the sweet zesty nature of this salad for a perfectly balanced and refreshing salad.

Variations

Like any salad the variations are only limited by your imagination, any number of ingredients can be added to the salad to change up the flavors from crispy bacon, to toasted nuts, or sweet fruits. Try some of these winning combos for your next salad.

Bacon
Goats cheese
Mandarin oranges
Sliced grapes
Avocado
Shallots
Walnuts
Pumpkin seeds
Dried cranberries
Grilled chicken

The homemade creamy mustard dressing in this salad compliments the ingredients very well, but any of your favorite dressings, store-bought or homemade can be used in its place!

Tips

Use younger watercress for this salad, similar to microgreens. Older larger leaves of watercress tend to be tougher and bitter.
At times the stems of the watercress may be tough and should be removed along with the roots.
If you are making this salad ahead of dinner add the dressing at the last minute to keep it crisp and fresh.
Be careful when toasting the almonds, they can burn fast so keep an eye on them.
If you have leftover watercress, wrap it in a paper towel and keep it in the fridge.
Arugula can be used in place of watercress if you can’t find it at the store.

What to Serve with Watercress Salad

Watercress salad serves very well as a part of a large dinner. Serve this easy salad with steak, roast chicken, lamb, pork or fish. This salad also pairs well with heavier pasta dishes like lasagna, spaghetti with meatballs, and ravioli.

Best Way to Store Leftovers

Leftover salad with dressing on it will only keep for about 1 day sealed in the fridge. If you are planning to make this ahead of time for dinner or meal prep and store it in the fridge, you should keep the ingredients separate and combine them at the last minute.

Storing this salad for meal prep

Wash and trim the watercress and wrap in a paper towel.
Prepare the apples and pears and drizzle with lemon juice to prevent browning before putting in an airtight container.
Toast almonds, chop, and place in an airtight container once cooled.
Prepare the dressing and leave sealed in the mason jar.
Place everything in the fridge and store for 3-4 days, once ready to eat combine all ingredients.

Try my Olive Garden Salad Dressing!

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