They say you taste first with your eyes and this Nectarine Salad is one of the most beautifully delicious summer salad recipes I’ve seen. It’s posh enough to be one of your Easter side dishes, yet simple enough to be in the everyday rotation of summer salad recipes. This baby’s ready in just a few minutes flat and it’s almost too pretty to eat. Go ahead and keep an extra copy in your Easter recipes because you will eat it.
If this little gem inspires you to serve up more salads, you may really enjoy a grilled peach salad. The grill imparts a complex flavor that’s just unparalleled. Or you can up the protein ante with a delicious mango black bean salad.
In the meantime, check out this little stunner!
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What I Love About This Recipe
- Vibrant and inviting
- Simple and nutritious
How To Make Nectarine Salad Recipe
Tossing up this Nectarine salad is just a simple mouth-happy experience. Simply add some orange juice to sliced nectarines and set aside while you whip up the vibrant vinaigrette. Toss your greens, assemble your salad and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
To get the very best flavor from your vinaigrette, start with the honey which is your emulsifier. Then add your flavorings, spices, and vinegar until you reach the desired flavor. You’ll want to add your oil last and adjust spices as needed. Here’s a little more about the best way to build a homemade vinaigrette.
Ingredient Notes
You’ll want to spring for your favorite honey here. It makes all the difference in the flavor of your vinaigrette. If you opt for the cheapest thing on the shelf, it’ll show in the way your Nectarine salad tastes. Trust me on this one.
Tools to Make
This Nectarine salad is a gorgeous simple salad with flavor built right in. You’ll only need a couple of things to pull it off.
How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge?
This yummy nectarine salad is best served fresh, but it will stay good in the fridge for a day. I don’t recommend completely assembling too far ahead of time, but it only takes a minute to throw it together.
Storing Tips
If you’ve got more nectarine salad than you can eat in one sitting it’ll keep for a short time in a covered container. The greens tend to wilt once dressed so I like to dress to serve.
Can You Freeze This?
Negative. Unfortunately, you can’t successfully freeze green salad, but you can freeze the vinaigrette if it helps. I like to freeze mine in ice cube trays so I can thaw only what I need. Just throw a couple of cubes in a covered container and slow thaw in the fridge overnight.
Make Ahead Tips
If you’re prepping ahead of time, you can always whip up the zesty vinaigrette because it’ll stay good in the fridge for a week. It’ll give all the flavors time to mingle and get friendly. Then all you’ll have to do is dress and build your nectarine salad.
Serving Recommendations
This delicious nectarine salad makes a fantastic lunch, but it also pairs well with chicken, like, grilled cilantro lime chicken and grilled chicken marinade at the dinner table. Shish kabob, barbecue, or even shrimp make this salad the perfect sidekick.
Recipe Variations
This super appealing nectarine salad comes with an unadulterated easy button that makes the recipe totally flexible. Here are some tasty variations.
- A few simple swaps can turn this into the ultimate mandarin orange salad.
- Replace the nectarines and feta with strawberries and blue cheese for a beautiful strawberry salad.
- Trade the greens for grapes and turn this into a refreshing grape salad that pops.
- Peaches and nectarines are often interchangeable so you can turn this into a lovely peach salad.
- Replace the fruit with bacon and boiled egg for a crisp cobb salad.
Nectarine Salad
Ingredients
For the vinaigrette
- 1 small shallot minced
- 3 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice divided
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 6 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- to taste salt and pepper
For the salad
- 1/2 pound salad greens your choice
- 2/3 cup fresh raspberries
- 2 sliced nectarines
- 1/4 cup goat cheese crumbled
- 1/2 cup pistachio
- fresh raspberries and orange slices
Instructions
- For the vinaigrette: In a medium bowl, combine the shallot with the raspberry vinegar, orange zest, 1 1/2 tablespoons of the orange juice, honey and a pinch of salt.
- Gradually whisk the olive oil into the vinegar mixture.
- Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- In another small bowl, place the sliced nectarines into the remaining orange juice and set aside for a few minutes.
- For the salad: Just before serving, toss the salad greens lightly with the vinaigrette. Add the nectarine slices, raspberries, pistachios and a sprinkle of goat cheese.
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More Fruit Salad Recipes
Here’s some other beautiful fruit salad recipes you may enjoy.
- Strawberry Spinach Salad – Crisp colorful nutrition.
Conclusion
This fresh and fruity nectarine salad is a myriad of colorful textures and flavors just waiting to dance around in your mouth. It’s a beautiful dish worthy of Easter dinner yet simple enough for summer lunch. You are gonna’ love this salad and yes – they’re gonna’ want seconds!
Source: As seen on The Curvy Carrot slightly adapted from Fine Cooking
So perfect
This is such a healthy way to enjoy the fruits of summer. Your salad almost does look too pretty to eat but, then that is a good reason to eat it! Awesome.
Velva
This looks perfect! It has all of my very favorite summer ingredients…
this looks really good and using half the dressing sounds like it is just the right amount:)
this is really beautiful! I love the ingredients of the salad and dressing is making my taste buds sing as I read it!
Mary x
You're right Kathleen…that is one gorgeous salad! Healthy and lots of summer flavors. I like the zest in the vinaigrette.
What an awesome combo, and light too! I love finding new salads in the summer.
This sounds amazing. I'm starting back on weight watchers, and this makes me look forward to healthy eating!
What a fun combination of ingredients and flavors!! Looks like the perfect summer salad