This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see our privacy policy.
Once you try this delicious Cranberry-Avocado Salad with Sweet White Balsamic Vinaigrette, you'll find yourself craving it again and again! It's bright, fresh and beyond versatile.
It's perfect for a quick lunch, a fancy brunch, a lovely side salad or a complete meal with chicken, shrimp or pork tenderloin piled on top. You can add goat cheese, blue cheese or any other fun cheese that strikes your fancy. It's wonderful with spinach, Romaine, field greens, Bibb lettuce, arugula ................ did I miss your favorite? Well, it's great with that too! Feel free to change out the nut also - don't have any almonds? Candied Spiced Pecans would be a fabulous switcheroo!
For holidays, you could add a sprinkle of crimson pomegranate seeds or how about a scatter of blood orange or ruby red grapefruit wedges? Slivers of mango are beautiful as well as grape halves or sliced crisp apples or pears. Are you starting to get the picture? It's another Little Black Dress Recipe; totally adaptable, simple or elegant, dress it up or down depending on the occasion. I keep a jar in the fridge so we can have a delicious salad on the spur of the moment with whatever's in season and/or whatever's stashed in my fruit/veggie bins!
The recipe below is for my Cranberry-Avocado Salad with Candied Spiced Almonds and Sweet White Balsamic Vinaigrette (the almonds from yesterday's post) but feel free to have use the dressing for other salads and to adapt the recipe according to your tastes, whims, cravings, pantry and budget!
Want to see more delicious recipes from The Café? Sign up for our EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION. That way you'll never miss a post, or any of our "TIPS, TRICKS and IDEAS" emails, which you won't find here on the blog.
You can join us on FACEBOOK and TWITTER as well as INSTAGRAM - we have lots of fun over there!
We're forever pinning recipes and inspirational ideas on PINTEREST - just click to follow us.
Scroll Down for the Recipe - or Save It to Your Inbox
We’ll email you the recipe so it’s easy to save, print, or share.
Cranberry-Avocado Salad with Sweet White Balsamic Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- Ingredients for the dressing:
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1 ½ tablespoons sesame seeds
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons dried mustard
- 1 tablespoon minced sweet onion
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup white balsamic vinegar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oii
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Ingredients for the salad:
- 12 ounces baby spinach, arugula, field greens
- 1 small bunch cilantro, washed and dried, leaves removed whole from stems
- 2 medium avocados, peeled and halved
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
- ¾ cup Candied Spiced Almonds
Instructions
- For the dressing, combine all ingredients in a pint sized glass jar and shake well to dissolve sugar.
- For the salad, place greens and cilantro leaves in a large bowl. Add avocado and dried cranberries and about ¼ cup of the dressing and toss gently. Scatter candied almonds over salad and sprinkle lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pass extra dressing at the table.
Shop Our Café Loves
We’ve gathered our favorite kitchen tools, tableware, and entertaining treasures in one place, the Café Loves store. It’s a wonderful spot to find something special for yourself or the cooks and hosts you love!
Hi Chris - I saw this recipe pinned and had to stop by to tell you how fantastic it looks. I have to make your vinaigrette. It's perfect for leafy greens!
Hi Chris,
I made this salad on Christmas Eve to RAVE REVIEWS!! I followed your recipe to a T, with the only change to add some roasted sweet potatoes (like in the autumn salad). Thank you for such a great recipe here - I love your blog. Happy 2015!
Katie
Thanks so much Katie!
I don't see sugar in the recipe
Hi Judi, sugar is the first ingredient. 🙂
This salad sounds delicious! I love the sound of that dressing as well!
Hello, love the salad, any ideas what can be used to substitute your own dressing with one you can buy at the store...anything closed to the taste to yours?
Hello Yelena! Thanks for stopping by. I'm not familiar with store bought dressings so I wouldn't be a good one to ask. The dressing is super simple though, just throw all the ingredients in a jar and shake, that's it. If you don't have all the seeds, don't worry, it will still be super good!
I would say yes to seconds and thirds on this salad, it has everything I love!
Do you know what the calories are per serving? Also, if I serve it as a side salad, do you have any suggestions for what I might serve as a main course? Thanks, S. Smith
Hi Shirlee, I don't know the calories, sorry though I think there are sites where you can submit a recipe and get all the nutritional info. I love to serve this with grilled chicken or pork and some oven roasted potatoes. It also goes well with paninis and sandwiches!
Do you know what the calories are per serving? Also, if I use this as a side salad, do you have any suggestions for what I might make as a main course to go with it?
Thanks Laura, it is quite yummy! I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment!
I have made this salad/dressing a dozen times...it's the best salad ever!!!! Didn't use cilantro. Put all dressing ingredients except poppy seeds in vitamix (can use regular blender) then stirred poppy seeds in by hand.
Thanks Christy, we love it too and I think your salad sounds fabulous!
This salad dressing is so delicious!! It has become my family's favorite. We have made the cranberry avocado salad and it was amazing, but I've also used on a salad with apples, cranberries, blue cheese and sugared pecans. Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi! I think rice vinegar would work just fine and also be very delicious.
I was wondering if there was a substitute for the balsamic vinegar. I cannot consume any alcohol or wine. If there is an answer to this, it would be very helpful! Beautiful pictures by the way!!
Thank you ... sounds wonderful! Gonna serve this today with my New Year Tourtière.
Hope you enjoy it!
Trying out this salad for Christmas Eve dinner tonight :). It really looks savory, however my almonds do not look as pretty as yours :). Thanks for the recipe and Merry Christmas!
I can see why this salad is such a huge hit Chris... then again, I do refer to you as the salad lady. Nobody makes a salad like The Cafe Sucre Farine! Love the click of the vinaigrette and those almonds... oh my... ;0)
I can see why this salad is such a huge hit Chris... then again, I do refer to you as the salad lady. Nobody makes a salad like The Cafe Sucre Farine! Love the click of the vinaigrette and those almonds... oh my... ;0)
Oooh!! The candied spiced almonds are brilliant!! Love the salad and the vinaigrette!
I'm sorry but I don't have the nutritional information on this salad. Maybe someone else out there does.....?
how many calories does this salad have? does anyone know?
So happy you enjoyed this! It seems to be a hit with quite a few people! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Just made this salad tonight, and it was a hit! Only change I made was to use olive oil, instead of a blend, and I didn't caramelize the sliced almonds, but simply toasted them. It was still delicious! The dressing is lovely!....maybe next time I'll go the extra step with the nuts....I'm sure it will be even more amazing!! Thank you, this a keeper!
Thanks for getting back about your salad results! That's amazing that your 8 year old will eat salad! My kids wouldn't touch anything with lettuce till they got much older, BRAVO to you!
This salad was just delicious! It's one my favorites now too. I added grilled chicken breast but shrimp or salmon would also be great! My 8 yr old son and husband raved about this salad so "thank you" for a recipe that left us with full tummies and smiling faces.
Dana, pecans should work just as well. Hope you enjoy the salad, it's one of our favorites!
Just made the candied and spiced almonds. They are YUMMY! I could eat them all up right now...but will wait to try them on the Cranberry-Avocado Salad for dinner.
I want to try this with pecans. Do I need to adjust the recipe?
I saw this on Pinterest and all I can say is, "Wow, this looks yummy!" I can hardly wait to be able to make it!
This is an incredible salad. My husband and I decided it was our favorite.
The salad and dressing look so so so incredibly amazing!!
Delicious!
This looks amazing and something I could easily get addicted to. I hope you don't mind that your recipe (full credit & linkback to source of course) was added to this roundup of delicious summer salads.
The Best Summer Salads
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment - I love your addition of cucumber!
Wonderful salad!! Made this for Easter dinner. I did add some cucumber and made the dressing with regular (non-white) balsamic just because that's what I had. It was amazing; and it trickled over to my ham and tasted great on it too 🙂
Thanks, Janet for leaving a comment - this salad has definitely become an all time favorite with the readers of the Café!
Saw this recipe on Pinterest yesterday and made it for dinner. Delicious!
Your salad looks fantastic and I'm totally going to make it for lunch today. I"ve shared it with my readers at The Handmade Experiment. http://emilyflippinmaruna.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/must-make-monday-dairy-free-foods/
Thanks and feel free to grab a button if you're interested!
Emily
I just wanted to let you know I found your recipe on Pinterest. I made this over the weekend and could not get enough of it. Absolutely delicious!!!
Love your salad! We share links to special recipes that include avocados every day on our Facebook page. Today we'll share yours! Facebook/Avocados_Direct
Good question that I forgot to address! Since there are no fresh herbs in this dressing it will last a good 10 days to 2 weeks
1
How long does the salad dressing last in the fridge? Thanks!
This is an amazing recipe, thank you. Sweet and savoury!
This salad was unbelievable! I served it with corn chowder tonight's and it made the meal. Thank you!
LOVE!your recipes & can't wait to try them. BUT...could you PLEASE turn off the snowflakes! They freeze my computer 🙁
Looks yummy! Can't wait to try this!!
Ummm,that looks wonderful! I love everything in it. My only question is, does your salad ever taste better when someone else makes it? I definitely have that problem. Please FedEx one over;)
Thanks for your sweet comment about my little Sausage. He is a nut.
I make a very similar salad and sometimes use strawberries instead of the cranberries, esp.in the summer. It is my favorite, and as you said, very adaptable.
This looks wonderful, and you could make a whole meal out of it!! Avacados have lots of the fat that is good for your health! Can't wait to see the quiche!
This looks so delicious and has so many things in it that I really enjoy. Thanks for sharing a great salad recipe.
Fondly,
Glenda
What a stunning looking salad. You've outdone yourself on these photos! Gorgeous. The flavors and ingredients in this salad make this everyday friendly but also great for guest. It does have a lot of wow factor!
Hey Chris, your Salad is a Recipe Guessing Game on Knapkins. Think your friends can win?
What a lovely creation. It's an eye pleaser and it also sounds delicious. I'm a salad lover and I'll have to give this one a try. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary
Bookmarked. This salad looks and sounds fabulous!
Now this is my kind of Salad!! I love your vinaigrette, I'm going to make it today! Oh and those quiches.. Delicious!
This salad looks amazing. This is the perfect all year salad...it looks like the ultimate holiday salad but would be a hit anytime of year. What a lovely combination.
I look forward to trying these last two as well as tomorrow's recipe. As always, the photography is just gorgeious, so shows off your creations. I also love the quotes you have been using and this one by Martin Luther is so very true--hallelujah, what a Saviour!
Oh, it sounds so yummy!
We're not that far - jump in your car and drive on over, I'll fix you lunch - how much fun we'd have together!
Look amazing, I love avocados:))
You know, I'm not a big salad person, but when I crave one I REALLY crave one. That's happening right now. I am amazed at how beautiful that salad is and how much I want to grab a slice of avocado off the plate. The dressing is perfect (maybe just a little too much sugar for my palate). Wow, oh wow.
I haven't tried it as a marinade but now your giving more ideas...... I can already picture it as a marinade AND a drizzle for grilled chicken! Thanks Sandra!
This salad looks beautiful.....I love all of the ingredients....great idea!
This is a meal in itself and I am already craving it. Have you ever tried the vinaigrette as a marinade?
Really, this salad, it looks pretty, pretty good. And not kust for holidays!
omy...looks divine...wonderful preparation..:)
Tasty Appetite
for you......... anything!
Can I please request this for next Saturday?!?! Looks so yummy!
But of course I'll gladly defer to the chef's choice....
🙂
C
I would like to have this salad right now. It looks so delicious!
Your dressing on this salad, especially the avocado, looks so delicious!