Autumn Apple Pasta Salad with Poppyseed Dressing
Easy Autumn Apple Pasta Salad Recipe made with fresh baby spinach, sweet apples, crisp celery, dried cherries, mandarin oranges, and buttery pecans, all tossed with a homemade Poppyseed Dressing. Enjoy this fresh, delicious, and festive apple pasta salad as a light lunch or holiday appetizer.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 654kcal
Ingredients
Salad:
- 10 ounces fresh baby spinach - or other favorite green
- 1.5 cups uncooked pasta - go with your favorite - just not noodles :)
- 3 stalks celery - chopped
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 2 medium apples - I used Fuji, cut into thin slices
- 1 lemon juiced
- ½ cup pecans
- 1 (15-ounce) can mandarin oranges - liquid drained
Dressing:
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tbso apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 4 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ cup orange juice
- ½ teaspoon orange zest
- salt - to taste
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook your pasta until al dente (not quite fully cooked).
- While the noodles are cooking, prepare the dressing. Place all salad dressing ingredients (EXCEPT the poppyseeds) into the bowl of a blender and blend until fully immersed, approximately 10-15 seconds. Gently stir in the poppy seeds and set dressing aside until ready to serve (if preparing ahead of time store dressing in an air-tight container in the refrigerator).
- Check the pasta. When ready, drain the pasta and immediately run under cold water to stop the noodles from cooking further.
- In a large bowl, mix the apple slices with the lemon juice (the lemon juice prevents the apple slices from browning). Drain the lemon juice and add the celery, cranberries, and pecans.
- In a separate bowl, add the cooked pasta, mandarin oranges, and half the poppyseed dressing. Mix well to combine.
- Add the pasta mixture and the spinach to the bowl with the apples and cranberries and drizzle with remaining poppyseed dressing. Toss to coat.
- This salad is best served immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
Originally published January 10, 2017
Nutrition
Calories: 654kcal | Carbohydrates: 106g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 91mg | Potassium: 1266mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 69g | Vitamin A: 9110IU | Vitamin C: 124.2mg | Calcium: 255mg | Iron: 3.6mg
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