This Granny Smith Apple Salad with iceberg lettuce is my family’s favorite at a local Italian restaurant. Garnished with candied pecans, feta cheese, cranberries, apples, and mozzarella cheese, it is finished with a sweet Italian dressing. Although it sounds like a typical restaurant salad found on many menus, it has a couple of unexpected surprises.
Discover the Unexpected Deliciousness of Iceberg Salad
The first surprise is that this salad uses old-school iceberg lettuce. If you are not a fan of iceberg, don’t turn away just yet. This is one iceberg salad that you need to try! It is so delicious that even salad-averse people usually love it. Served in chilled bowls, it’s reminiscent of old-school steakhouse salads because of the iceberg lettuce. But that is where the comparisons end. This salad has a pleasing sweet dressing and crunch from candied pecans and Granny Smith apples. The cheese helps balance the sweetness, and the cranberries add texture and flavor.
Serve Granny Smith Apple Salad in Chilled Bowls
The second surprise is key to this salad’s flavor: a chilled bowl, which keeps the iceberg lettuce crisp. The restaurant serves this salad in a large, chilled, family-style bowl. They hand out individual metal, ice-cold bowls for self-serving. The cold bowls keep everything chilled and set expectations that this is a special salad.
Don’t Substitute the Lettuce
If I’m honest, I don’t eat much iceberg lettuce in salads. I like the fancy stuff — plenty of mixed greens and leafy lettuce. So I recreated this salad with leaf lettuce, thinking I would improve it. Unfortunately, my salad just wasn’t the same in texture or taste because the mixed greens weren’t stiff enough to make the crunch this salad is known for. I also didn’t chill the bowls, which made a difference in flavor. From then on, I made this salad with iceberg and chilled both the main serving bowl and individual bowls, which helps prevent the lettuce from wilting and keeps the dressing ice cold.
Toss the Dressing with the Granny Smith Apple Salad
When you prepare this salad, pour the dressing over the entire salad and toss it, along with the candied pecans, cranberries, apples, and cheese. Use tongs and let everyone serve themselves from the serving bowl. Also, use chilled salad dressing, as room-temperature dressing can wilt the lettuce. Another tip: Use the freshest iceberg lettuce you can find for the best-tasting salad.
Candy the Pecans
Making candied pecans might seem like a lot of trouble, but it’s actually simple. First, chop the pecans with a knife on a cutting board or lightly chop them in an electric chopper. (Better yet, take a shortcut and buy chopped pecans.) Then add the butter, pecans, and sugar to a skillet. Stir and cook the pecans for two or three minutes, until they’re coated with the sugar mixture. Don’t cook them too long, or they will burn. Finally, remove them from the pan and let them cool while you work on the rest of the salad.
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Granny Smith Apple Salad
Equipment
- parchment paper or a silicone mat
Ingredients
Salad Dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dehydrated onions (found on the spice aisle in grocery store)
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 2 pinches of garlic powder
Candied Pecans
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 ½ cup pecan pieces
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Salad
- 1 medium head iceberg lettuce, torn into small pieces
- ¾ cup candied pecan pieces
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup feta cheese, chopped into small pieces
- â…“ cup mozzarella cheese, finely shredded
- â…“ cup Granny Smith apples, unpeeled and diced into small pieces (about 1/2 of a medium to large apple)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup salad dressing
Instructions
Salad Dressing
- In a medium bowl, mix all of the dressing ingredients together and stir well. Place in the refrigerator and let the dressing sit for about an hour to soften the dehydrated onions.
Pecans
- In a skillet, melt the butter. Add the pecans and sugar.
- Stir constantly over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar melts, and all the pecans are coated. The sugar will burn quickly, so remove the pan from the heat if it starts to brown. Immediately pour the pecans from the pan onto parchment paper (or silicone mat) and spread out to cool, breaking up any large clumps with a knife.
- After the pecans cool, break the small clumps into smaller pieces.
Assembling the Salad
- Dice the apples into small pieces. Place in a bowl with 1 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Let them sit for at least 5 minutes while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Then drain and dry them with a paper towel.
- Measure out cranberries, pecans, and mozzarella cheese and set aside.
- Chop the feta cheese into fine pieces. Set aside.
- Tear the washed, dried, and chilled lettuce into small pieces, then place it in a large serving bowl. Toss with 1/2 cup of salad dressing to lightly coat all of the lettuce. Be careful not drench the lettuce, but add more dressing if needed.
- Add the pecans, cranberries, mozzarella, feta cheese, and apples, and toss with the lettuce to distribute. Keep the salad chilled until ready to serve.