Eat the rainbow with this super flavorful arugula goat cheese salad that comes together with 6 simple ingredients in under 30 minutes. Enjoy!
Super Simple Goat Cheese Salad
While this salad is oh so simple and comes together with just 6 ingredients, it by no means skimps on flavor. You’ll absolutely love the combination of fresh tomatoes with arugula and toasted almonds — and of course, GOAT CHEESE.
Goat Cheese Salad – What You Need
It’s time to round up the following ingredients for this delicious goat cheese salad. You’ll need:
- Slivered almonds
- Arugula
- Diced red onion
- Cherry tomatoes
- Dried cranberries
- Goat cheese crumbles
For the dressing
- Olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Salt & pepper
Choosing Goat Cheese
Goat cheese (or often called chévre it’s french name) is one of the main ingredients of this delicious arugula salad. There are so many varieties of goat cheese at major grocery stores. You can by crumbly goat cheese, creamy goat cheese, tangy goat cheese, or even flavored goat cheese.
We went with a crumbly plain goat cheese for this recipe. Feel free to get creative and use an herb goat cheese or even a honey chev!
How to Make Arugula Goat Cheese Salad
Make Dressing
Add olive oil and balsamic vinegar to a jar. Then, add salt and pepper and cover the jar. Shake all the ingredients together until combined and then set aside for dressing your salad at the end.
Toast Almonds
Next, in a small skillet, toast the slivered almonds over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the almonds from heat, and set aside until they’re cool.
Toss arugula Salad
Add arugula, red onion, tomatoes, dried cranberries, goat cheese crumbles, and slivered almonds into a large bowl and toss all of the ingredients together.
Dress salad & enjoy
Finally, drizzle the dressing onto the salad, one tablespoon at a time. Continue to add one tablespoon of dressing until the salad is dressed as you see fit.
Easy Substitutions
If you don’t have everything you need for this salad at home, it’s ok to make substitutions! Below are some easy swaps:
- Arugula —> Spring greens or spinach
- Almonds —> Pecans or walnuts
- Dried cranberries —> Dried cherries or raisins
- Cherry tomatoes —> Slicing tomatoes or grape tomatoes
What to Serve with this Salad
We love adding a meat protein to this salad! Steak, chicken or shrimp would all be delicious additions. Check out some of our recipes on our sister site, Fit Foodie Finds:
Arugula Goat Cheese Salad
Ingredients
- ¼ cup slivered almonds
- 2.5 ounces arugula
- ½ medium red onion diced
- 12 oz. cherry tomatoes halved
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup goat cheese crumbles
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to a jar. Add salt and pepper and cover the jar.
- Shake all the ingredients together until combined and then set aside.
- Next, in a small skillet, toast the slivered almonds over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.Remove from heat and set aside until cool.
- Add arugula, red onion, tomatoes, dried cranberries, goat cheese crumbles, and slivered almonds into a large bowl and toss all of the ingredients together.
- Finally, drizzle dressing onto the salad, one tablespoon at a time. Continue to add one tablespoon of dressing until the salad is dressed as desired.
the taste was great! my only two comments are 1. this was, for me, a 2-serving salad when eating it as a main dish. 2. I may have had a large onion, but it was a bit overpowering to use half an onion. I’d use a bit less next time—and would use slices rather than diced.
Thanks for this review, Elizabeth! And so glad you enjoyed this salad as a main dish 😀