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Pear and Pomegranate Salad

Name: Pear and Pomegranate Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 head Boston lettuce ((or any lettuce you like), torn into bite sized pieces); 1 Cucumber (cut into slices); 10 Tomatoes; 1 Pear (sliced); 2 tbsp Pomegranate seeds; 3 slices cooked bacon (crumpled); 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese shavings; 4 tablespoons balsamic dressing

Last updated on October 7, 2020. Originally posted on January 13, 2020 By Elaine 50 Comments

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This pretty pear and pomegranate salad recipe is festive and delicious! Perfect for when you want to eat lighter and healthier but still want something that pleases your eyes as well as your tummy!

Balsamic dressing and shaved parmesan on the salad with another salad and cheese in the background

Want a fun, colorful salad to eat after the holidays? Me too.

This pear and pomegranate salad is so tasty and satisfying that you could eat it as your main meal if you wanted to. Christopher and I usually split one and combine it with a main dish. Usually.

But sometimes, I want to have only salad for dinner. When that happens, I make sure Christopher gets a pear pomegranate salad of his own. We can’t have him dipping his errant fork into mine now, can we!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m willing to share. Mostly. But when the pretty pear pomegranate salad is my whole meal, then I feel like a mama bear defending her cubs. And once you taste this salad, you’ll see why. It’s a perfect combination of flavors that blend well without being too sweet and that make a person, well, a little possessive.

What makes this pretty pear pomegranate salad even more perfect, in my opinion, is the addition of bacon.

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Choosing your ingredients

As all tastes are different, choose pears at the ripeness that you want to eat. If you’re not familiar with pears, choose one that is firm but not rock hard.
I use a Bosc pear in this recipe but D’Anjou could also work.
You should use whatever lettuce you prefer but I recommend Boston lettuce because the leaves are so tender and the flavor is delicate, like the pears.
For more flavor and a bit of indulgence, I love adding bacon to my salads.
Shaved parmesan is the fancy way to go, but shredded or grated taste just as delicious.

How to remove pomegranate seeds (aka arils)

Wear an apron because the juice can stain your clothes.
With the pomegranate nub facing the ceiling, make a cut into the skin no more than a quarter of the way deep down into the fruit and around the entire circumference.
Keeping the nub face up, turn the fruit 45 degrees and cut the skin again the same way as above. When you’re done, the skin has been cut in quarters.
Twist the fruit to break it open. Holding the fruit over a large bowl, place your thumbs on the skin and push with your thumbs. Some seeds will fall into the bowl, but know that most of the seeds are deeply embedded in the papery substance.
With your fingers, gently remove the seeds.
There may be paper stuck to the seeds. Either remove the paper without the water as I do, or fill the bowl with water and let the paper rise to the top of the water.

How to make pear and pomegranate salad

Pre-step

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a jelly pan with foil.

Step one

Gather the ingredients – pomegranate, a pear, uncooked bacon, tomatoes, cucumber and Boston lettuce.

The ingredients for the salad including the Pomegranate, pear, bacon, cucumber, tomato and Boston lettuce

Step two

Lay strips of bacon on the foiled lined pan and bake for 10 minutes. Flip the bacon and bake for another 10 minutes. Place bacon on a plate with paper towels and blot the grease off the slices.

Bacon cooked and laid out on a blue plate with Boston lettuce in two white bowls in the background

Step three

As the bacon is baking, remove pomegranate seeds using the steps I provide above in the helpful tips above or in the notes section of the recipe card. Set aside.

Step four

Remove the nub from the Boston lettuce, separate the leaves and break them into bite size pieces. Divide lettuce between the two bowls.

Step five

Cut the cucumber in as many slices as you like. I find six slices to be perfect. Add them to the lettuce.

Boston lettuce and cucumber slices with the bacon on the plate in the background

Step six

Add washed grape tomatoes. Use as many as you like.

Cherry tomatoes added to the salad with bacon in the background

Step seven

Add as many pear slices as you like.

Step eight

Add as many pomegranate seeds and crumble as much bacon as you like.

Bacon crumbled on the salad with a bowl of pomegranate seeds in the background

Step nine

Shave some fresh parmesan cheese on the salads.

Step ten

All that is left to do is dribble on your dressing of choice. I find that balsamic dressing is the way to go.

Balsamic dressing and shaved parmesan on the pomegranate salad with another salad and cheese in the background

Delicious! We enjoyed eating these pear and pomegranate salads and you will too!

Other popular salads

Please feel free to leave me a comment, let me know what is your favorite salad? I’d really like to know.

And as always, may all your dishes be delish!

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