Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad: A simple pasta and spinach salad with tart apples, crisp celery, toasted pecans, sweet dried cranberries, and juicy oranges. This salad is dressed with a simple poppyseed vinaigrette.
Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad
We’re all obsessed with a good pasta salad at my home. And with Fall on the mind, I thought it would be great to combine a pasta salad with seasonal fruits and veggies like apples, cranberries, and pecans. Fall salad essentials!
This salad has it all — flavor, sweetness, and texture and we can’t get enough of it! Today I’m sharing plenty of tips to making the best pasta salad along with some variation ideas. Let’s get started!
Quick Tips
- Look for short pasta: Choose pasta that has plenty of nooks and crannies to catch as much of the dressing as possible. I use orecchiette pasta, but some other pastas that would work well is miniature farfelle, rotini, or small pasta shells.
- Salt the pasta water: Since this Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad is eaten cold, the flavors tend to get muted. Make sure the pasta is well-salted as it cooks, since salting is the only chance you have to season the actual pasta. Don’t be afraid to add more salt to the finished salad if it needs it. Read about how to properly salt your pasta water here.
- Cook the pasta to al dente: Since the pasta sits in dressing, it has a tendency to get soggy if overcooked. Pasta also gets a little firmer when served cold, so don’t under cook it! I cook it right to the package directions of what al dente is.
- The dressing can easily be adjusted to personal preference. Give it a quick taste test and slightly adapt if needed — you may want to add a bit more sugar if you like dressings on the sweeter side. On the flip side, if you’re worried about dressing sweetness, you may want to reduce the sugar.
Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad Variation Ideas
- Add a creamy element, such as a ripe avocado. Since avocados don’t hold up well in the salad, if you add them, add to individual plates right before serving.
- Add chicken. Either leftover cooked chicken, a rotisserie chicken, or some diced grilled chicken (use this delicious chicken marinade).
- For an additional creamy element (beyond the cheese), add a diced or thinly sliced avocado
- Swap out dried tart cherries for the dried cranberries
- Use goat cheese instead of feta cheese
- Swap out candied pecans for the toasted pecans
How To Toast Pecans
Pour the (un-chopped) pecans into an even layer in a small, dry (no need to add oil or anything) skillet over medium-heat and stir them around a bit until they are fragrant and toasted to your liking.
Watch the pecans carefully; they can go from perfectly cooked to burnt in an instant! I like to remove them as soon as they begin to smell fragrant.
Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad Storage
- Unfortunately this Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad doesn’t sit or store well once dressed. The dressing will wilt the spinach, the apples begin to brown, and the pecans get soggy once dressed.
- The salad can be made in advance as long as everything is stored separately and the apple is cut right before enjoying. Assemble and add the dressing right before eating.
- If you do make the dressing in advance, don’t be alarmed if it clumps and separates in the fridge (the clumps are the fats (oil) separating and solidifying). To fix this simply shake the dressing together again until smooth (If it’s still clumpy, let it stand at room temperature for 15-20 minutes and then shake again).
More Delicious Seasonal Salads
- Roasted Veggie Salad with a lemon dressing
- Roasted Beet, Avocado, & Citrus Salad with a citrus vinaigrette
- Butternut Squash Salad with a creamy maple dressing
- Mandarin Orange Salad with a citrus vinaigrette
- Spinach Salad with an apple cider dressing
Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad
Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad brings together tart apples, crisp celery, toasted pecans, sweet cranberries, and juicy oranges with pasta and spinach. A light poppyseed vinaigrette ties it together for a fresh, fall-inspired dish!
Equipment
- Mason jar or other sealable container
- Large bowl
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups dry small pasta
- 5 ounces fresh spinach half a 10-ounce bag, 6 cups
- 3/4 cup chopped celery
- 1 large Granny Smith Apple
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 (15-ounce) can drained mandarin oranges or 2 mandarin oranges
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup pecans coarsely chopped, see note 1
- Feta cheese optional
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 2 to 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon poppy seeds
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions to al dente. Boil pasta in salted water (1 teaspoon salt per 4 cups water)—this is what seasons the pasta!
- While pasta cooks, add all ingredients under “Dressing” to a mason jar and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Seal and shake vigorously to combine.
- Once cooked, drain pasta and immediately toss with a few tablespoons of dressing, then chill dressed pasta in fridge.
- Meanwhile, thinly slice celery, thinly slice or chop apple and toss with lemon juice, and peel oranges or drain from the can.
- In a very large bowl, toss the completely cooled pasta with the spinach. Add in celery, apple, oranges, dried cranberries, and coarsely chopped pecans. Drizzle dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Add feta cheese to personal preference and enjoy immediately.
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: If desired, toast the pecans. Let completely cool and then coarsely chop before adding into the salad.
- To toast pecans: If you want to toast the pecans, place them in a single layer in a dry saucepan (don’t add anything) over medium heat. Stir constantly until the nuts are barely fragrant—just a couple of minutes. Watch carefully as the nuts are very easily scorched/burned.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 234kcal | Carbohydrates: 33.7g | Protein: 3.5g | Fat: 10.8g | Sodium: 24mg | Fiber: 3.3g | Sugar: 17.2g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Congratulations Chelsea!!!
I made this tonight for dinner and the hubs and I loved it! I added a grilled chicken breast and candied the nuts as suggested but otherwise followed the directions. I’m looking forward to the leftovers tomorrow!
Thank you so much Stephanie!! Yay! So glad to hear you tried this and enjoyed it! And grilled chicken sounds like the perfect addition 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
I LOVE salads like this 🙂 Salad can get so boring sometimes so it’s really nice changing it up a bit! But enough about the salad 🙂 CONGRATULATIONS!! I hope he brings you endless amounts of joy and love!!!
You are so sweet!! Thank you Jane 🙂
Congratulations on your new son! Such happy news!
Thank you so much Kelly!! 🙂
Congratulations again, Chelsea! So happy for you and your family! This salad looks absolutely gorgeous! I love the fall flavors….just perfect!
You are so sweet, thank you Gayle!! 🙂 xox
Oh my, this salad looks fabulous! I LOVE that array of different flavors!
Thank you so much Rachel! 🙂
pinned! this looks absolutely delicious! I definitely need to try this salad! and your pictures are gorgeous! so crisp and clear! are you still using the same 50mm lens ?! I’m in love with these pictures!
You are so sweet, thank you Michele! I appreciate your kind compliment!! I actually alternate between 3 different lenses as I shoot (I’m not exactly sure which ones were used for these photos, but most likely my 24-70mm and 50mm) I have the 50 mm, a 100 mm 2.8, and a 24-70 mm 2.8 (<--that's my favorite one!)
Aaaw, congrats again, Chelsea! I’m so glad to hear Baby Bentley is doing great now and you are all adjusting well to your new little family 🙂 This pasta salad is gorgeous and I love all the flavors! It’s perfect for fall!
You are so sweet, thank you Kelly!! 🙂 xox
Hi Bentley! I bet you can’t wait until you can eat this incredible salad! Congratulations!
Hahaha!!! I love this comment!! 🙂 Thank you!
This salad looks perfect! Love all the ingredients and the dressing sounds amazing! Pinning!
Thank you so much Mira!! 🙂
I can’t get over how gorgeous this salad is! Great photos!
You are so kind! Thank you Kristi 🙂