Mango Avocado Salad with Pecans and Goat Cheese. If there is one salad recipe you need in your recipe collection this is it. It’s with fresh arugula, mango, avocado slices, goat cheese, and it’s all tossed with a made from scratch, delicious Dijon Mustard dressing.
Frequently we eat salads where we mix whatever we have handy in the refrigerator at the moment and then just add bottled salad dressing. We seem to forget how easy it is to mix a great dressing with ingredients that you already keep in your pantry.
With just a little bit of planning you can always have the right dressing sitting in your fridge ready to be used, that’s not only very tasty, but is very healthy with no unnecessary additives that store bought dressings come with.
Ingredients for mango and avocado arugula salad
Mango and avocado – I love the contrast of sweet mangos vs more bland avocados.
Pecans and arugula – I also added crunchy toasted pecans that complement soft arugula perfectly!
Pecans
Goat Cheese
Honey and Dijon mustard – For dressing, I used honey and Dijon mustard – honey adds a nice flavor to balance the acidity and Dijon mustard is the natural emulsifier. Perfect combo.
Tips for the best salad
- Choose the ripe avocado or make sure you buy a hard avocado 3 days before making the salad.
- Toast the pecans and cool them.
- Don’t chop the arugula. Most arugula comes already pre cleaned. You can also rinse and spin dry it in a salad spinner.
- If you choose to use regular lettuce, make sure to chop the lettuce, Put in the salad bowl, cover and chill.
- The mangosI usually like to wait to chop until almost ready to serve because they are so delicate and soft.
Popular substitutions and variations to the salad
Pine nuts – substituted pecans with pine nuts for more earthy taste.
Lettuce – you can definitely use regular lettuce instead of the arugula.
Feta cheese – use feta cheese in place of goat cheese.
How to make the best dressing
Olive oil -use ⅓ cup olive oil. ⅓ cup equals 5 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon,.
Red wine vinegar – 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar. If you prefer to go with less vinegar, start with 1 tablespoon, taste it and proceed to add more.
Dijon mustard is such a great choice for many salad dressings. It’s tasty, creamy and easy to use. It also serves as an emulsifier and binds all the other dressing ingredients together very well.
I seem to go through several jars of Dijon mustard in a span of only a couple of months. This Honey Mustard Vinaigrette is our “go to” dressing nowadays. It’s easy, healthy and never fails!
More delicious salad recipes
If you like variety in your salads that add even more nutrients to your diet, you might also like these delicious and healthy salads:
Arugula and Spinach Salad with Tomato and Pomegranate
Healthy Chicken Salad with Spinach and Arugula
Brussels Sprout Salad with Cranberries and Pecans
Warm Quinoa and Brussels Sprout Salad in Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
Cranberry Walnut and Spinach Salad in Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
Apple, Pecans and Brussels Sprouts Salad
Mango Pecan Avocado Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
Salad
- Arrange arugula leaves in the salad bowl. Cut your mangos in cubes, avocados in long slices and add both to the bowl. Add Goat cheese, pecans and add them to the bowl as well. Set aside.
Honey Mustard Dressing
- In a small bowl, first combine the vinegar and mustard, season with salt. Now whisk in honey. Next slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking the ingredients together for about 1 minute. You will get thick creamy texture.
- Mix dressing into the salad!
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Used both mangos and apples here – w make it all the time!
Used herb goat cheese in this salad and then got honey ghost cheese – highly recommend!