This Peach Salad with Goat Cheese is a sweet and savory summer salad perfect for lunch or served as a side with BBQ chicken, steak, or fish. It comes together in a few easy steps and it's refreshing and full of summer flavor!
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Why You'll Love This Salad
Packed with flavors and textures - The salad is dressed with a simple homemade balsamic dressing and all the flavors go really well together. Crispy romaine, sweet peaches, refreshing cucumber, red onion creamy goat cheese, avocado, and crunchy toasted almonds. Everything goes really well together and the salad is always a crowd favorite.
The perfect summer salad - If you've never tried savory salads with fruits and you're hesitant, I highly recommend you give this one a try! Peaches and balsamic vinegar is one of the best flavor combinations and it's perfect for the summer. If you like this salad, definitely also try my Nectarine Salad!
Delicious summer side - This salad is best served as a side with BBQ chicken, meat, or fish like salmon. You can serve it with sandwiches, or on its own as a light summer lunch!
Ingredients
- Romaine lettuce - You can use any greens you prefer but romaine is crunchy, fresh, and the texture is perfect with the other ingredients.
- Cucumber, avocado, and red onion - You can add any veggies you like but I like the crunch and freshness of cucumber and creamy avocado. Red onion adds flavor and more texture. You can also use shallots or spring onions.
- Peaches - Choose the best ripe juicy peaches. You don't want peaches that are too mushy so they don't fall apart in the salad.
- Soft goat cheese - Creamy goat cheese goes really well with peaches and balsamic dressing. Alternatively, you can use feta if you prefer.
- Sliced almonds - Toasted sliced almonds add a nice crunch but they're not as hard as whole almonds.
- Balsamic dressing - The dressing is made with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, sea salt, and pepper.
Variations and Substitutions
- Different greens - Use mixed greens, baby spinach, baby kale, iceberg lettuce, or whatever other lettuce you have on hand. Use kale if you want to store the salad longer because kale doesn't wilt down as quickly as romaine lettuce. I like dinosaur kale.
- Different cheese - If you don't like goat cheese, you can use other cheese like feta or even blue cheese like I did in this Nectarine Salad. Use dairy-free feta if you need to keep this salad vegan-friendly.
- Nectarines - If you don't have peaches, you can use nectarines. They're almost the same, they're just firmer, slightly more tart, and aren't fuzzy.
- No nuts - If you can't have nuts, you can add toasted sesame seeds instead or some homemade Sourdough Croutons instead!
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F (175C).
- Spread sliced almonds on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 6-8 minutes or until slightly golden. Be careful, sliced almonds burn easily!
- Set them aside to cool while you prep the salad.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, fine sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
- To the same bowl, add shredded romaine lettuce, diced cucumbers, red onion, peaches, avocado, and sliced almonds. (alternatively, you can divide all ingredients between bows and drizzle with the dressing)
- Toss everything together gently to mix well with the dressing.
- Mix in crumbled soft goat cheese or add it in after dividing the salad between plates.
- Serve and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Goat cheese: I usually add it to the salad with all the other ingredients but it can melt quickly when you mix it with the dressing so to make it pretty, add it at the end right before serving. To make it extra pretty, serve the salad by layering all the ingredients into your individual bowls instead of mixing everything first.
Storing and Make Ahead Options
I recommend storing any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up 1-2 days. I don't recommend storing it for any longer than that because romaine lettuce wilts down really easily and the salad will be less crunchy. If you want the salad to last longer, use kale instead of romaine lettuce.
The prep you can do for this salad the night before is dicing the cucumber and red onion, or even chopping the lettuce. Avocado and peaches could brown when stored chopped like that so I recommend prepping those when you're ready to make the salad.
The balsamic dressing can be stored for up to 5 days in an airtight jar in the fridge so you can easily make a double batch of it for another salad or make it ahead of time for this during meal prep.
FAQs
You can place them in a paper bag and fold it over to close it. Let them sit on the counter for a day or two and they will be ready to eat.
Peeling the peaches is optional. You can peel them if you don't want the skin or if it's too tough to chew. Most ripe peaches should be easy to peel.
Similar Recipes
If you love this salad and want to try some other savory peach recipes, check out the three below! They're truly some of my favorite summer recipes, especially the bruschetta! Peaches and balsamic vinegar is truly a match made in heaven. To see all the latest salads, head over to Salad Recipes.
📖 Recipe
Peach Salad with Goat Cheese
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This Peach Salad with Goat Cheese is a sweet and savory summer salad perfect for lunch or served as a side with BBQ chicken, steak, or fish.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp honey
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 5 cups shredded romaine lettuce (1 head of romaine)
- 2 small cucumbers, diced
- ½ red onion, finely diced
- 2-3 peaches, sliced
- ½ avocado, diced
- 4-5 oz soft goat cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F (175C).
- Spread sliced almonds on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 6-8 minutes or until slightly golden. Be careful, sliced almonds burn easily! Set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, fine sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
- To the same bowl, add shredded romaine lettuce, diced cucumbers, red onion, peaches, avocado, and sliced almonds. (alternatively you can divide all ingredients between bows and drizzle with the dressing)
- Toss everything together gently to mix well with the dressing.
- Mix in crumbled soft goat cheese or add after dividing the salad between plates.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Toasted almonds: Preheat your oven to 350F. Spread your raw almond slices on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden. Be careful, sliced almonds burn easily!
Goat cheese: Soft goat cheese tends to mix with the dressing and melt into the salad easily so if you want it to stay intact when serving, add it to the salad after you plate it.
Storing: Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
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