Pear and Prosciutto Salad
Sweet pear, crispy prosciutto, parmesan cheese, walnuts and peppery rocket (arugula) with a delicious honey and malt vinegar dressing is so easy and tasty, and goes with almost any main dish or even some fresh crusty bread.
Pear and Prosciutto Salad
Pear and Prosciutto Salad
Pear and Prosciutto Salad
This is the salad you make when you've been invited to a party and someone says to you, “just bring a salad”. Instead of having a mental blank about all the salads you’ve ever made, and the 'what even is a salad' panic running through your mind… make this pear and prosciutto salad. You’ll spend just a few minutes making it, and it’s a real crowd pleaser.
With only a few ingredients needed, the main event being pear and crispy prosciutto (delicious) and a simple, flavour-packed vinaigrette, this will be your new go-to salad for any occasion. I especially love making it for the holidays, because it's so simple to make and the ingredients are perfect for a light holiday salad.
In this post I'm walking you through my top tips for making this delicious salad, as well as some simple substitutions for when pears are not in season. Let's tuck in.
Why this salad works
- We’re ticking a lot of flavour boxes here, salty, sour, sweet, umami, hot, all balanced in one delicious bite.
- The textures are crunchy and fresh, with the pear slices, crispy prosciutto and walnuts.
- You can prepare it in advance! Just hold off the dressing till serving.
- You can turn it into a sandwich. Yep. If I want these flavours for lunch, I toast up some sourdough, layer on the salad ingredients with a little onion jam and you have a really, really good pear and prosciutto salad sandwich.
Top tips for making this salad
- Look for good quality ingredients. Because this salad is simple, every ingredient plays a starring role. So look for good qual prosciutto, a wedge of parmesan, and nice firm, ripe pears, fresh, not wilted rocket - you get it.
- Cook the prosciutto and allow it to cool before adding to the salad, so that it doesn’t wilt the rocket.
- If you need to you can make it a few hours in advance and keep it in the fridge. I wouldn’t make it more than a day in advance if you can, it’ll be fine but just dry out a bit. Keep the vinaigrette separate in a jar in the fridge till ready to use, and give a good shake to emulsify just before serving.
This salad goes really well with roast dishes like this Roast Chicken or Slow Cooked Lamb.
Want more delicious salad inspo? My Warm Farro Salad with Roast Pumpkin & Mushrooms is another holiday salad sensation.
You could also use apples, strawberries, blueberries or rockmelon/cantaloupe.
Ingredients and substitutions
How to make it - step by step!
In a small jar, add malt vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper with the lid and shake to emulsify.
In a pan on medium heat with a little olive oil, fry the prosciutto on both sides until crispy, then put on paper towel and set aside to cool before adding to the salad.
To assemble, layer the rocket/arugula on a platter, followed by pear slices, prosciutto, walnuts, parmesan cheese and thyme.
When ready to eat, shake up the dressing jar again and drizzle some over the salad (you probably won't need all of it). If your taking this salad somewhere (e.g. to a BBQ, don’t dress the salad until just before serving for optimum salad freshness).
In a small jar, add malt vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper with the lid and shake to emulsify.
In a pan on medium heat with a little olive oil, fry the prosciutto on both sides until crispy, then put on paper towel and set aside to cool before adding to the salad.
To assemble, layer the rocket/arugula on a platter, followed by pear slices, prosciutto, walnuts, parmesan cheese and thyme.
When ready to eat, shake up the dressing jar again and drizzle some over the salad (you probably won't need all of it). If your taking this salad somewhere (e.g. to a BBQ, don’t dress the salad until just before serving for optimum salad freshness).
Watch the how to video
Watch the how to video
Pear and Prosciutto Salad
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp malt vinegar
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying
- 1/2 tsp honey
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 1/4 tsp of pepper
- 8 pieces of prosciutto
- 3 cups of rocket/arugula
- 1 pear, sliced into thin slices
- 3/4 cup walnuts
- 1/2 cup shaved parmesan cheese
- 1 tbsp thyme leaves
- In a small jar, add malt vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper with the lid and shake to emulsify.
- In a pan on medium heat with a little olive oil, fry the prosciutto on both sides until crispy, then put on paper towel and set aside to cool before adding to the salad.
- To assemble, layer the rocket/arugula on a platter, followed by pear slices, prosciutto, walnuts, parmesan cheese and thyme.
- When ready to eat, shake up the dressing jar again and drizzle some over the salad (you probably won't need all of it). If your taking this salad somewhere (e.g. to a BBQ, don’t dress the salad until just before serving for optimum salad freshness).