A creamy blue cheese dressing sets this Endive Salad apart. It’s tangy, bold, and the perfect pairing for crunchy endive, juicy pears and toasted walnuts.
This endive salad brings me right back to life in France, where endive was abundant in the winter and early spring markets. Neighborhood cafés offered creamy endive salads, packed with blue cheese. I tried to recreate my favorite French endive salad here, and with one bite of this recipe, I knew I had found it.
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Why Make This Recipe
Belgian endive may not be the first green you reach for—but this salad just might change that. Why do I love it?
- A Flavor Combo that Works: Sweet pears, sharp blue cheese, and toasty walnuts are a perfect fit.
- Dreamy Dressing: This creamy dressing is still light, thanks to Greek yogurt as its base.
- Elegant but Easy: Perfect for a fancy dinner party, but easy enough for a weeknight.
🥗 Ingredients
- Endive: With its crisp, slightly bitter bite, endive makes the perfect base for this salad. If you don’t have enough endive, add in some arugula or baby kale to bulk up the salad. Note: look for Belgian endive rather than curly endive, which is an entirely different green.
- Blue Cheese: Love the tanginess and bold flavor of a sharp blue cheese, but you can substitute feta cheese or crumbled goat cheese.
- Pears: Choose firm-ripe pears. Look for pears that yield just slightly when pressed. You want them ripe and juicy, but you don’t want them to get mushy in the salad. Crisp apples would make a good alternative.
- Walnuts: Try pecans or hazelnuts if you don’t have walnuts.
- Greek Yogurt: Using this provides great flavor and creaminess. You could substitute mayonnaise for either half or all of the yogurt. Crème fraîche would make another good substitute.
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil: Try avocado oil or walnut oil as alternatives.
- Mustard: I like a combination of coarse-ground and Dijon mustard in this dressing, but feel free to just use one or the other.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Heat oven to 350° F. Put 1 cup walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes, until you can smell them and they look lightly toasted. Remove from oven and let cool.
While the walnuts are toasting, make the dressing. Whisk together ⅓ cup Greek yogurt, 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, 1 ½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice, ½ teaspoon whole grain mustard, ¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Rinse 1 pound endive spears (about 6 large) and pat dry, then cut into thick slices. Add to a large serving bowl.
Core 2 pears and cut into bite-sized chunks.
Add to bowl, along with ½ cup crumbed blue cheese. Stir in the dressing, then stir in the toasted walnuts.
Garnish with chopped fresh parsley to serve.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Endive Salad
Belgian endive has a crisp texture and a mildly bitter flavor—somewhat similar to radicchio. It’s an excellent option for salads, especially in the winter or early spring when greens aren’t as available.
You can make the dressing and toast the walnuts up to a day ahead. Keep the dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The walnuts can be covered and left out at room temperature. However, I would assemble the salad just before serving to ensure the endive stays crisp and the pears stay fresh.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
I recommend waiting to slice the endive and pears until you are just about ready to serve. This salad is really best right after you make it. You can refrigerate any leftovers, but note that they will get soggy the next day. And the walnuts will be not as crunchy.
If you do need to cut the endive in advance, I would keep it chilled in a bowl of cold water or ice water. Then strain and pat dry very well before combining into the salad. Endive browns and wilts very quickly after being cut and left out at room temperature.
Don’t skip toasting the walnuts. It brings out their flavor and adds extra crunch.
Want another dressing option? This blue cheese endive salad would also be great with a simple lemon vinaigrette. Or try a version with red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar and chopped anchovy fillets.
As an alternative to this chopped endive salad, you can also use individual endive leaves to serve the salad. This is a great alternative if you need finger food. Just combine the rest of the ingredients, then put them on the endive leaves to serve. That’s what I do for this delicious endive appetizer with a balsamic drizzle.
Wondering what to serve with this to make it into a meal? I love this with a hearty soup like French Lentil Soup or Tuscan White Bean Soup. You can also dive deep into French cooking and pair it with Coq Au Vin Blanc, Hachis Parmentier, or Sole Meunière.
Other Winter Salad Recipes
Looking for more ideas for salads that take advantage of winter produce? Try one of these next:
If you try this endive salad recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Endive Salad
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- 1 cup walnuts about 3 ⅓ ounces
- 1 pound endive about 6 large
- 2 pears
- ½ cup crumbled blue cheese about 2 ½ ounces
- Chopped fresh parsley to garnish
Dressing Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt about 2.7 ounces
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon coarsely ground mustard
- ¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350° F.
- Put walnuts on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes, until you can smell them and they look lightly toasted. Remove from oven and let cool.
- While the walnuts are toasting, make the dressing. Whisk together Greek yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, both mustards, blue cheese, salt, and freshly ground black pepper in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Rinse endive and pat dry, then cut into thick slices. Add to a large serving bowl.
- Core pears and cut into bite-sized chunks. Add to bowl.
- Stir in the crumbed blue cheese.
- Stir in the dressing, then add the toasted walnuts.
- Garnish with chopped fresh parsley to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this endive pear salad recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I’d love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
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