Our Brie Salad is festive and flavourful, loaded with juicy summer cherries and those honey macadamias are just exquisite. A perfect salad for indulgent summer entertaining or absolutely ideal for your festive summer table (I have served it more than once at Christmas).
Do you need to bowl your guests over with an unbelievable flavour combination?
Then this Brie salad is the answer to your salad prayers - luscious cherries are at their absolute best during the summer months and are the supporting role to the star of the show gooey brie!
If that wasn't enough we have added some roasted honey macadamias for some crunchy sweetness.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Cherries - are my favourite stone fruits, I just love them in the summer! Make sure you choose deep-coloured ripe cherries or you can swap them for red grapes. Or transform it into an autumn salad by swapping the cherries for apples or pears.
- Mixed Leaf Salad - is the base of this salad and is used to bulk it up. Any greens would work just as well try baby spinach or peppery arugula/rocket.
- Brie - the pièce de résistance it brings an amazing creamy element to this salad, you can swap it with camembert or for something more affordable some fresh mozzarella will work.
- Honey Macadamias - I can't begin to describe how incredible these are! Rich buttery macadamias roasted with honey, ahhh so good, it's surprising that any make it into the salad. But, if you don't have the time to fuss with them, then swap for store-bought honey macadamias or with a nutty praline or with store-bought sugared almonds instead.
- Vinaigrette - as there are so many big bold flavours that go into this salad we have kept the vinaigrette super simple and just used a good quality red wine vinegar and some olive oil.
Seasonal Variations
- Make it into a Pear and Brie Salad - replace the cherries with two thinly sliced pears for autumnal flavour.
- Make it into an Apple Brie Salad - swap the cherries for two thinly sliced apples for winter tang.
- Make it a fig with brie salad by adding 6 quartered figs instead of cherries for late summer or early fall/autumn.
- Make it a Strawberry Brie Salad - by adding a punnet of strawberries (in lieu of the cherries) sliced into rounds for spring fun.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1 - Roast Macadamias
Before we start, cut your brie into small wedges, and leave it to one side to come to room temperature so that it becomes soft and creamy.
Preheat your oven to 170°C (340°F). Line an oven tray with baking paper.
Place the macadamias, honey, butter and salt in your tray and spread out evenly so that they are not touching - place in the middle section of your oven.
After five minutes, check on the nuts and stir, so that they can brown on all sides.
Roast for another 5 minutes or until golden and crisp.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool. You may need to put them in your fridge or freezer to harden so that they can be broken into the salad, we don’t want them to be soft.
Step 2 - Prepare Remaining Ingredients
Wash your salad leaves under cold running water, remove any damaged or wilted leaves, and then either pat or spin dry in a salad spinner.
Wash all your cherries, remove the stems and pits using a cherry pitter if you have one, and then cut them in half.
Step 3 - Assemble Your Brie Salad
In a large mixing bowl, place your salad leaves and cherries, then crumble and break the honeyed macadamias, season with sea salt and cracked black pepper add the red wine vinegar and olive oil.
Toss your salad until well combined and the cherries and macadamias are evenly distributed throughout the salad.
Taste your salad and adjust seasonings according to your taste. Arrange your salad in a salad bowl, add the brie on top, and serve immediately.
Serving Suggestions 🍽
This light yet lovely salad with brie is perfect with ham, turkey, pork, chicken or quail or could even make a flavourful light lunch with the addition of some flaked salmon or shredded chicken.
Try it with:
How to Make It a Warm Brie Salad
STOP 🛑 ! Would you prefer the creamy gooey flavour of a baked brie salad instead?
Then all you have to do is:
- Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F, wrap the brie in some foil and heat in your oven for five minutes.
- Want to zap it in the microwave? Then pop it in a microwave-proof dish, loosely cover it with some baking paper then zap it on medium for approximately 45 seconds.
- After the brie has been baked, carefully cut it into small pieces and using a small spatula transfer it on top of your salad. Watch out you don't burn your fingers as it will be pretty hot.
Common Questions and Tips
Can I Use Dry Cherries or Jarred?
The beauty of this salad is the wonderful juicy cherries. Dried cherries would be too hard to use and if you use jarred cherries make sure you use a good quality brand where the cherries are not too soft.
Can I Use a Camembert?
Prefer a camembert salad instead? Then you are in luck as both Brie and Camembert are quite similar. While Brie is milder and has a creamy buttery flavour, Camembert has a more intense flavour with a deep earthy flavour.
Can I Make it Ahead?
This is definitely a salad that you need to eat soon after you make it, but to speed up the process you could do some prep the day before:
- Roast the macadamias then crack to separate and keep them in an air-tight container in the fridge.
- Pit and slice your cherries and keep them covered in your fridge.
- You can wash your salad leaves but it is essential that they are completely dry before you store them covered in your fridge otherwise they will wilt and collect bacteria.
- Make the dressing several days ahead and store in a sealed glass jar in your fridge, bring it to room temperature and give it a good shake before adding it to your brie salad.
How Can I Store It?
- The salad leaves will wilt if kept in the fridge.
- I pick out the leaves and discard them then store the rest of the salad in an air-tight container in the fridge. I then use them in a salad with fresh salad greens.
Recommended Equipment
- You are definitely going to need a cherry or olive pitter, cutting around cherry pits is a time-consuming process.
- A salad spinner for extra dry salad leaves and a tastier salad - no waterlogged flavour, please!
More Festive Salad Recipes
Recipe Card
Equipment
- Salad Spinner
- Cherry / Olive Pitter
Ingredients
- 200 grams mixed leaves (approximately 7 ounces or 7 loosely packed cups)
- 500 grams cherries (approximately 17.64 ounces)
- ½ small Brie
- ¼ cup olive oil, extra virgin
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
- ½ cup macadamias (slightly crushed)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Take out your brie from the fridge to bring it to room temperature.
- Preheat your oven to 170°C (340°F). Line an oven tray with baking paper.
- Place the macadamias, honey, butter and salt on your tray and spread out evenly so that they are not touching. Place in the middle section of your oven.
- After five minutes, check on the nuts and stir, so that they can brown on all sides. Roast for a further 5 minutes or until golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- Wash and dry your salad leaves. Rinse, dry, pit and cut your cherries in half.
- Cut your Brie into small squares or thin wedges.
- Place all your ingredients (apart from the Brie) in a large mixing bowl, season and toss until well combined.
- Place in a salad bowl and arrange the brie on top, serve immediately.
