Autumn Chicken Cobb Salad has all the fall flavors. From sweet and crisp pears to crunchy pecans, and sweet tart dried cranberries. It’s a hearty and delicious fall cobb salad.

I love pears. That’s no secret. They’re tops on my list of fave fruits. Pears, peaches, cherries, watermelon top my list. Not necessarily in that order. So, I will find any and every excuse to use pears in a recipe when they’re in season. Especially in recipes like Autumn Chicken Cobb Salad.

When are pears in season?

For me, pears are in season from August through October. That is not long enough as far as I’m concerned. Pears are my favorite fruit. They’re sweetness and texture are totally intoxicating to me. I would eat pears every day if I could.

Unfortunately, not all the ones in the grocery store are ripe. How do you know? Well, you check the stem end. Apply a little pressure to the fruit next to the stem and see if there’s a little give. If not, then it’s not ripe. If it has a little give to it, then it’s perfectly ripe. And totally worth slicing into and eating on the spot. Unless you’re in the store. Then that’s frowned upon.

If you can’t find ripe pears, you can wait it out. They will ripen on the counter in anywhere from 4 to 7 days. If you don’t have that time, then put them in a paper bag and let them sit for 3 to 4 days. Just make sure to check them once a day for ripeness.

I left these pears on the counter for 3 days before they were perfectly ripe. The neck was nice and tender. The pears were juicy and delicious. They had the perfect amount of pear flavor and sweetness. Dang. My mouth is watering. I love pears!

Where did pears come from?

Pears are one of the oldest cultivated fruits. They go back as far as 5000 BC where a Chinese diplomat threw caution to the wind and started grafting fruits with each other. Greeks touted the deliciousness of pears for years. And shared documented their grafting techniques for a stronger, more durable, varieties of pears.

Pears have lasted the test of time due to their versatility and their long storage life. Like apples, they can thrive in cold storage or root cellars for long periods of time. This made them a valuable commodity back in the day. Not to mention their stage presence in still life paintings throughout the centuries. Not to mention the mentioning in the famous Twelve Days of Christmas.

Today, pears thrive in the Pacific Northwest. The colonists brought pear trees where they thrived for a while. But crop blights soon decimated east coast pears. However, those that made their way to the west coast thrived. The soil and climatic conditions of that area produced the most prolific pears with amazing flavor.

Washington and Oregon produce the largest number of pears in the US. There are nearly 900 pear growers in that region alone. In Oregon, it’s the number one fruit crop and in Washington produces the largest pear production in the US. A large majority of them resulting in canned pears.

I’m not opposed to canned pears. They’re really delicious with cotta cheese. Don’t look at me like that. Try it. Canned pears and canned peaches are delicious with cottage cheese. The sweet fruit and the savory, somewhat bland, cottage cheese is the perfect pairing. Seriously. Just try it and stop looking at me like that. But don’t use them on this Autumn Chicken Cobb Salad.

What is a Cobb Salad?

Wikipedia cracks me up on this one. Cobb salad is “a main-dish American garden salad typically made with chopped salad greens (iceberg lettuce, watercress, endives and romaine lettuce), tomato, crisp bacon, fried chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, blue cheese, and red-wine vinaigrette.” What I know of a cobb salad is it’s chicken, bacon, eggs, cheese (usually blue), avocado, and dressing. The chives and red-wine vinaigrette is not something I would have thought of. Just saying.

The salad is associated with a chef at the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant. Either created by him, inspired by him, or just named after him. There’s really no definitive answer as to how the salad actually came about. Either way, it’s a delicious entrée salad that is packed with ingredients and easily adaptable. Because for me, Cobb is a method and not necessarily a definitive this is how it is salad. If that makes sense.

What is in Autumn Chicken Cobb Salad?

So, first off, Autumn Chicken Cobb Salad recipe calls for chicken breast strips. Except, I forgot to take chicken breasts out of the freeze. I had thighs in the drawer in the fridge. Yup! You guess it. I cooked up the thighs, cut the off the bone, and sliced them up for the salad. And it worked perfectly!

I’m totally drooling on that crispy skin the chicken thighs. I might have to make this salad this way more often and forget the chicken breasts. They’re delicious, but not always totally delicious. The more and more we use the air fryer the more and more I love me a chicken thigh. Because that skin.

What does Autumn Cobb Salad taste like?

So good. I totally devoured my Autumn Chicken Cobb Salad. The salty and rich chicken pairs off the sweet and crunchy pecans. The crisp and sweet pears play off the dried sweet and tart cranberries. All of this is rounded out with the bite of the blue cheese. Then there’s the dressing.

Use whatever dressing your heart desires. I went with a maple balsamic Italian style dressing. If you don’t have that, feel free to combine maple syrup and balsamic with your favorite Italian dressing. You don’t have to make it from scratch. Just modify what you have on hand to top this crunchy, sweet, and savory delicious salad.

Autumn Chicken Cobb Salad

Name: Autumn Chicken Cobb Salad
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 6 cups chopped greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula, etc.); 8 ounces cooked chicken breast strips; 1 cup pear slices; 1/2 cup pecans; 1/2 cup dried cranberries; 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese; 1/2 cup croutons; 1/3 cup salad dressing (I used a maple balsamic dressing)

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Autumn Cobb Salad has all the fall flavors. From sweet and crisp pears to crunchy pecans, and sweet tart dried cranberries. It’s a hearty and delicious fall cobb salad.

Ingredients

6 cups chopped greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula, etc.)
8 ounces cooked chicken breast strips
1 cup pear slices
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup croutons
1/3 cup salad dressing (I used a maple balsamic dressing)

Instructions

Divide the mixed greens on each of 2 plates.
Arrange the chicken strips down the center of the lettuce.
Divide the pear slices in half and arrange them on top of the greens next to the chicken.
Place the pecans on the other side of the chicken strips.
Sprinkle the cranberries and blue cheese on the far right and left of the plate.
Garnish with the croutons and then drizzle with your dressing of choice.

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 1057Total Fat 57gSaturated Fat 13gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 38gCholesterol 133mgSodium 1025mgCarbohydrates 90gFiber 30gSugar 42gProtein 62g

Welcome to the fourth annual #FallFlavors! We have 21 bloggers sharing over SIXTY recipes using fall ingredients like squash, apples, maple, pecans, and many more. Follow #FallFlavors to see all the delicious recipes on social media.