Pear Salad Recipe — a Classic Southern Pear Dessert

pear salad

A pear salad recipe might be a dish you’re familiar with if you grew up in the South, but maybe not. Is this pear dessert familiar throughout the USA and abroad? My mom made canned pear salad quite often when I was a kid. It’s an super simple and surprisingly tasty pear dessert. This pear treat is cheap and quick, so ideal for kids. In this pear recipe video we’re matching a classic southern pear salad up against a fancy-pants hipster version of pear salad. Both pear recipes are winners in my book, but since I grew up eating the canned pear version, I have a slight bias. If you’ve never tried a pear salad, it might seem like a weird combination of ingredients, but trust me, it’s delicious.

Classic Southern Pear Salad Recipe

canned PEAR HALVES
a dollop of real MAYONNAISE
shredded CHEDDAR CHEESE
MARASCHINO CHERRIES
optional:
top with toasted nuts

pear salad
classic Southern style pear salad dessert

How to Make a Classic Pear Salad Recipe

  • Crack open a can of pear halves.
  • If your inner engineer craves stability, you can shave off the bottom of each pear so that the
    halves will sit flat on a plate.
  • Arrange pear halves on a plate.
  • Place a dollop of mayonnaise in the hollow of each pear half.
  • Sprinkle shedded cheese over the mayonnaise.
  • Top each pear with a maraschino cherry.
  • Serve immediately, or chill before serving. There’s never a wrong time to eat pear salad.

Is that too quick and easy? Are you a hipster? Or a fancy Wall Street big shot? Need something fancier?

How to Make a Pretentious Pear Salad Recipe

fresh PEARS (ripe, but firm; any kind of pear will do)
fancy-pants CREME FRAICHE
expensive CHEESE
toasted WALNUTS or PECANS
but still use MARASCHINO CHERRIES (because they’re easy, and perfect)

pear salad
pretentious pear salad with attitutde
  • Any pears will do for this dish, as long as they’re ripe, but firm. I don’t like my pears mushy, and I like to bake them with the skin on.
  • Halve the pears and remove the core.
  • Lightly grease a baking dish and place the pears cut side down.
  • Bake pears in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 30 minutes.
  • Remove pears from oven and allow to cool.
  • Arrange pears on a plate and place a dollop of crème fraîche or small-batch vegan yogurt in each pear hollow.
  • Top each pear with finely shredded artisinal cheese.
  • Add a sprinkling of toasted walnuts of pecans.
  • And crown each with a maraschino cherry.

And Voilà! You’re a snob, but at least you’re a snob with a very tasty pear salad.

If you’ve never tried a pear salad recipe, definitely give one of these a go, there’s a 95% chance you will love it.

If you prefer pears with a European flair, try this French inspired creamy Baked Pears Recipe

pear salad
click pic for French-style baked pear dessert

Thanks for checking out the video and recipes. If you liked it, then click a button or two below and share it with your friends. I appreciate it!
–Chef Buck

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