This Copycat Panera Fuji Apple Salad is super tasty and definitely rivals the restaurant favorite! Loaded with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, halved pecans, crunchy apple chips, red onion, grilled chicken, and the most delicious homemade balsamic apple vinaigrette dressing, it’s a salad that’s perfect to meal prep for lunches or enjoy as a light dinner salad.
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If you love Panera Bread’s Fuji Apple Salad, you’re in for a treat! This homemade version is less expensive and made with better ingredients (when you make your own, you have full control over everything that goes into it!) but tastes every bit as delicious.
Make this recipe as an easy meal prep lunch or as a quick, easy, light dinner. Either way, the texture, flavor, and ease of the recipe will have you singing its praises for days to come!
If you’re looking for more meal prep-friendly recipes, you’re in the right spot! This Thai-inspired beef salad is loaded with flavor, these garlic parmesan chicken skewers are delicious alongside fluffy quinoa and roasted green beans, and these harissa honey chicken bowls are wildly delicious.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s ideal for meal prep – this recipe is so great for meal prep! You can store the dressing separately to preserve the crispness of both the salad greens and the apple chips.
- It’s delicious – if you’ve had Panera’s famous Fuji Apple Salad, you know the hype! It’s tangy, sweet, and full of crunch.
Fuji Apple Salad Recipe Ingredients
You need a handful of ingredients for this delicious salad, but not much! Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- White balsamic vinegar – if you’ve never used white balsamic vinegar before, you’re in for a treat! White balsamic is a milder and slightly less-sweet version of regular balsamic vinegar and can be found in the same aisle of the grocery store.
- Apple juice – we used a bottle of organic 100% apple juice for this recipe, but any pure (no sugar added) apple juice will do.
- Apple chips – these are usually found on the snack aisle of the grocery store. We used Bare’s baked crunchy apple chips – they’re delicious!
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
- Use shredded rotisserie chicken – make things super simple by using shredded chicken from a store-bought rotisserie chicken or making your own shredded chicken in the Instant Pot.
- Use a different nut – we went with pecans here, but walnuts and pistachios would also be delicious!
- Add cheese – goat cheese or feta cheese would be really yummy adds to this salad.
- Make it dairy-free – this recipe is dairy-free as-is!
- Make it grain-free – this recipe is also grain-free.
- Make it gluten-free – same as above, no need for modifications to make this recipe gluten-free.
- Make it nut-free – skip the pecans altogether or use cashews in their place.
How to Make Panera’s Fuji Apple Salad
Make the dressing, cook the chicken, then assemble – it’s that easy! Follow along below for the full how-to.
Step 1: Put all of the ingredients for the dressing into a bowl and whisk until smooth.
Step 2: Brush the olive oil over the chicken and then sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Grill over high heat for 5-6 minutes on each side, cooking until the inner-most portion of the chicken reaches 165°F. Let it rest in 10 minutes then slice into bite-sized strips.
Step 3: Assemble the salad by tossing the mixed greens with the romaine lettuce. Top with the onions, chicken, tomatoes, apples, pecans, and dressing.
Recipe Tips
Use a meat thermometer – this is our very favorite meat thermometer! We use it at least weekly at the Fed & Fit kitchen and find that it’s the absolute easiest way to ensure perfectly cooked, juicy chicken breasts every single time.
How to Serve
Serve this Fuji Apple Salad for lunch or a light dinner! It’s delightful either way.
How to Store
If you’re meal prepping these salads for the week, you can go one of two routes when it comes to storing:
- Assemble right away – assemble the salads and store them in separate food storage containers in the fridge. This allows you to QUICKLY grab a lunch and head out the door.
- Assemble the day of – if you choose to go this route, simply cook and slice the chicken, and store it in its own large container. Wash the fresh veggies (if needed), prep them, and store each in a separate container. Then, each day that you plan on enjoying a Fuji Apple Salad, simply assemble and dig in.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is very similar to Panera’s Fuji apple salad, dressing included. Both are sweet, tangy, and have a hint of apple!
More Favorite Salad Recipes
If you tried this Copycat Panera Fuji Apple Salad or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Panera Fuji Apple Salad
Ingredients
- 1/8 cup white balsamic vinegar
- 1/8 cup apple juice
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1½ teaspoons salt, divided
- ¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1¼ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 cups mixed greens
- 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 cups apple chips
- ½ cup pecan halves
- ½ cup red onions, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Add the white balsamic vinegar, apple juice, olive oil, honey, ½ teaspoon of salt, and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper to a bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Brush the olive oil over the chicken and then sprinkle with the teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper. Grill over high heat for 5-6 minutes on each side, cooking until the inner-most portion of the chicken reaches 165°F. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes, then slice into bite-sized strips.
- Assemble the salad by tossing the mixed greens with the romaine lettuce. Top with the onions, chicken, tomatoes, apples, pecans, and dressing.
Recipe Notes
- Use shredded rotisserie chicken – make things super simple by using shredded chicken from a store-bought rotisserie chicken or making your own shredded chicken in the Instant Pot.
- Use a different nut – we went with pecans here, but walnuts and pistachios would also be delicious!
- Add cheese – goat cheese or feta cheese would be really yummy adds to this salad.
Nutrition
Love this salad, the apple crisp slices and the dressing really make it yummy.
This may be a silly question but in recipes like this, is the nutritional information for 1 serving or for all 4 servings? Because 41g of sugar seems like a lot for 1 serving of a salad.
Hi Alexis! Not a silly question at all! We mostly calculate for a single serving! Just looked into this one since that does seem a bit high! Recalculated to get an actual 35 grams of sugar per serving. That sugar mostly comes from the apple juice and honey… so can be reduced or removed completely if that’s preferred! Can sub the juice for more vinegar! Thank you so much for commenting! We hope you enjoy it!
One of my favorite salads…the dressing is perfect (I used regular balsamic vinegar and it tastes good). Love a nice and easy meal prep lunch!!
Awe yay!! We are so happy you love it, Kristin!