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    Home » Salads » Fig Salad With Goat Cheese

    Published: Oct 22, 2022 · Modified: May 17, 2025 by Zerrin & Yusuf

    Fig Salad With Goat Cheese

    Jump to Recipe

    Today, we will show you how to make a flavor-packed, colorful, and nutrient-dense fig salad recipe with goat cheese. The balsamic vinaigrette and arugula, figs, onions, walnuts and goat cheese all balance one another out wonderfully. 

    Fig and arugula salad in a white bowl, fresh figs around it.

    What can we do with a bunch of figs? You can make our simple roasted figs if you are looking for an easy dessert, goat cheese stuffed figs for an easy yet fancy appetizer or make a bowl of salad like this one.

    Love simple salads? Have you ever used figs in a salad? Let's create a sweet, savory, and tangy refreshing leafy salad with a handful of simple ingredients.

    Jump to:
    • Why Should You Make This
    • About The Ingredients
    • How To Make It
    • Variations
    • Serving
    • FAQs
    • More Fig Recipes
    • More Salad Recipes
    • 📖 Recipe

    Why Should You Make This

    This fig salad with goat cheese has very well-balanced flavors. It is hard to stop when you taste it once.

    It’s a great salad to make ahead of time. But don’t add the dressing until you are ready to serve it.

    It is extremely vibrant and tempting! So it can be the star of a special dinner table.

    It is gluten free and vegetarian. 

    About The Ingredients

    There are two parts in this arugula fig salad. The first is the balsamic vinaigrette and the second is the leafy green fig salad.

    A collage of two pictures showing ingredients of the dressing and salad.

    Vinaigrette:

    The dressing for this recipe is very simplistic. But its flavors are exceptionally well-balanced.

    We used balsamic vinegar to add some tartness. But, if you'd like, you can also use red wine or sherry vinegar. We prefer the flavor of balsamic vinegar for this fig salad, and it pairs very well with figs.

    We only use olive oil for salad dressings. It adds a rich and a tasty flavor. And finally, you can substitute the honey with maple syrup. It's equally sweet and will add some color as well.

    Salad:

    Walnuts: You have to toast the walnuts for this recipe. You can even do so in the oven! But don't skip this step. It adds more flavor and a crunchier texture. The best substitute for walnuts is pecans or almonds.

    Baby arugula leaves: This leafy green has a fresh, crisp, peppery flavor. If you aren’t a fan of this flavor, you can use baby spinach.

    Fresh figs: We use Brown Turkey Figs, but you can use any type of figs like black mission figs or Kadota figs. Just don't use preserved figs! And make sure the figs are not too ripe. They should be ripe but firm enough to be sliced for the salad.

    Goat cheese: It helps balance a very sweet flavor profile and enhances the natural flavors in the arugula, walnuts, and figs. If you don't like goat cheese, you can replace it. Blue cheese like Gorgonzola, Feta, Ricotta work well.

    How To Make It

    This fresh fig arugula salad is extremely easy to make and can take less than 15 minutes. We will show you exactly how to prepare figs for salad and some wonderful variations you can try.

    Hands whisking salad dressing in a small bowl.
    1. Make the salad dressing. Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients in a small jar or bowl. Once mixed, you can adjust the flavor of the dressing with vinegar or salt. Set it aside.
    2. Toast the walnuts. Heat a skillet over medium heat without any oil. Add the walnuts and allow them to toast for about 5 minutes. You can shake the skillet occasionally to prevent the nuts from burning. Once toasted, transfer them to a plate and allow them to cool completely. Alternatively, place them on a baking sheet and toast in a preheated oven at 350F/180C for 8 minutes.
    A collage of two pictures showing how to make fig salad.
    1. Assemble the fig and goat cheese salad. Toss together the walnuts, arugula, red onions, and figs. Then, drizzle your homemade dressing over the mixture.
    2. Finish the salad with sprinkled goat's cheese and more figs if you’d like.
    Hands holding a bowl of fig salad with arugula and goat cheese.

    Variations

    This green fig salad has loads of wonderful variations. The recipe itself is very simple, which simultaneously makes it very versatile.

    Use roasted figs. Many people love the fresh flavor of figs. But to make it more savory and rich, you can roast the figs inside the oven.

    Use dried figs. If figs aren't in season at the moment (or they aren't sold in your area), you can use dried figs instead. Just stay away from preserved figs in syrup. Those are far too sweet for this recipe.

    Add meat. Personally, we love adding prosciutto in this fig and walnut salad. Either roasted or fresh. The roasted slices will add some crispy textures. And you can break them into various-sized pieces to add more or less crunch.

    Add extra fruit. Apples and dried cranberries will pair well with the current flavor profile. You don’t want to add anything that will offset the already tasty balance of flavors.

    Serving

    This fresh fig salad is extremely hearty, packed with nutrients, and loaded with a variety of sweet and savory flavors. It is wonderful served on its own with the dressing you made.

    Because it contains quite a few filling ingredients, it can make a great light lunch or dinner. You can serve it as a side with sandwiches like grilled cheese sandwich in air fry or feta grilled cheese.

    But you can, of course, pair it with the main dish. It goes really well with almost any roasted fish meal. One of our favorite recipes to serve this salad with is whole baked sea bass. You can also look for a roasted salmon recipe.

    And if you’d like to pair your fig goats cheese salad with red meat, steaks are the way to go!

    Fig salad with arugula in a white bowl close shot.

    FAQs

    How can I cook figs for a salad?

    As we have mentioned above, you don't have to use fresh figs. The best cooking method would be to roast them in an oven. It helps caramelize their flavors, develop a more savory undertone, and dry them out a little. You can pan-fry the fresh figs as well. But it's a little messy.

    Which cheese goes best with figs?

    Figs go well with any type of cheese. It could be mild cheese like ricotta or cream cheese. Sharp cheeses like Gorgonzola, Parmesan, Fontina, aged Cheddar, and Goat cheese are also great options. Sweet figs bring out their unique flavors a lot better than others.

    Are figs high in sugar?

    Fresh figs are surprisingly low in calories, most of which come from natural sugars. An average fresh fig (40 grams) contains 8 grams of natural sugars. Dried figs, on the other hand, contain a higher concentration of these sugars. And preserved figs are obviously almost pure sugar.

    More Fig Recipes

    • Best Fig Recipes
    • Unripe Figs Jam
    • Banana Fig Bread
    • Fig Appetizers with Goat Cheese

    More Salad Recipes

    • Turkish Bulgur Salad
    • Black Eye Pea Salad
    • Piyaz
    • Green Olive Salad Recipe

    As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!

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    📖 Recipe

    Arugula and fig salad in a white salad bowl.
    5 from 1 vote

    Fig Salad With Goat Cheese

    By Zerrin & Yusuf
    Fig salad with arugula, walnuts and goat cheese is a perfect salad that combines sweet, savory and tangy flavors.
    Yields: 2 servings
    Prevent your screen from going dark
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    PREP 10 minutes mins
    COOK 5 minutes mins
    TOTAL 15 minutes mins

    INGREDIENTS
      

    Salad Dressing:

    • 1½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
    • 3 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon pepper

    Salad:

    • ½ cup walnuts or pecans, halved or roughly chopped
    • 6 cups baby arugula
    • 1 small red onion sliced
    • 6 figs stems cut off and quarted
    • 2 ounces goat cheese

    INSTRUCTIONS
     

    Dressing:

    • In a small jar or bowl, whisk together all the ingredients. Taste and adjust vinegar or salt to your taste.

    Salad:

    • Toast walnuts in a skillet over medium high heat, shaking the skillet occasionally for 5 minutes. Don’t add oil. Transfer onto a plate to let them cool completely.
    • In a large bowl, combine walnuts, arugula, red onion and figs.
    • Drizzle the dressing over them and toss well.
    • Sprinkle goat cheese on the top of the salad and serve.
    • Add even more figs on the top when serving if you want.

    NUTRITION

    Calories: 622kcalCarbohydrates: 45gProtein: 13gFat: 47gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 17gMonounsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 710mgPotassium: 808mgFiber: 8gSugar: 34gVitamin A: 1939IUVitamin C: 16mgCalcium: 236mgIron: 3mg

    Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

    ADDITIONAL INFO

    Course Salad
    Cuisine American
    Tried this recipe? Leave a comment below!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      5 from 1 vote

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Pascal says

      January 22, 2023 at 2:33 pm

      5 stars
      Such a great combo! Love the use of figs in a green salad. I added some dried cranberries and crispy bacon too. Thank you for the inspiration!

      Reply
      • Zerrin & Yusuf says

        January 22, 2023 at 3:12 pm

        Hi Pascal,

        We are glad you liked it. Bacon and cranberries are great additions!

        Reply

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