This peach salad recipe is irresistibly fresh! Pair the juicy fruit with cheese crumbles, toasted nuts, and a balsamic vinaigrette.

When it’s the season, you’ve got to seize it: make all the peach recipes! Here’s the recipe we run to often: this fresh Peach Salad recipe! This one is a standout, pairing juicy ripe peaches with a sweet balsamic vinaigrette, punches of creamy goat cheese and nutty toasted almonds. Add pops of sweet corn and savory red onion slivers and it’s a total treat! We polished this one off the minute we were done taking these photos, and we’ve been making it all summer long.

Elements in this peach salad

The most important thing about this peach salad recipe? Only use juicy ripe peaches. If they’re hard when you give them a gentle squeeze, wait a few more days to make this salad: it’s worth it! Here’s what you’ll need to put it together:

• Ripe peaches
• Toasted almonds: it’s worth taking the extra few minutes to toast the almonds: it greatly enhances the nutty, crunchy flavor
• Mixed greens: we like a mix of butter lettuce and other greens
• Red onion: slice them French cut (length-wise) for best presentation (here’s a video!)
• Canned corn: canned is easiest, but if you happen to have leftover grilled corn it’s divine! You can also use fresh corn cut from the cob.
• Goat cheese or feta cheese: it’s best with chevre, but nearly as good with feta; omit for vegan.
• Balsamic vinaigrette: make it homemade with balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, salt, pepper and olive oil.

How to ripen peaches

When you shop for peaches, there’s a lot of variation in ripeness: you might find them rock hard or so juicy they’re almost bruising. If you start with hard peaches, you’ll need several days to ripen them (especially if they’re out of season). Here’s what to do:

• Place the peaches in a paper bag.
• Add a banana inside the bag. The banana emits ethylene gas, which helps the peaches ripen at the same time.
• Gently close the top of the bag. This traps the gasses inside.
• Wait for 1 to 5 days, depending on the ripeness of the peaches. Check each day by gently squeezing the fruit to see if the flesh feels soft.

For the dressing: make it homemade!

You can use a stand-in salad dressing from the store here, but the best dressing is homemade! It’s simple to whisk together and tastes incredible. This one is a spin on our classic Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing. All you need to do is:

• Whisk together balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup and salt and pepper.
• Gradually whisk in olive oil one tablespoon at a time until a creamy emulsion forms. It’s so quick and simple, and the flavor is outstanding: it will be become your go-to.

Variations on this peach salad

This summery peach salad is ripe for riffing on (yep, we said it). My mom recently made it with various substitutions and loved it. Here are a few ideas for components you can switch out:

More summer salads

Salads are king in the summer! Here are a few more tasty summer salads to try: