Home » Recipes » Sauce Recipes » Fuji Apple Salad Dressing
by Whitney Bond
February 16, 2021
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4.41 stars (59 ratings)
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Recreate Panera’s Fuji Apple Salad Dressing at home with this 5 minute recipe! This tangy, sweet vinaigrette dressing is bursting with flavor and it’s so easy to make! It’s perfect for tossing with a copycat Fuji Apple Chicken Salad or drizzling over your favorite salad!
Over the past 20 years, I’ve eaten A LOT of Fuji Apple Chicken Salads at Panera Bread. It’s my favorite salad on their menu, so of course I had to make a copycat version at home. This way, I can enjoy the salad anytime!
But before I could recreate this delicious salad, I had to recreate my favorite part of the salad, the sweet and zesty fuji apple salad dressing.
Years ago, my favorite salad dressing brand, Litehouse, had their own bottled Fuji Apple dressing that I would always pick up at the grocery store. I used it back in 2015 to create this Kale Apple Slaw recipe. Unfortunately, they quit making the dressing a few years back. So this is also my ode to the Litehouse Fuji Apple Salad Dressing of years past!
It’s easy to whisk together in just 5 minutes and is great on everything from salads, to wraps, to buddha bowls!
What You’ll Need
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
- White Balsamic Vinegar – traditional balsamic vinegar can also be used, but it will change the color of the dressing and it has a more sweet, syrupy taste, than white balsamic.
- Honey – if you want to make this recipe vegan, swap in maple syrup instead!
- Apple Juice
- Sea Salt
- Garlic Powder – fresh crushed garlic can be used in place of garlic powder if you’d like a fresher flavor in the dressing. Instead of 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, use 1 teaspoon fresh crushed garlic.
- Onion Powder
- Ground Ginger – fresh grated ginger can also be used in place of ground ginger if you’d like. Instead of 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, use 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger.
How to Make Fuji Apple Vinaigrette
- Add all of the ingredients to a bowl or mason jar.
- Whisk to combine.
Seriously, that’s all it takes, 2 simple steps to make a fresh, sweet and tangy salad dressing!
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Panera’s Fuji Apple Dressing gluten free? Yes, this homemade version of the dressing is naturally gluten-free.
- How many calories are in fuji apple salad dressing? This dressing recipe contains 145 calories per ounce, or 72 calories per tablespoon.
- How long will this vinaigrette dressing last in the refrigerator? Stored in an airtight container, like a mason jar, this dressing will stay good in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. You will want to give it a nice stir before serving it to combine all of the ingredients back together.
- Quick Tip! This is why I like to store the dressing in a mason jar, so I can just shake it up quickly before adding it to a salad!
Ways to use Fuji Apple Salad Dressing
- Tossed with a salad – this is the most obvious choice since it is a salad dressing! But seriously, you can toss it on side salads, dinner salads, kale salads or quinoa salads. It’s really delicious on any kind of salad!
- Drizzled in a sandwich or wrap – for a sweet, zesty addition to a ham or turkey sandwich or wrap, try drizzling a little of this vinaigrette in the sandwich!
- As a chicken marinade – use 1/4 cup of the dressing, tossed with 1 pound of chicken breasts or thighs, to create a delicious marinade for grilled chicken!
More easy homemade sauces to try!
- Thai Peanut Sauce
- Creamy Avocado Salsa
- Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
- Chimichurri Sauce
- Green Tahini Sauce
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4.41 stars (59 ratings)
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Fuji Apple Salad Dressing
Recreate Panera's Fuji Apple Salad Dressing at home with this 5 minute recipe! This tangy, sweet vinaigrette dressing is bursting with flavor and it's so easy to make!
Servings: 8 ounces
Prep Time: 5 minutes mins
Total Time: 5 minutes mins
Author: Whitney Bond
Course: Sauce
Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons apple juice
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
Add all of the ingredients to a bowl or mason jar.
Whisk all of the ingredients together or shake them together in the jar.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- To make this recipe vegan, use maple syrup instead of honey.
- This recipe is naturally gluten free.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 145kcal (7%)Carbohydrates 6g (2%)Protein 1g (2%)Fat 14g (22%)Saturated Fat 2g (10%)Sodium 148mg (6%)Potassium 20mg (1%)Fiber 1g (4%)Sugar 6g (7%)Vitamin A 1mgVitamin C 1mg (1%)Calcium 4mgIron 1mg (6%)
Did you make this recipe?Tag @WhitneyBond on Instagram and hashtag it #WBRecipes!
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published on February 16, 2021 20 Comments
Posted in: Dairy Free Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Recipes, Sauce Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
About Whitney Bond
I’m a sports-loving, coffee-drinking, food blogger, the host of “29 Minute Meals”, a contributing writer for TODAY Food, cookbook author and on-camera food and lifestyle expert! Here you’ll find most recipes are made in 29 minutes or less, in one pot, or in a crock pot!
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Leave a Reply
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Amy L. — November 17, 2023 @ 3:30 PM Reply
Just wondering – your copycat dressing seems to be a little different, although it is a vinaigrette dressing. Panera Bread’s has a creamy texture which pours almost like it has some mayo in it. It’s blended but it’s definitely not this. This is probably healthier, but the Fuji Apple dressing at Panera that comes with the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad is a creamy form of an apple dressing, which is positively outstanding! It’s very similar to the creamy citrus salad dressing that Applebee’s serves with their Thai chicken salad. Both have a creamy base.
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:D — January 28, 2024 @ 9:51 PM Reply
i would say put applesauce (i put 1/4 cup) and a tiny spoon of mayo-
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Maria — September 25, 2023 @ 1:05 PM Reply
Is it 8 servings? So each serving is 1oz? Just have to make sure so I can add it to my macro calculator. Thanks!
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Whitney Bond — September 25, 2023 @ 4:50 PM Reply
Hi Maria, yes each serving is 1 ounce. Enjoy!
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Vanessa — September 11, 2023 @ 8:40 PM Reply
Thanks for sharing! How far ahead of time can I make it?
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Suzanne — September 11, 2023 @ 8:38 PM Reply
This looks so good! What a great fall recipe to make for friends!
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Kay V — May 2, 2023 @ 9:35 AM Reply
My husband and I were anxious to try this recipe for a while–today we finally made it! So easy! We actually juiced some fuji apples, so had the totally fresh apple juice taste. We, too, did not have the white balsamic; but we’re fine with the darker color of the regular balsamic. We ended up adding a touch of lemon juice as I noticed on the ingredient label of the Panera vinaigrette that lemon juice was listed. It is SO good! Thanks for experimenting to get it figured out!!
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Marty — February 1, 2023 @ 12:23 PM Reply
A pretty good approximation, I think – however, based on the Panera ingredients from the label, I split the vinegar component 50:50, white balsamic to apple cider vinegar (unfiltered), used vegetable oil instead of olive oil (label calls for soybean oil), and added about a ½ teaspoon of xanthan gum to thicken & keep it in suspension. The ingredients also included rosemary extract, so I very finely chopped about a ½ tsp of rosemary. Compared side-by-side to the original it was a little vinegary and not as ‘apple-y’, so I reduced some apple cider down to a syrup and added that to the jar. Got it pretty close, I think.
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Rachel Mahoney — January 3, 2024 @ 7:51 AM Reply
I agree about the rosemary addition! Reducing the apple juice made all the difference as well as the Apple Cider Vinegar! Thanks for the tweaks- it ended up pretty perfect!
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Terine — August 19, 2022 @ 5:54 PM Reply
Hi. I made this today and something isnt quite right. I followed exact ingredient measurements. The only thing I changed was that I used white wine vinegar (they didnt have white balsamic). It didn’t taste sweet enough, so I added more honey and apple juice. It helped, but it still doesn’t taste right, and Id like a little thicker consistency. Any advice?
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Whitney Bond — August 21, 2022 @ 11:14 AM Reply
Hi Terine, white wine vinegar is going to be more acidic and less sweet than white balsamic, so I would definitely recommend using a white balsamic or traditional balsamic vinegar next time to get the right taste and sweetness in the dressing. Since this is a vinaigrette, it’s not a thick dressing. If you’d like to thicken it, I’d recommend adding 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum as a thickener.
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Sharissa — July 17, 2022 @ 10:46 AM Reply
My store stopped selling this dressing and I was sad as I used it for my Granny apple Turkey salad.
I’m SO happy I found this receipe! Less processed crap in it and I can make as little or as much as I want any time!!
Super simple recipe. I had everything already except the white balsamic which is easily found at the store.
I blended it in a mini blender and stored in a small mason jar for my salads! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!! -
Jen Vertanen — March 19, 2022 @ 3:21 PM Reply
My family goes NUTS for this dressing! Tried other versions and always come back to this one.
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Whitney Bond — March 21, 2022 @ 3:47 PM Reply
So happy to hear that Jen! Thanks for sharing!
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Yvette — February 22, 2022 @ 8:23 PM Reply
I just made this dressing, but I had to substitute the white balsamic with regular balsamic. I also used shallots instead of the garlic and onion powder and chunks of peeled honeycrisp apples instead of apple juice and OMG it’s even better than Panera! Thank you for providing this recipe, I would’ve never known where to start without it.
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Yvette — February 22, 2022 @ 7:51 PM Reply
I just made this dressing, but I had to substitute the white balsamic with regular balsamic. I also used shallots instead of the garlic and onion powder and chunks of peeled honeycrisp apples instead of apple juice and OMG it’s even better than Panera! Thank you for providing this recipe, I would’ve never known where to start without it.
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Karen McCormick — October 5, 2021 @ 4:22 PM Reply
Made this today as the store didn’t have it in stock. YUM! My friend who came for dinner liked it so much I let her take it home :). So quick and easy. Thank you!
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Whitney Bond — October 5, 2021 @ 5:41 PM Reply
Wonderful Karen, so happy that you all enjoyed it so much! Thanks for sharing!
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Karen Galambos — July 28, 2021 @ 6:22 PM Reply
I tried this dressing with a blackberry, goat cheese and pecan salad. Everyone loved it and requested seconds on salad! Thanks for sharing a delicious dressing!
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Whitney Bond — July 29, 2021 @ 3:03 PM Reply
That’s wonderful Karen, thanks for sharing! I’m going to have to try a similar salad, it sounds great!
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