This BBQ Pulled Pork Salad with Peaches and Cornbread Croutons is the perfect way to utilize leftover pulled pork for an easy and tasty summer dinner dish!
Jump to:
- Why you'll love this dish
- What ingredients go into BBQ Pulled Pork Salad?
- What kind of peaches are best for slicing?
- How to make Cornbread Croutons
- Does this salad have dressing?
- What tools do I need to make this recipe?
- Looking for more summer salad recipes?
- BBQ Pulled Pork Salad with Peaches and Cornbread Croutons
Why you'll love this dish
This savory and sweet salad utilizes the best of summer produce, including fresh peaches, corn, cucumber, and pickled red onions on a bed of crisp lettuce. Golden and crunchy cornbread croutons adorn the top along with a sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles. Just toss pulled pork with your favorite BBQ sauce - I prefer a smoky mesquite - and layer it on top. This salad is summer in a bowl!
What ingredients go into BBQ Pulled Pork Salad?
- Pulled pork - This recipe was made for using leftover fully-cooked pulled pork -- I prefer pork shoulder!
- BBQ sauce - You can use a homemade BBQ sauce like this Spicy Red, this Carolina Gold, or this Chipotle Peach, or use a bottled version -- we love Stubbs' Smokey Mesquite and Lillie's Q Smokey
- Peaches - Fresh is best here! You can enjoy them raw or grill them slightly if you prefer
- Cornbread croutons - make a batch of your favorite cornbread and oven-toast them for a sweet and crunchy bite -- This Brown Butter Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread is my favorite cornbread recipe!
- Salad greens - I prefer a crisp and crunchy lettuce for this salad, like iceberg or romaine, and will sometimes mix the two together
- Corn - When it's in season, I love grilling fresh corn and cutting the kernels off the cob afterward, but this frozen fire-roasted sweet corn is my go-to otherwise
- Cucumber - I prefer thin-skinned English or Persian cucumbers
- Raw or pickled red onions -- Find my recipe for Refrigerator Pickled Blueberries and Red onions here (the blueberries are wonderful in this salad too!)
- Blue cheese - I love the bite of sharp saltiness that blue cheese gives this sweet and savory salad. Grab a wedge and crumble over the top for extra tastiness!
What kind of peaches are best for slicing?
Whether you prefer yellow peaches or white peaches, I highly recommend finding 'freestone' peaches for easy slicing. 'Freestone' simply means that the flesh of the peach will not cling to the pit of the peach as much as 'clingstone' peaches, which makes it easier to remove and discard the pit so you are just left with flesh for easy slicing.
This differentiation will often (though not always) be noted on their fruit sticker. Another great indicator is the time of year that the peaches are available and the size of the peaches. If it's early in the season, the peaches are more likely to be a clingstone variety. Clingstone varieties are also often smaller than their freestone counterparts.
How to make Cornbread Croutons
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F / 205 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add 2 cups (for my cornbread this worked out to 282 g or 10 oz) cubed cornbread to the baking sheet.
- Drizzle with 2 tablespoon olive oil, then sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and cracked black pepper to taste. Toss by hand until the oil, salt, and pepper are reasonably well-dispersed.
- Bake for 10-minutes. Then carefully flip the cornbread cubes over and bake for an additional 5-minutes until golden with crisp outers.
Get my recipe for Brown Butter Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread here!
Does this salad have dressing?
No, this salad is so jam-packed with flavor from toppings (plus generously BBQ sauced pulled pork) that I haven't included a dressing for it because I don't really think it needs one. However, if you would like to add a salad dressing it would be wonderful with a light blue cheese dressing or a ranch dressing -- This Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch Dressing would be a nice option for a bite of creamy heat that would pair really well with the bbq pulled pork and peaches. I also love that this dressing is thinner than your average ranch, so it tosses really well into summer salads without weighing them down.
What tools do I need to make this recipe?
- A cutting board
- A chef's knife
- A kitchen scale (or measuring cups for less precise measurements)
- Measuring spoons
- A baking sheet + parchment paper
- A potholder or oven mitt
- A medium mixing bowl
- 2 forks
- A large salad bowl
- Salad serving utensils (or two wooden spoons!)
Are you looking to upgrade your cooking tools or replenish your pantry? Check out my kitchen tools shop page and pantry staples shop page to find my must-have kitchen tools, pantry items, and other Whip & Wander favorites.
Looking for more summer salad recipes?
Love this BBQ Pulled Pork Salad with Peaches and Cornbread Croutons? Here are some more of my favorite summer salad recipes that you might enjoy:
- BBQ Chicken Salad with Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch
- Strawberry Peach Summer Salad with Basil Walnut Pesto
- Summer Couscous Salad
- Wedge Salad with Horseradish Blue Cheese Dressing
- Grilled Corn Salad with Spicy Honey Lime Dressing
- Tuna Nicoise Salad
- Crunchy Greek Salad with Avocado and Feta
- Creamy Kale Salad with Raspberries and Feta
- Creamy Cucumber Radish Salad
- Roasted Pepper and Burrata Salad
BBQ Pulled Pork Salad with Peaches and Cornbread Croutons
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Salads & Dressings, Mains
- Method: Oven / No-Cook
- Cuisine: American
Description
This savory and sweet salad utilizes the best of summer produce, including fresh peaches, corn, cucumber, and pickled red onions on a bed of crisp lettuce. Golden and crunchy cornbread croutons adorn the top along with a sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles. Just toss pulled pork with your favorite BBQ sauce - I prefer a smoky mesquite - and layer it on top. This salad is summer in a bowl!
Ingredients
For the cornbread croutons:
- 2 heaping cups (about 282 g / 10 oz) cornbread * cut into 1-1 ½ inch cubes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- Cracked black pepper, to taste
For the rest of the salad:
- 1 lb leftover fully-cooked pulled pork (I prefer pork shoulder)
- 210 g (about ¾ cup) BBQ sauce **
- 1 lb crunchy lettuce, chopped (I prefer iceberg or romaine)
- 2 medium (about 1 lb) peaches, pitted and sliced (I prefer yellow freestone)
- 1 ear of grilled corn, kernels cut from the cob (cob discarded) - OR - 85 g (½ cup) frozen fire-roasted corn, defrosted
- ½ medium (about 150 g) English cucumber, sliced
- ¼ large (about 65 g) pickled sliced red onion *** - OR - ¼ (about 50 g) raw red onion, sliced
- 4 oz blue cheese, crumbled (I prefer Roquefort or gorgonzola)
- Optional: Blue cheese or ranch dressing ****
Instructions
For the cornbread croutons:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F / 205 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add cubed cornbread to the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with Kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste. Toss by hand until the oil, salt, and pepper are reasonably well-dispersed.
- Bake for 10-minutes. Then carefully flip the cornbread cubes over and bake for an additional 5-minutes until golden with crisp outers. Reserve to the side.
For the rest of the salad:
- In a medium bowl, combine the pulled pork and your preferred BBQ sauce. Toss until well dispersed and reserve to the side.
- In a large salad bowl, add the lettuce, peaches, corn, cucumber, red onion, and blue cheese. Top with the reserved BBQ pulled pork and toss to combine. Serve with the reserved cornbread croutons on top.
Notes
Nutritional information on Whip & Wander is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
* You can use whichever cornbread you prefer to make the cornbread croutons. I love this Brown Butter Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread!
** You can use a homemade BBQ sauce like this Spicy Red, this Carolina Gold, or this Chipotle Peach, or use a bottled version -- we love Stubbs' Smokey Mesquite and Lillie's Q Smokey
*** Find a quick video of my recipe for Refrigerator Pickled Blueberries and Red onions here (the blueberries are wonderful in this salad too!) -- Recipe listed in the caption!
**** I don't think this salad requires additional dressing, however, if you would like to add one, a blue cheese dressing or this Buttermilk Jalapeno Ranch Dressing would be a nice option for a bite of creamy heat that would pair really well with the bbq pork and peaches.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 568
- Sugar: 25 g
- Sodium: 1213 mg
- Fat: 27 g
- Saturated Fat: 7 g
- Carbohydrates: 47 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 28 g
- Cholesterol: 79 mg
Keywords: bbq, pulled pork, cornbread, peaches, blue cheese, corn, salad, croutons
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