Brighten up your Christmas dinner with this beautiful Christmas Salad. This festive side dish is made with oranges, pomegranate seeds, cranberries, blue cheese, walnuts and a homemade maple vinaigrette. Pair it with your favorite entree to create a fantastic holiday meal.
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👩🏻🍳 About This Recipe
Salad might not be a traditional addition to your Christmas dinner, but this festive and colorful Christmas side salad pairs perfectly with your favorite main courses.
If you love salads as much as I do, why not serve one during the holidays? This Christmas salad is great as a side dish for Christmas Day, or you can serve it as a light lunch during the holiday season.
The colorful dish looks almost as fantastic as it tastes, and I love how a fresh salad can brighten up a typically heavy Christmas meal.
If you would like to try a holiday salad that looks like a Christmas tree, check out this caprese Christmas tree salad. It's delicious and so festive!
And for a sweet and decadent holiday treat, try these Grinch Hot Cocoa Bombs!
🥘 Ingredients Needed
- Leafy greens - Use any salad leaves that you like, such as lettuce, spinach, or kale. You can use mixed leafy greens, or a combination of these, to make the salad more interesting.
- Pomegranate seeds - You can buy a pomegranate and remove the seeds yourself, or just buy a pack of separated seeds.
- Blue cheese - Any blue cheese can be used here. I like Stilton, but you might want to use a milder or a more flavorful variety that you like.
- Oranges - Use regular oranges, clementines, mandarins, or whatever you have available. These sweet citrus fruits are in season around Christmas, and taste their best!
- Dried cranberries - Adds some sweetness to the salad. You can also use fresh cranberries, but keep in mind that they tend to be quite sour!
- Walnuts - Add a lovely crunchy texture. Feel free to replace them with other nuts like almonds or pecans if you prefer.
- Pumpkin seeds - Adds crunch and nutrients.
- Maple syrup - Sweetens the salad dressing.
- Olive oil - I prefer to use extra virgin olive oil as a base for my dressings.
- Apple cider vinegar - A great vinegar to use in vinaigrette. You can also use white wine vinegar or lemon juice instead.
- Mustard - Dijon mustard is best, but American yellow mustard also works well. This is an optional but recommended addition to your salad dressing.
- Salt and pepper - Add flavor to your salad dressing. Completely optional, and can be added to taste.
🔪 Instructions
- Add the ingredients for the dressing to a small bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Place washed lettuce greens on a plate, and top with pomegranate seeds, pieces of cheese, orange slices, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and walnut pieces. Drizzle the dressing over the salad, and serve.
👪 FAQs
Store any leftover salad in a sealed container in a refrigerator for up to 2 days. It might keep for 1-2 days longer if you can store the dressing separately.
Yes, absolutely! Make a festive salad by including seasonal ingredients like cranberries, nuts, maple syrup, and lots of green and red colors.
Seasonal fruit and vegetables are perfect in salads at Christmas. Oranges, cranberries, kale, pumpkin, cheeses, pomegranate seeds, brussels sprouts, bacon, cheese, maple syrup, nuts, and seeds are great options.
Add your leftover vegetables to a holiday salad! Roasted, boiled or slow cooked vegetables can be a fantastic addition to a salad.
💭 Other Helpful Tips
- Make the dressing and salad ahead of time, and store them separately in the refrigerator to keep the greens fresh. Drizzle the maple dressing on top immediately before serving.
- Supreme the oranges to make them look more impressive.
- A bag of mixed lettuce and leafy greens will add more texture and color to the salad.
- Feel free to omit any ingredients you don't like, or add any vegetables, fruit, nuts, or seeds that you enjoy.
- Add some shredded leftover turkey or chicken to turn this side salad into a light entree.
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📖 Variations
- Use a storebought dressing or any salad dressing that you like if you prefer.
- Omit the cheese to make a vegan salad.
- Make it nut free by omiting the walnuts. You can replace these with seeds or other vegetables if you wish.
🍗 Suggested Main Dishes
Pair this easy salad with your favorite holiday entree. Here are some of my favorite options:
- Air Fryer Roast Beef - This fantastic roast beef is easy to make and tastes amazing.
- Crock Pot Turkey Legs - A simple but delicious turkey main course.
- Garlic Butter Steak Bites and Potatoes - Steak and salad pair perfectly together.
- Slow Cooker Whole Chicken - The juiciest whole chicken you will ever make!
🥗 Related Recipes
I love to serve holiday meals with a variety of side dishes. Here are some other recipes that I think would accompany this salad nicely.
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic - Sprouts have never tasted better.
- Garlic Butter Microwave Broccoli - Such an easy way to prepare broccoli.
- Whipped Potatoes - Perfect creamy mashed potatoes.
- Bacon Wrapped Asparagus - Bacon makes anything better!
- Slow Cooker Butternut Squash and Apples - A delicious side for fall and winter.
Christmas Salad
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📋 Recipe Card
Christmas Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 3 cups salad greens
- 4 small oranges (or clementines or mandarins)
- ½ cup blue cheese
- ½ cup pomegranate seeds
- ¼ cup walnuts
- ½ cup pumpkin seeds
- ½ cup dried cranberries
Dressing
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (optional)
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Use a whisk or spoon to incorporate the ingredients evenly, and set it aside.1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar, ⅛ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- Wash the salad greens, and place them on a serving plate or in a bowl.3 cups salad greens
- Top the greens with cranberries, walnut pieces, pumpkin seeds, cubed blue cheese, orange wedges or slices and pomegranate seeds.4 small oranges, ½ cup blue cheese, ¼ cup walnuts, ½ cup pumpkin seeds, ½ cup dried cranberries, ½ cup pomegranate seeds
- Drizzle the salad dressing over the salad, and serve immediately.
Notes
- Refrigerate the salad for up to 2 days. Keep the dressing separate to ensure that the salad stays as fresh as possible.
- You can omit, substitute or add any ingredients that you like.
- Save some time and effort by using a store bought maple syrup vinaigrette instead of making your own.
- Serve this salad as a light main course by adding a source of protein, like shredded chicken or turkey, or roasted chickpeas.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate. The nutritional values for your final dish may vary based on measuring differences and products used.
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Happy cooking!
Linda says
Love how beautiful and refreshing it is!
Sara Welch says
Such a beautiful salad with the perfect balance of flavors! Adding this to my Christmas dinner menu; looks too good to pass up!
Gina says
Such a festive salad and love all the textures and flavors in this recipe!
Emily says
I've always struggled to find a salad for Christmas dinner, this one will be perfect! Such complimentary flavors!
sonia says
A great salad for my Christmas.
I want to add it to my menu!
Mindee Taylor says
Delicious and such beautiful, festive colors for holiday dinners and parties!