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This festive Christmas Salad is made with mixed greens, oranges, apple, pomegranate seeds, feta, and pecans. It’s sweet, salty, crunchy, and a beautiful addition to your holiday table!
If you’re a long time follower of mine then you’re aware of how much I love a good salad! However, I’m picky when it comes to my salad.
Don’t serve me a bowl of lettuce and a couple carrots in the mix. I want a salad that’s loaded with color, texture, and flavor. The more toppings the better in my opinion.
This colorful Christmas Salad will be a welcomed pop of color and freshness on your holiday dinner or even brunch table. It’s got sweet and salty flavors going on, not to mention plenty of crunch.
Ingredients For Christmas Salad
- mixed greens
- oranges
- apple
- pomegranate seeds
- dried cranberries
- feta
- pecans
- champagne vinegar
- honey
- shallot
- olive oil
How To Make Christmas Salad
Making this Christmas salad is a piece of cake! It may look fancy, but honestly there’s not much work required, especially if you take a couple shortcuts.
I used a round platter for the salad and put a round bowl in the middle for the vinaigrette. This allowed me to arrange the salad so it looked like a wreathe. This is a totally optional step, but it does make for a beautiful presentation.
To make the salad arrange the mixed greens on the platter or add them to a serving bowl. Thinly slice an apple and fan the slices out on top of the greens.
Segment two oranges. To do this simply cut the peel and any of the white pith from the orange. Use a sharp knife and cut between the membranes. The segments should fall right out. Don’t throw out the membranes that are left behind, you’ll use the juice for the vinaigrette.
Arrange the segments on top of the mixed greens along with the toasted pecans, crumbled feta, and dried cranberries. Scatter the pomegranate seeds throughout the salad.
To save time you can buy pomegranate seeds in a container in the refrigerated section of the produce area. They are more expensive, but work great in a pinch. I also recommend buying a pre-washed container of mixed greens to save time.
The final step is to make the citrus vinaigrette. Squeeze all the remaining juice from the leftover orange membranes. You should end up with about 3 tablespoons give or take.
Add the champagne vinegar, minced shallot, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper to the orange juice. Whisk together until combined and taste to make sure it doesn’t need more salt or pepper. Serve the vinaigrette alongside the salad or in the middle if you making a wreath shaped presentation.
Tips For The Best Salad
- Use an apple that is sweet and crisp such as a honeycrisp, pink lady, or golden delicious.
- Take the time to toast the pecans. It brings out the nuttiness and flavor of them.
- Save time and buy a tub of pre-washed mixed greens. If you don’t mind spending the extra money you can buy a container of pomegranate seeds versus buying a whole pomegranate and breaking it down yourself.
- Don’t add the toppings to the salad very far ahead of time. I wouldn’t do it more than an hour in advance. Mixed greens are delicate and will get soggy quickly from the moisture in the fruit.
Christmas Salad Flavor Variations
The great thing about salads is that they are completely customizable. You can add or subtract whatever ingredients you’d like to suite your taste. Below are some alternate suggestions for toppings.
Cheese – Substitute the feta with goat cheese, cubes of manchego cheese, ricotta salata, or mini mozzarella balls
Fruit – Instead of apples try pears or persimmons and instead of orange segments use mandarin oranges, clementines, or tangerines.
Nuts – Substitute pecans with toasted walnuts, pistachios, and for a nut free option, pepitas. You could also used candied nuts if you want something sweet.
Greens – Mixed green can be swapped with baby kale, regular curly kale, or spinach.
More Salad Recipes You’ll Love
- Autumn Apple and Pear Salad
- Roasted Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts Salad
- Cranberry Apple Quinoa Salad
- Winter Kale and Wild Rice Salad
- Maple Orange Sweet Potato Salad
Christmas Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 5 ounces mixed greens
- 2 oranges peeled and segmented
- 1 apple sliced thin
- 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta
- 1/4 cup toasted chopped pecans
Citrus vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoon orange juice squeeze juice from the remains of the oranges used in the salad
- 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients for the citrus vinaigrette in a jar or bowl. Shake or whisk until thoroughly combined and then set aside.
- Arrange the mixed greens onto a round serving platter with the bowl of vinaigrette in the center. Or add them to a serving bowl.
- Top the mixed greens with the apple slices, orange segments, pomegranate seeds, feta, pecans, and dried cranberries. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Don't make the salad to far in advance or the mixed greens will be soggy.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
