Are you looking for a healthier option for your holiday meal? Try out this easy and delicious Christmas salad recipe! Packed with nutritious ingredients and bursting with festive flavors, it’s the perfect addition to any holiday spread.
The flavors of the fresh citrus, salad greens, and pomegranate meld so well together, especially with a honey mustard vinaigrette, making it the perfect side dish. I love to serve it with roasted rosemary potatoes and New York Strip Steak.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
See the complete list of ingredients on the recipe card below.
- Spring greens: or mixed greens like arugula, baby spinach, baby greens
- Nuts: almonds, pecans, pistachios, pine nuts, and walnuts.
- Cheese: I like feta because it works well in this salad, but you can substitute Parmesan, goat, or blue cheese.
- Oranges: Preferably seedless mandarins. They are easy to peel, full of flavor, and bite-sized.
- Pomegranate seeds: also known as pomegranate arils. If you can not find them, try dried cranberries or blueberries.
How to Make Christmas Salad
This is the summary version; see the recipe card below for the complete list of ingredients and the instructions.
- Whisk the minced garlic, champagne vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking continuously.
- Add your spring greens, sliced almonds, feta cheese, mandarin oranges, and pomegranate arils to a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to coat.
Make It Ahead
You can make the honey mustard champagne vinaigrette up to 2 days in advance; however, remove it from the refrigerator about 45 minutes before serving to warm to room temperature, then whisk or shake well.
Prep the oranges and pomegranate arils up to 24 hours in advance and store them in an airtight container in the fridge. Assemble the salad up to 1 hour before, but do not toss with the vinaigrette until ready to serve.
Preparation Tips For The Best Christmas Salad
- I encourage you to use fresh, seedless mandarin oranges for optimal taste, but you could also use canned ones in a pinch.
- Pomegranate arils are just the red jewels found inside a pomegranate. They contain a sweet nectar surrounding a white seed in the center. Around late November through December, grocery stores will have pomegranates available, and some stores may even have the arils already removed and available for sale.
- This salad is equally delicious with a honey-poppyseed dressing.
More Salad Recipes
Christmas Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil
Christmas Salad
- 12 ounces fresh spring greens
- ⅔ cup sliced almonds
- ⅔ cup feta cheese
- 4 seedless mandarin oranges peeled and segmented
- 1 pomegranate seeded
Instructions
- Whisk together minced garlic, champagne vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking continuously.
- Add spring green, sliced almonds, feta cheese, mandarin oranges, and pomegranate arils in a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Nutrition
Are you on the hunt for more delicious recipes? Follow Small Town Woman on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
https://www.smalltownwoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Beth-1.pdf
Helen
This Christmas salad wass delicious and attractive. It was perfect for our small dinner party and our guests loved it. Thank you!
Beth Pierce
My pleasure, Helen!
AJ
This was delicious! It was so nice to have a healthier option to an otherwise “junk food” time of year. The colors made it look festive too!
Kira
We absolutely love this Christmas salad! We served it for a small quaint dinner party and everyone thought it was delicious.
Natalie
This was so colorful and festive! Nothing beats a homemade vinaigrette! Thanks for the delicious, recipe.
Beth Pierce
You are most welcome, Natalie!
Karen
The salad omg…I am definitely doing it. I can’t can’t wait. I love how colorful it is and I bet the taste is even better. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Beth Pierce
My pleasure, Karen! Enjoy!
Sophia
I love the sound of this salad, at Christmas you do eat much more unhealthily and often crave something fresh and tasty. Definitely making this for my family
Beth Pierce
Thanks, Sophia! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Ben
The bright colors and flavors are so nice here. I can see serving this next to some turkey. I can’t wait to make it.
Beth Pierce
Thanks, Benson! Enjoy!
Sammy
Love the sound of this salad and one my family would love and a nice fresh change to the heavier options we usually have definitely trying this one
Melissa C
I actually just pinned this recipe so that I can make it for my husband as I know he will love this salad. It is full of delicious, bright and colorful ingredients that will come together to create this masterpiece of a salad. Thanks for sharing!
Beth Pierce
The pleasure is all mine! Enjoy!
Hadley
What an extremely fun Christmas Salad this is! The textures from all of these different ingredients was fantastic and we loved the dressing.