This Christmas salad is a blend of mixed greens, oranges, pomegranate, feta cheese and candied pecans, all tossed in a homemade dressing. An easy and festive salad that is the perfect addition to any holiday menu!
When I’m looking for a salad that features winter produce, I turn to favorites such as kale salad, brussels sprouts salad and this colorful and refreshing Christmas salad.
If I’m making the menu for the holidays, I always include at least one salad for nutrition and to provide a lighter counterpart to the heavier main course options. This Christmas salad features a sweet and savory blend of fruit, cheese and nuts that ends up being the perfect flavor combination.
How do you make Christmas salad?
This salad starts with small oranges such as tangerines or clementines, which are peeled and placed in a bowl of mixed greens along with feta cheese, candied pecans and pomegranate seeds. Make a homemade dressing with a few simple ingredients, then pour it over the salad and toss to combine. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Tips for the perfect salad
- You can use canned mandarin oranges, or any variety of fresh orange that is peeled and cut into segments. I prefer the fresh oranges as they have a better texture than the canned variety.
- I like to buy a block of feta cheese and crumble it myself. Pre-crumbled feta cheese often contains anti-caking agents and stabilizers, and it doesn’t have as good of a flavor in my opinion.
- You can buy candied pecans at the grocery store, or make your own with my recipe.
- When I’m looking to save on prep time, I buy a container of pomegranate seeds at the grocery store instead of removing the seeds from a whole pomegranate. I also get a tub of pre-washed greens to make life a little easier.
Make ahead instructions
One of the most important features of a holiday salad is that it can be prepared in advance, because no one wants to be in the kitchen chopping produce on Christmas. Feel free to make the salad dressing up to 3 days in advance. Just store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it, then shake well and pour over the salad. The oranges and pomegranates can be prepped up to one day in advance. When you’re ready to eat, simply place the ingredients in a bowl with the lettuce, add the dressing and serve.
Christmas salad flavor variations
This salad is fabulous as-is, but you can add other ingredients to make it your own.
- Fruit: Instead of oranges, try another cold weather fruit such as apples, pears or persimmons.
- Nuts: While I think the pecans go well with the flavors in the salad, other options include almonds, walnuts or even cashews. You can choose roasted or candied nuts, but I feel the candied nuts add a nice crunch and sweetness.
- Cheese: Swap out the feta for blue cheese, shaved parmesan, ricotta salata or small mozzarella balls.
- Add-Ins: Feel free to add other ingredients such as shaved fennel, red onions, avocado or dried cranberries.
You can’t go wrong with this salad, in fact, I make it all winter long!
More salad recipes you’ll enjoy
Christmas Salad Video
Christmas Salad
Ingredients
For the salad
- 7 cups mixed spring greens
- 1 1/4 cups orange segments mandarin oranges, clementines or tangerines
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds can substitute dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup feta cheese crumbled
- 1/2 cup candied pecans roughly chopped
For the dressing
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon shallot minced
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the mixed greens, oranges, pomegranate seeds, feta cheese and pecans in a large bowl.
- Place all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, whisk until smooth.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad mixture to taste, then gently toss to coat. You may have dressing left over. Serve immediately.
Can you substitute other greens for the spring mix?
Yes that’s totally fine!
Have you ever tried this with arugula instead of mixed greens?
That should be fine!
This salad is soo good. I did change some of the ingredients due to availability. I used dried cranberries, regular chopped pecans, gorgonzola, and some warm pears. I oven roasted the pears with honey and balsamic. The dressing is soo good and very easy to make. The salad was a hit in my house.
Can you use canned mandarin oranges?
Yes that’s fine!
Great tasting and looking salad. I’ve made it several times and it is very easy to make. Everyone loves it!
One of the best salads I have made. DELICIOUS! Definitely will be making it again and again. Very refreshing.
How long will the dressing keep. In the fridge???
It will keep for 5 days!
This is a wonderful fresh Christmas salad. Flavours paired perfectly with all ingredients. Everyone raved about it. This will be my go to holiday salad.
This salad came out so wonderful! The flavors were perfect!
This was the best salad! The dressing was amazing. I used cranberries instead. Make sure you watch a tutorial on how to segment oranges if you didn’t know how.
If I don’t want to make the salad dressing, what kind would you suggest I buy?
Something like a balsamic or apple cider vinaigrette!
Glad to hear I can substitute balsamic for apple cider vinegar. We have a family member who is allergic to anything apple, including apple cider vinegar.
I also used sliced strawberries and used Brianna’s blush wine strawberry vinaigrette. It’s a beautiful salad and there were no leftovers!
This recipe gets me excited for Christmas! Yummy!
What a gorgeous festive salad – so easy to get bogged down with all the carbs at Christmas and a zingy fresh salad is the perfect antidote!
A christmas salad is a must in our house. We always add brussel sprouts and kale to ours too.
Healthy Greens, Nutty Walnut and yummy fruits. Definitely make a great combination. I love this salad recipe.
Loving the bright colors on this christmas salad. You cant go wrong having a festive salad with oranges, pomegranates and the pecans mixed in!
So festive! Love the brightness in the flavors of this salad. Gorgeous way to get some greens in for the holidays.
This makes for a perfect festive salad for the holidays! I love all the flavors that come together for a delicious salad.
This salad is so bright and festive!! It will go perfectly on our holiday menu this year and will pair so well with so many other dishes! Yum!
Love all the vibrant colors and the fresh fruit in this Christmas Salad. It’s a nice addition to any Christmas dinner.
Such a beautiful salad! Christmas can be total over-indulgence in heavy, starchy foods and this is such a refreshing side to serve over the holiday season.