This Thanksgiving salad is a blend of mixed greens, fresh apples, pomegranate seeds, blue cheese and candied pecans, all tossed in a homemade vinaigrette. An easy and festive salad that makes any holiday meal special!
When I’m looking for a salad that features seasonal produce, I turn to classics such as winter fruit salad, brussels sprouts salad and this simple yet satisfying Thanksgiving salad. Need more help with your holiday meal? Be sure to check out my complete guide on how to cook a turkey!
No meal is complete without a green salad, even around the holidays! My Thanksgiving salad is the perfect mix of sweet and savory ingredients, and takes just minutes to put together.
HOW DO YOU MAKE THANKSGIVING SALAD?
Thinly slice your favorite variety of apples, then place them in a bowl of mixed greens along with crumbles of blue cheese, sweet candied pecans and fresh pomegranate seeds. Make a homemade apple cider dressing with a handful of pantry ingredients, then pour the dressing over the salad and toss everthing together to combine. Serve immediately and enjoy!
TIPS FOR THE PERFECT THANKSGIVING SALAD
- This recipe will work with most types of apples. My favorite varieties are Pink Lady and Honeycrisp, but I’ve also made this salad with Braeburn, Fuji and Envy apples. Avoid Granny Smith apples, as they are too tart in this application.
- I like to buy a wedge of high quality blue cheese and crumble it myself. Pre-crumbled blue cheese often contains anti-caking agents and stabilizers, and it doesn’t have as complex of a flavor.
- You can buy candied pecans at the grocery store in the produce area or salad dressing aisle. Or, make your own with my recipe.
- Looking to save on prep time? Grab a container of pre-prepared pomegranate seeds and a tub of triple washed greens.
MAKE AHEAD INSTRUCTIONS
In my opinion, all holiday salads need to have make ahead components to minimize the time spent in the kitchen on the big day! For this Thanksgiving salad, the dressing can be prepared up to 3 days in advance. I also chop the nuts, crumble the cheese and remove the pomegranate seeds from the fruit at least one day in advance. On Thanksgiving day, simply slice the apples and toss everything together.
FLAVOR VARIATIONS
This salad is fabulous as-is, but you can add other ingredients to make it your own.
- Fruit: This salad also works with mandarin oranges, pears or persimmons instead of the apples.
- Nuts: No pecans on hand? Try candied walnuts or sliced almonds instead. You can even try using toasted pine nuts or roasted cashews.
- Cheese: When I’m not in a blue cheese kind of mood, I substitute in feta cheese, shaved parmesan or ricotta salata.
- Add-Ins: Feel free to add other complementary ingredients such as shaved fennel or thinly sliced red onion, or swap out the pomegranate seeds for dried cranberries or dried cherries.
- Dressing: The dressing for this salad is an apple cider vinaigrette, but you can also use a homemade or store bought balsamic dressing with great results.
Thanksgiving salad is so good that you don’t even need to wait for November to serve it – I enjoy this one all year round!
More salad recipes
Thanksgiving Salad Video
Thanksgiving Salad
Ingredients
For the salad
- 7 cups mixed spring greens
- 1 1/2 cups sliced apples I prefer Pink Lady or Honeycrisp
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1/2 cup high quality blue cheese crumbled
- 1/2 cup candied pecans coarsely chopped
For the dressing
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon shallot minced
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the mixed greens, apples, pomegranate seeds, blue cheese and candied pecans in a large bowl.
- Place all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, whisk until combined and dressing has emulsified.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad mixture to taste, then gently toss to coat. You may have dressing left over. Serve immediately.
how many ounces is 7 cups?
Lettuce typically comes in 5 ounce or 16 ounce packages. You could do 1 16 ounce or 3 5 ounce packages!
Made this for Thanksgiving and it’s very good. My blue cheese turned out to be too soft to crumble so it sort of clumped up with the pomegranate seeds, so next time I need to be sure to get a blue cheese that actually crumbles. I also added some extra dried cranberries and apples because it looked like so much lettuce but in reality the proportions as given are good, because once it was all tossed, my version (with the extra apple and dried cranberries) could have used more lettuce.
This is such a great salad! I omitted the shallots and it’s still amazing. Thanks so much for the recipe!
This is the BEST SALAD EVER. I made it for Thanksgiving, devoured the leftovers, and made it again when it was gone. My husband isn’t really a salad person and states “I could eat this salad every day. EVERY DAY.” In fact, he has eaten it every day this week. Thank you for making our lives better.
Should the pecans be toasted? Candied? Or just plain? Thank you
This recipe calls for candied pecans!
Absolutely delicious. Great balance on the carb filled thanksgiving.
This is salad is fabulous. The pomegranates and pecans really take it over the top. Next time I am going to try it with feta cheese.
Im adding this salad recipe to my Thanksgiving rotation. It looks amazing!
A perfect salad for holidays. Love the flavor combination. Thanks for sharing.
This was one of the best salads I’ve ever had in my life! Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!!
What a refreshing and delicious salad!
I am currently pregnant. Is there a good substitute for blue cheese?
Feta cheese will also work, just make sure it’s pasteurized!
You took some of my favorite fall ingredients and turned it into a salad!! I can’t wait to make this for the holidays this year!
What a fantastic combination of flavors! And all in a healthy and beautiful salad! Definitely making again for the holidays!
LOVE this salad! Perfect for the holidays with the combo of pomegranate, blue cheese, and apples. Will definitely be adding to my Thanksgiving menu!
Such a great salad. So nice to have some greens during Thanksgiving dinner.
There is nothing I love better than a good salad and I am so excited to try all wonderful flavors in this one. In my opinion, a great salad always has cheese, fruit and nuts and this one does not disappoint.