Christmas Salad
Looking for a salad to serve alongside Christmas dinner or take to a party during the holiday season? This easy Christmas Salad is simple to make, full of fresh ingredients and shaped like a wreath for a beautiful presentation! Add it to your holiday menu!
What is Christmas Salad?
In short, this Christmas Salad is a delicious and festive salad with pops of red and green served in a Christmas wreath shape with the dressing in the center for drizzling. It’s the perfect salad to serve at Christmas!
I love citrus at Christmas, especially oranges. The flavor pairs so well with pomegranate arils that give this salad a delicious taste and the perfect Christmas red color. Add on almonds, pecans, feta cheese and little cheese stars? Your guests will go crazy over this pretty Christmas salad.
What’s in Christmas Salad?
Fresh Greens: Select your favorite fresh greens. I suggest sticking to true green colors (rather than dark purple leaves) like romaine, arugula and spinach.
Pomegranate Arils: You can use fresh pomegranate or buy just the pomegranate arils in the produce section next to cut fruits. They’re sweet, slightly crunchy and DELISH!
Oranges: I like to slice fresh naval oranges for this salad. You can serve them in large rounds to look like ornaments on a wreath or in segments. You can absolutely swap these out for mandarin oranges too.
Pecans & Almonds: Nuts add delicious crunch, flavor and health benefits so I always love to add them in to this Christmas salad. Use what you have on hand, but I personally like pecans and sliced almonds. I highly suggest toasting them for the best flavor. Or try candied nuts too for an extra treat!
Cucumber: Delish, crunchy and easy to add to this salad!
Feta Cheese: Feta and citrus is one of my favorite combos, but you could leave out the cheese or swap it for a gorgonzola, goat cheese or even a blue cheese too. My mother and I both think it looks like snow on the wreath!
Cheese Stars: Add on my very FAVORITE part of this Christmas Salad wreath by cutting out miniature star shapes from slices of white cheese like provolone or Swiss.
MINI CUTTERS <– This is the set I use ALL the time. The star shape is perfect for a salad!
Christmas Salad Dressing: Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
You can use any salad dressing you prefer, but I especially love my Honey Mustard Vinaigrette! It’s SO easy, ready in minutes and really compliments the flavors in this easy salad.
- Garlic
- Honey
- Dijon Mustard
- White Wine Vinegar
- Orange Juice
- Salt
- EVOO
This salad would also be delicious with a creamy poppy seed dressing too!
Festive Christmas Salad Tips & Tricks
Serving this salad on individual plates? Recreate the wreaths on a smaller scale and use small condiment bowls for the salad dressing! Each guest will have his or her own mini Christmas wreath salad!
Add a bow! Cut up a red bell pepper to make a bow shape and add it to your wreath for an extra special festive touch.
Prep your ingredients in advance if you’re having a big Christmas feast and need to get some of those hostess duties done early.
This easy Christmas Salad is the perfect addition to any holiday meal! Heck, it could even be your buffet centerpiece with how beautiful it turns out every time! Serve it alongside Christmas ham or beef tenderloin for a delicious holiday dinner.
More Holiday-Worthy Salads You’ll LOVE:
Christmas Salad
Ingredients
Christmas Salad
- 12 ounces fresh greens (mixed greens, arugula, spinach)
- 2 large naval oranges peeled and sliced or segmented
- 2/3 cup pomegranate arils
- 1 English cucumber thinly sliced
- 2/3 cup feta cheese crumbled
- 3 slices provolone cheese (to make stars)
- 2/3 cup almonds sliced
- 1/2 cup pecan halves
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp orange juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 Tbsp champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Instructions
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together garlic, honey, Dijon mustard, orange juice, salt and champagne vinegar. Slowly whisk in olive oil until emulsified. Pour dressing into a small serving bowl and place in the center of a large round platter.
- Wash and pat dry fresh greens and arrange evenly around the dressing bowl on the round platter.
- Top the salad greens with sliced oranges, pecans, almonds, pomegranate arils, crumbled feta and sliced cucumber.
- If you want to add white stars to your Christmas salad wreath, use a small star cutter to cut out stars from provolone slices or any other white cheese slices (like Swiss). Arrange the stars evenly around the salad.
- Serve and enjoy!
I’ve never had such rave reviews for a salad! OUTSTANDING! Highly recommended.
Thank you so much!!