Best Christmas Salad
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Holiday meals tend to lean heavily toward rich comfort food dishes, which is exactly why I love adding something fresh to the table. This Christmas Salad brings bright flavor and beautiful color with pears, pomegranate, pistachios, and a tangy cranberry maple vinaigrette. It’s simple, fresh, and the perfect complement to your holiday dinner — let me show you how easy it is to make.
Sheila’s Recipe Snapshot for Christmas Salad Recipe
This Christmas salad is the perfect way to add something fresh, festive, and colorful to your holiday table without extra stress!
At our house, we really lean into comfort food during Christmas and the days leading up to New Year’s. Between the casseroles, meats (hello Holiday Ham!), and endless desserts, I have found myself craving something lighter and fresher to balance everything out.
That’s where a Christmas salad like this comes in! It’s refreshing, colorful, and doesn’t feel like an afterthought next to the main dishes.
Like any good salad, this one is versatile and customizable! You can swap ingredients based on what you have on hand, what your guests love, or even what’s already on your menu.
Whether you lean more toward sweet, savory, or nutty, this salad adapts easily, making it perfect for busy holiday hosting!
Ingredient Notes for Christmas Salad
- Mixed Baby Salad Greens | A spring mix or baby greens blend works best for variety and texture, but baby spinach is a great option, too!
- Pears | Choose ripe but firm pears so they hold their shape when sliced.
- Gorgonzola Cheese | Adds a creamy, tangy bite that balances the sweetness of the fruit.
- Pistachios | Roasted and salted pistachios add a salty crunch!
- Dried Cranberries | A chewy, sweet element that pairs beautifully with the pears.
- Pomegranate Arils | Bright, juicy, and festive! They add color and a fresh pop of flavor. You can use a whole pomegranate or get them already removed.
- Sunflower Seed Kernels | For a little extra crunch!
- Dressing | For the dressing, you only need a neutral oil, cranberry juice, maple syrup, and salt!
Variations and Substitutions
- Dressing: This Christmas salad with cranberries is also delicious with a simple citrus dressing or champagne vinaigrette!
- Dried Fruit: Swap the dried cranberries for dried cherries if you want something a little softer and sweeter.
- Crunchy Additions: There are lots of options here! You can use candied pecans or walnuts instead of pistachios, and if you don’t have sunflower seed kernels, you can use sliced almonds or simply skip them.
- Cheese: Substitute blue cheese, feta cheese, or goat cheese for the gorgonzola, depending on your preference.
- Add Protein: Make it heartier by adding rotisserie chicken or roasted turkey for a holiday lunch salad.
How to Make Christmas Salad
This festive Christmas salad is easy to put together last minute. Buy pre-washed greens at the grocery, dump into a pretty serving bowl, sprinkle on the toppings, whisk up the salad dressing, and serve. It’s a simple salad that’s lovely and luscious!
MAKE THE VINAIGRETTE. In a small bowl, whisk a neutral oil like canola or avocado oil with cranberry juice and maple syrup. Since cranberry juice is tart, taste the vinaigrette and add more maple syrup if needed. Add a pinch of salt to enhance the flavors.
ARRANGE THE SALAD. Place the salad greens in a large bowl and arrange pear slices on top of the bed of greens. Peeling the pears is a personal preference, but it’s not necessary. Sprinkle the top with crumbled gorgonzola cheese, pistachios, cranberries, and sunflower seeds.
GARNISH AND SERVE. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss, or pour the vinaigrette into a pretty dispenser and serve from the table.
More Recipe Success Tips
Storage Tips
This holiday salad is best served fresh, but you can prep components ahead of time! Store the washed greens, sliced toppings, and dressing separately in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 2 days. Assemble and dress just before serving for the best texture and flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Christmas salad is a festive salad typically served during the holiday season. It often features seasonal ingredients like winter greens, pears or apples, pomegranate, dried cranberries, and nuts. More than a specific recipe, a Christmas salad is meant to add color, freshness, and contrast to a traditional holiday meal!
Bartlett, Anjou, or Bosc pears are all great choices, just make sure they’re ripe but still slightly firm!
To keep your salad from getting soggy, wait to add the dressing until just before serving and start with dry, well-washed greens. You can also layer sturdier ingredients on top of the greens and toss gently to avoid bruising and excess moisture.
How do you remove the arils from a pomegranate?
This time of year, pomegranates make a beautiful addition to fruit baskets and holiday displays. The arils are delicious on salads, yogurt, cereal, and make a tasty snack. If you want to use a fresh pomegranate for this salad, here’s an easy way to remove the seeds.
- Use the tip of a large knife to slice through the skin of the pomegranate from the top to the bottom, being careful not to cut all the way through the pith.
- Make another cut to form a wedge. From the top, carefully pull the wedge away from the fruit.
- Use your fingers to gently loosen the arils and discard the pith.
Looking for More Christmas Salad Recipes?
I absolutely love a good salad for holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving! I recommend you try my Broccoli Salad with Cranberries, Winter Salad Recipe, or even my Sweet Potato Salad Recipe for something more unique!
What to Serve with Festive Holiday Salad
This fresh and festive Christmas salad pairs beautifully with classic holiday favorites. Serve it alongside juicy oven roasted turkey breast, tangy cranberry relish, easy homemade yeast rolls, and mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar! The bright flavors of the salad help cut through the richness of the main dishes, making the dinner really feel complete.
For more holiday menu ideas, check out some of my favorite options below!
Holiday Menu Options
The perfect holiday menu includes a mix of cherished classics with a few new dishes for a unique twist! We have to keep things interesting, don’t we? Here are a few suggestions to get you started on your perfect holiday meal, and don’t forget to serve these with this Christmas salad, too!
Appetizers & Salad
Main entree
- Bourbon Glazed Christmas Ham
- Beef Tenderloin
- Garlic-Crusted Prime Rib
- Braised Beef Roast with Cranberries
Side Dishes
Desserts
Beyond the Recipe
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Savannah, Georgia, for a working retreat with a few blogging friends. We collaborated on a couple of new recipes, worked on photo styling and editing, and laughed a lot!
It was so fun working together to develop this Christmas Salad and vinaigrette recipe!
These ladies are so talented — I know you’d enjoy following their blogs for more delicious food!
- Nikki, Soulfully Made
- Kathleen, The Fresh Cooky
- Lynn, Nourish and Nestle
- Chellie, Art From My Table
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Best Christmas Salad with Pears, Pomegranate, and Pistachios
Ingredients
Salad:
- 1 (16 oz.) pkg. mixed baby salad greens (or spring mix)
- 2 pears peeled and sliced thin
- 4 oz. gorgonzola cheese crumbled
- 2 tablespoons shelled pistachios roasted and salted
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup pomegranate arils
- 2 tablespoons sunflower seed kernels
Dressing:
- ¼ cup neutral oil canola, avocado or a light olive oil
- 3 tablespoons 100% cranberry juice
- 1 – 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup to taste
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Place salad greens in a large bowl and arrange pear slices on top.
- Sprinkle the top with the gorgonzola cheese, pistachios, cranberries, and sunflower seeds.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, cranberry juice, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, and salt. Taste — if not sweet enough, add another tablespoon of maple syrup and whisk again.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss. Garnish with more pomegranate arils, if desired.
Notes
- You may substitute dried cherries, candied pecans, or walnuts for the dried cranberries and pistachios.
- Suitable substitutions for gorgonzola cheese include blue cheese, feta, or goat cheese.
- Slice pears just before serving. This keeps them from browning and ensures they stay crisp and fresh!
- Taste the dressing before tossing. Cranberry juice can vary in tartness, I always recommend tasting the dressing before you put it on the salad. You can adjust the maple syrup to your liking if it is too tart, or add a bit more salt if it needs it!
- Double the recipe for a crowd! If you have a lot of people coming over for Christmas dinner, I like to double this recipe so there is enough to go around.
- Go light on the dressing at first. You can always add more, but an overdressed salad can wilt quickly. You can also serve it on the side for everyone to add to their own portion!
- Save extra pomegranate arils for garnish! Because I like a picture perfect salad (especially on Christmas), I add a final sprinkle of pomegranate seeds that makes the salad look extra festive!
- This salad is best served fresh, but you can prep components ahead of time! Store the washed greens, sliced toppings, and dressing separately in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 2 days. Assemble and dress just before serving for the best texture and flavor.
Nutrition
Life Love and Good Food does not claim to be a registered dietician or nutritionist. Nutritional information shared on this site is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
