Holiday Salad with Balsamic Dressing
This beautiful holiday salad is bejeweled with pomegranate arils, mandarin oranges, feta cheese, candied nuts and the most delicious dressing ever!
I love having a gorgeous salad in my recipe repertoire for the holidays.
It rounds out a holiday meal so perfectly – both in looks and with delicious, fresh flavors!
Holiday Salad Ingredients
This salad uses both mixed salad greens and romaine for the base. I like the heft and crunch that the romaine gives to the tender salad greens.
The salad add-ins are tasty and pretty!
- pomegranate arils (can sub in dried cranberries or cherries)
- crumbled feta cheese (can sub in another favorite cheese, like shaved Parmesan)
- mandarin oranges (I use canned oranges that have been drained and patted dry – can sub in segmented fresh mandarin oranges)
- candied pecans or walnuts (can sub in sliced almonds)
As you can see, this salad is really adaptable based on the time of year you make it and your taste preferences! However, the way you see the salad in the post is my favorite way to enjoy it! I love the tangy feta, sweet and spicy pecans, juicy oranges and tart pomegranate arils. SO GOOD.
A Note About Candied Pecans
My favorite recipe to use for the candied pecans is this oven-baked recipe. The pecans turn out perfectly every time. It’s foolproof and easy! I omit the cinnamon and add a pinch of cayenne pepper for a sweet/spicy kick.
The skillet version from this romaine salad recipe also works well if you are looking for a quicker recipe.
For either method, the pecans can be made a couple weeks in advance and stored in a tightly covered container.
Balsamic Salad Dressing
The dressing for this holiday salad is simple and so tasty.
Mel’s Tip: use a light-colored vinegar in the dressing recipe! A dark balsamic vinegar will overpower the flavors in the salad.
My preference is to use a white balsamic. A fruit-flavored white balsamic will work well, too! You can also use white wine or red wine vinegar.
This salad is not heavily dressed. The dressing is light and refreshing and a little goes a long way!
Rave Reviews for This Holiday Salad
My kids LOVE this salad. I recently made it for dinner with grilled chicken on the side, and my 17-year old son was scraping every last bit of salad out of the serving bowl after his third helping.
Several of us would have maybe challenged him on that in order to get the last dregs ourselves, but he is a high school wrestler, and in case you didn’t know…life lesson #187 states that you never get in the way of a high school wrestler and his food during high school wrestling season.
This holiday salad comes together incredibly fast (the candied pecans and dressing can be made a week in advance!) and is bound to be a crowd pleaser whenever you choose to serve it!
I hope you love it!
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Holiday Salad with Balsamic Dressing
Ingredients
Salad:
- 6 ounces (3-4 cups) mixed salad greens
- 6 ounces (3-4 cups) chopped romaine
- 2 (11-ounce) cans mandarin oranges, drained and oranges patted dry (see note)
- ½ to 1 cup crumbled feta cheese (see note)
- ½ to 1 cup pomegranate arils (can sub dried cranberries or cherries)
- ½ to 1 cup candied pecans or walnuts (see note)
Dressing:
- ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar (see note)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Lightly toss all the salad ingredients together in a bowl (make sure the mandarin oranges are dried well).
- Whisk or blend the salad dressing ingredients together until well-combined.
- Drizzle the salad dressing over the entire salad and toss to combine OR serve the dressing on the side for individual servings.
Susan…..absolutely love ❤️ the salad. So light and easy…..and quick. Keep up the good work.
Marie
The flavors are so good.
It’s a light, fresh and yummy salad. Definitely going to add to my salad rotation.
My 11 year old says this is her favorite salad! It was a gorgeous addition to thanksgiving, and I’ve made it every week since then. Thanks for what you do!
Oh, I love that! Thanks for letting me know!
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was a big hit! Everyone commented on how beautiful it was. The dressing was especially delicious. Next time I will do Craisins instead of pomegranate seeds since we have some seed spitters in the family!
Haha, I kind of giggled out loud at “seed spitters” 🙂
This was a hit at our Thanksgiving dinner!
I’m so happy to hear that, Jamie! Thank you!
I don’t ever comment but had to for this one! Made this for thanksgiving and absolutely loved it. I’m not even a feta cheese fan but liked it in this salad. I did candied almonds instead of pecans and used dried cranberries, and used half kale and lettuce which helped the salad stay crisp for longer. I usually like rubbing kale beforehand to take por the bitterness but that wasn’t even an issue with this salad, Thank you Mel!
Your variations sound fantastic, Sydney! Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment and let me know!
Happy Thanksgiving Mel !!! Thankful for you!!
I’ve never commented on your site before even though I have made many of your amazing recipes. But, I just have to say this is a killer salad! Thank you so much for posting this.
Thank you so much, Teri!
We were gifted an AMAZING Sicilian Lemon Balsamic recently and it will be so great in here!! Another option for the nuts is to chop up a handful of those delicious praline pecans you bought at Costco. You are welcome.
Can’t wait to try this salad! I buy nuts on special and candy them (pecans, sliced almonds, walnuts) then freeze them in an airtight container. They keep for months & make fancy salads like this a breeze!
Mel, thanks for being there when I need you. But seriously. You’re always coming in clutch at my house.
Thank you so much, Andi!
This looks delicious! I happen to have fresh pomegranates sitting on our counter from our tree, so definitely giving this a go this Thanksgiving!
I make a Christmas salad using your candied pecan recipe, blue cheese, dried cranberries or tart cherries and the dressing is basically the same, I use honey, except I add a little fresh garlic too. My picky child who doesn’t like anything requires this salad be made every Christmas lol..and your pull apart Bundt bread has become our official Christmas bread !
Yum!
This salad looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it. But I had to laugh at the part about making the candied pecans a week in advance. They’d never survive that long at my house. I’d have to hide them from everyone – including myself. Then I would forget where I hid them…
Same, girl. Same.
I made this for dinner tonight and it’s so good! I just did regular walnuts instead of candied ones but I’m planning on doing candied walnuts next week when I make it for thanksgiving! It’s the perfect easy to make salad and inexpensive!
So happy you enjoyed it, Kaylee! Thanks for the comment and review!
I make salad for dinner once a week and was needing a new recipe, so the timing was perfect. I used honey roasted sunflower seeds, cranberries, mandarin oranges (no feta because im not eating dairy for my baby). I made the dressing with red wine vinegar because that’s what I had. I also added lemon grilled chicken thighs and it was a meal! Husband approved. I really liked the vinegarette. Added to my list of dinner salads. I would love to try with the pomegranate next time!
Sounds AMAZING, Danae! Thanks for making it, letting me know and including your variations!
I make this salad using arugula instead of romaine and it’s amazing.
Hello! This salad looks amazing! I have never used white balsamic vinegar before. Do you have a favorite? Thanks!
Hi Emily! I love the vinegar from Baker and Olive (has to be ordered online). But I’ve also used white balsamic from the grocery store – the Pompeiian brand, I believe, and it works great!