Recipes Holidays & Events Christmas Recipes Christmas Dinner Recipes Our Favorite Christmas Salads Will Bring Color and Crunch to Your Holiday Meal Lighten and liven up your holiday dinner with these bright salads. By Dakota Kim Dakota Kim Dakota Kim is a food, culture, and outdoors writer living in Los Angeles. Dakota specializes in providing gear reviews, authoring ecommerce articles, interviewing chefs and cookbook authors, and exploring food culture and history. Previously, she worked at Sunset and Edible San Luis Obispo, and owned a restaurant. Editorial Guidelines Published on November 5, 2024 Close Photo: VICTORIA PEARSON With so many Christmas dishes starring as hearty, saucy, or braised affairs, it's easy to feel weighed down by the end of the evening. Candied yams, confit de canard, green bean casserole, and super buttery baby potatoes are just a few of the things we can't do without when it comes to our Christmas cornucopia. But the end result? It can be one giant familial food coma. That's why we've taken to balancing those buttery bruisers with something lighter and tangier, which is where Christmas salads come in. But these aren't just your average bowl of greens. We're here to talk about salad as a key supporting player—colorful, seasonal, and altogether delicious, our collection of Christmas salads will help you create a balanced menu for your holiday meals. Our 16 Most Popular Christmas Recipes, From Prime Rib to Cookies Galore 01 of 10 Citrus Salad With Pomegranate Seeds John Kernick A salad does not by any means need greens, especially when it's this Martha-level beauty bursting with 10 pounds of citrus. Choose the citrus your heart desires, from golden grapefruit and Cara Cara to blood oranges and satsumas, but make sure you crown it all with tart, tannic pomegranate seeds. On a crowded holiday plate, this salad goes perfectly with meaty dishes and collard greens. View Recipe 02 of 10 Chili-Lime Roasted Butternut Salad Johnny Miller Lemons are one way to get that top note of brightness, but lime is a more exciting and unexpected accompaniment to a Christmas dish. Summon piquant flavors with lime, chili, and cilantro, all anchored by a traditional fall veggie. Butternut squash makes this side dish feel like a harvest treat, while a sprinkling of crumbled Cotija cheese and pepitas seasons it with just enough fat and richness. View Recipe 03 of 10 Bitter Greens, Grapefruit, and Avocado Salad Marcus Nilsson A holiday spread never looked lighter and more fun than one punctuated by this pink grapefruit salad. Summon your spritzy side for this champagne vinegar, yogurt, and grapefruit dressing, pick your prettiest, freshest avocado to slice, and peel whole segments of grapefruit. We recommend endive, escarole, and frisee, but you can use whatever firm, hardy greens you have; both basil and mint make the grade. The poppy seed garnish is the perfect finish. View Recipe 04 of 10 Raw Swiss Chard, Cabbage, and Brussels Sprout Salad Marcus Nilsson We like to use Pecorino Romano for our salad because it brings a grassy, earthy, and strong accent to salads that Parmesan just can't compare with. That's just one of the unusual and fun things about this salad, which lets you use raw—yes, raw—Swiss chard, Savoy cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. If you've never had Savoy, it's nothing like that grocery store cabbage, but instead more like a leafy green. Marinate with a little sugar in the fridge and these greens turn magic. View Recipe 05 of 10 Wild-Rice and Lima-Bean Salad With Cranberry Relish Martyn Thompson You've got an extra bag of fresh or frozen cranberries, with no immediate plans for it after you've finished making your cranberry sauce. This is what we advise: a tart, healthy, and delicious salad featuring the cranberries in a delightful and versatile relish, tossed with wild rice and lima beans. Flat-leaf fresh parsley adds a herby note to this rice-and-bean salad that's healthy, but far from boring. View Recipe 06 of 10 Shredded Brussels-Sprout Salad With Hazelnut Crunch Louise Hagger If you're feeling stressed about oven space and didn't quite get the Brussels sprouts in the oven to roast, we've got a simple, crowd-pleasing alternative for you. There's nothing like a lemony, crunchy Brussels sprout salad at your Christmas table, especially when it's tossed with toasty, sweet hazelnuts. With so many soft, braised items on the table, the double crunch in this dish is just the textural variety you need. View Recipe 07 of 10 Mixed Chicories With Persimmons We're a fan of bitter greens at the table, and we'll tell you why: Chicories are secret arsenals of rich vitamins and excellent for gut digestion, but they also last much longer in your winter garden and stand up against the elements. You can roast, braise, or sauté them, but we like to feast on them raw, complementing them with firm slices of Fuyu persimmons, walnuts, pomegranate seeds, a dash of proper red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing, and a dash of salt and pepper. View Recipe 08 of 10 Endive Salad With so many brown and beige dishes on the table, this one might be the one you want to give it a try. Your guests with sharper tastes will enjoy these colorful endive leaves, which are drizzled with an easy, no-cook dressing. View Recipe 09 of 10 Kale and Farro Salad With Feta Ryan Liebe This cool winter salad is all about being the blueprint to mix or swap ingredients you have handy. Purple kale or curly kale can be substituted for the Tuscan variety (also called lacinato). Spelt is a good alternative to farro, with a similar taste and texture. And while we prefer French feta, which is typically milder and creamier, you can easily use other varieties. You decide! View Recipe 10 of 10 Escarole Salad with Lemon-and-Anchovy Dressing Kate Mathis Colorful, crunchy, and seasonal, that's our strategy for making a winter salad. Crisp radicchio and escarole are teamed with roasted acorn squash and shiitake mushrooms and combined with crunchy pepitas and pomegranate arils. There's a lively dressing with apple cider vinegar and olive oil and a sprinkle of feta tops it all off. View Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit