Best Christmas Salad with Pomegranate

Bright, fresh, sweet and delicious: this elegant Christmas Salad includes juicy clementine oranges, pomegranate, sweet candied pecans, and feta cheese with fresh spring greens all wrapped in the best honey mustard dressing. The best salad for Christmas dinner!

Now that we’re in the season of tasty sweets like Christmas Crack, it might be hard to find a way to work salad in… until today. I’m sharing this delicious ‘n easy Christmas Salad recipe that tastes just as good as those goodies, but happens to work in some fresh green magic!

The Best Easy Christmas Salad Recipe

You’ll absolutely love this Christmas pomegranate salad recipe! It’s sweet, tangy, fresh—and bursting with fruit. In this holiday salad recipe, you’ll find great balance with sweet ‘n tangy oranges and pomegranates, savory feta cheese, and delicious honey mustard dressing, all topped with crunchy candied pecans.

The ingredients for this Christmas Salad recipe in prep bowls, including candied nuts, pomegranates, spring mix green, honey mustard dressing, mandarin oranges, and feta cheese.

Christmas Salad Ingredients

  • Homemade honey mustard dressing – my from-scratch recipe for the perfect dressing to deliciously coat and complement this Christmas Eve Salad!
  • Mixed Greens – spring mix is best since it has a delightful combination of mild greens like baby lettuce and spinach as well as peppery/lightly bitter arugula which pairs well with the sweet fruits & nuts in this Christmas salad.
  • Mandarin Oranges – peel the oranges and separate into segments for the salad.
  • Pomegrante – it’s super easy to buy a store-bought, ready-to-use cup of pomengrate arils (the kernels), but you can do it yourself if you’d like the exercise. 😉
  • Nuts – I highly recommend using candied nuts like candied walnuts and candied pecans, the sweetness and crunch really pop in this salad.
  • Cheese – Feta cheese is best, but you can use a crumbly one like blue cheese
Pouring honey mustard dressing over this Christmas Salad recipe.

How to Make Christmas Salad

It takes just 3 steps to make this Christmas Salad with fruit that’s packed fulled of juicy, fresh oranges and pomegranate, tangy cheese, fresh greens, crunchy nuts, and a beautiful dressing.

whisking together the ingredients for the salad dressing for the Christmas Salad

First, make a batch of honey mustard dressing. Refrigerate until needed. I recently shared this recipe and absolutely love using it on everything. It goes really well with this salad!

Two photos showing How to Make Christmas Salad - adding fresh greens and oranges.

Second, create a foundation of mixed greens like spring mix into the base of your salad bowl. Top with mandarin oranges, pomegranate arils, feta cheese, and candied nuts such as candied pecans or candied walnuts.

Two photos showing How to Make this festive side dish - adding the rest of the topping including cheese, nuts and dressing.

Third, pour salad dressing over the Christmas salad and gently toss to combine. That’s it!

Looking for more? Try this sweet Snickers Salad Recipe or my beautiful 7 Layer Salad.

What Dressing Should I Use to Make This Christmas Pomegranate Salad?

The most amazing salad dressing for the Christmas Salad is this honey mustard dressing. The sweet, tart, tanginess of honey and mustard complement the sweet ‘n tart flavors of this salad. Highly recommend!

close up photo of this recipe to show delicious textures and bright colors to make it festive for the holidays.

Christmas Salad Ideas for Variations

  • Fruits: Swap mandarin oranges and pomegranate for pineapples or sliced apples and dried cranberries for a sweet twist in this Christmas green salad.
  • Nuts: I love using candied pecans or candied walnuts for this recipe, but you can use anything you’d like, or even a combo with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
  • Cheese: swap feta cheese with shaved parmesan, cotija cheese or blue cheese.
  • Greens: Spring mix is best for this salad recipe, but you can try massaged kale (so it’s not too tough in texture), spinach, and more.
  • Dressing: I highly recommend trying this Christmas Spinach Salad at least once with my homemade honey mustard dressing, however you can switch things up with another sweet dressing like lemon poppyseed dressing or asian salad dressing.
Serving bowl packed with spinach, lettuce, arugula, fruits, pecans, and feta cheese topped with dressing.

Happy Holidays!

Thank you for sharing in the seasons’ cheer, recipe-making, and festivities with us! For more delicious recipe ideas, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. If you’ve tried this recipe, take a pic and tag us on Instagram using #beamingbaker. We can’t wait to see it!

Sending you all my love and maybe even a Christmas dove, xo Demeter ❤️ 🎄

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Christmas Salad


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Description

Bright, fresh, sweet and delicious: Christmas Salad includes juicy oranges, pomegranate, sweet candied pecans, and feta cheese with fresh spring greens all wrapped in the best honey mustard dressing!


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 batch Honey Mustard Dressing, or 810 tablespoons store-bought
  • 6 cups mixed greens, packed (but not enough to dent your veggies) – Spring is a good choice
  • 1 cup mandarin or clementine orange segments (about 3-4 oranges)
  • 1 cup pomegranate arils or 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 2/3 cup glazed or candied nuts — try candied pecans, candied walnuts, etc.
  • 1/2 cup feta cheese

Instructions

  1. Make one batch of honey mustard dressing. Refrigerate until needed.
  2. In a large salad bowl, add greens, then top with oranges, pomegranates, nuts, and cheese.
  3. Pour dressing over Christmas salad. Gently toss to combine. Enjoy!

★ Last Step: If you made this recipe, leave a comment and review. It truly helps our small business keep running and it helps readers like you!

Notes

Substitutions: check out the post for a list of subs that can be made, including subbing the feta cheese with blue cheese.

Make-ahead Instructions: Follow the recipe as instructed, but don’t add the dressing and toss the salad until you’re ready to serve. Cover salad + toppings (oranges, feta, pomegrante) tightly and refrigerate until ready to serve.

  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Category: Salads
  • Method: No Cook
  • Cuisine: American

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