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This Christmas Salad with creamy poppy seed dressing is a colorful and refreshing side dish for your special holiday dinners. The dressing is so creamy and delicious!
Featured with this Recipe:
This Christmas Salad is a family staple every year around the holidays. The gorgeous spinach salad greens sprinkled with red pomegranate seeds, mandarin oranges, and white feta cheese lends such a festive flair to our buffet table. The creamy poppy seed dressing is so delicious and is really simple to make. The holiday season can be filled with a lot of rich comfort food, so this light and fresh salad is a nice addition to the spread.
Ingredients in Christmas Salad
- “Spring Mix” lettuce
- Mandarin oranges
- Dried cranberries
- Pomegranate seeds (pomegranate arils)
- Feta cheese
- Candied walnuts or pecans
Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing Ingredients
- Mayonnaise
- Greek yogurt
- Sugar
- Apple cider vinegar
- Poppy seeds
A Great Way to Use Leftovers
This salad is a light side that complements a traditionally heavy ham or turkey dinner. However, it also jazzes up Thanksgiving leftovers like you wouldn’t believe! Sometimes, we add shredded turkey to the top and make it more of a main course. It’s so yummy. Try this recipe and make it a part of your holiday meal traditions!
Substitutions for Christmas Salad
The beauty of a festive salad recipe is literally anything goes! You can add or subtract as many ingredients as you wish. Use this recipe below as a base, and then let your imagination run wild. Here are some ideas of how you can switch it up:
- Pomegranate seeds add such a delightfully tart crunch to this Christmas Salad. But if pomegranates aren’t in season where you are, add strawberries, roasted beets, red onions, or raspberries for pops of red color.
- Diced red or green apple slices will add more crunch, color, and flavor!
- Oven roasted beets or pickled beets can also be a beautiful and flavorful addition! Cut them into small dices or slices and add them to your salad.
- Turn this Christmas Salad into a summer supper with pineapple and sliced grilled chicken on top.
- Toss in a handful of baby spinach leaves for more greenery. Those extra vitamins can’t hurt, either!
- Feta cheese gives this salad some bulk and a buttery, tangy flavor. But, you could substitute it for goat cheese, cubed mozzarella, blue cheese, or ricotta cheese for a different taste. Or, a mixture of multiple cheeses for added calcium.
- Slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, or cashews would be a delicious substitute for walnuts or pecans. There are also some insanely delicious nut mixes found in the produce section of most grocery stores.
- Top with some seasoning or shake on a little salt and pepper.
- If Poppy Seed Dressing is not your favorite and wine or berry vinaigrette makes a good substitution.
- Try adding a little squeeze of fresh lemon juice or orange juice or a drizzle of honey.
- Add any other vegetables you like. Such a versatile salad!
- For a fun decorative way to serve: arrange the salad on a platter like a Christmas wreath with the dressing in the center.
Creamy Poppyseed Dressing
The poppy seed dressing is so sweet and creamy, I could eat it with a spoon! My mom routinely substitutes the sugar with Splenda or other sugar substitutes, so you can do that too. Or, add additional sugar for a little more sweetness. The dressing includes mayonnaise and greek yogurt, but you can use greek yogurt for all of it if you’d like. Any way you make it, it is delicious on this Christmas Salad. Serve the dressing mixed in immediately or keep it in a jar in the fridge until ready to serve.
Festive Presentation Ideas
- I like to put the salad in a pretty serving bowl and serve it with the dressing on the side so people can pour on their desired amount of dressing.
- You could also set up a salad bar and have all the ingredients in separate bowls so guests can mix and match salad toppings to their liking.
- Place the bowl of Christmas salad inside a simple green wreath on either a buffet table or Christmas dinner table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Perk up your mixed greens with fruit like grapes, clementines, sliced apples or pears.
Salads are a perfect place to try new textures and flavors. Try chopping pears, adding citrus, tomatoes, arugula, kale salad, roasted potatoes, green beans, chewy raisins, crunchy nuts and seeds, and creamy avocado or cottage cheese.
Yes, just top the salad with some protein like pan roasted chicken, or marinated grilled shrimp. Then, serve with a breadstick or roll.
Yes! There is no gluten in this salad.
Read Next: Christmas Dinner Ideas
More Christmas Salad Ideas
We have so many gorgeous salad recipes that are perfect for Christmas dinner. If you are a fan of this Christmas Salad, try a few of our other favorites:
How to Make a Christmas Salad
Christmas Salad
Video
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 5-6 cups spring mix lettuce
- 1/2 cup mandarin oranges
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1/3 cup Feta cheese
- 1/2 cup candied walnuts or pecans
For the Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing:
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
Instructions
For the Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing:
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.
- Whisk until smooth. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.
For the Salad:
- Place the Spring Mix in a large bowl.
- Top with remaining ingredients.
- Toss and top with poppyseed dressing.
Notes
Recipe Tips:
There are many ways that you can do substitutions for this Christmas Salad! You can add or subtract as many ingredients as you wish. Here are some ideas of how you can switch it up:- If you don’t love Pomegranate seeds try strawberries, roasted beets, red onions, or raspberries for pops of red color.
- Add diced red or green apple slices for more crunch, color, and flavor!
- Turn this Christmas Salad into a summer supper with pineapple and sliced grilled chicken on top.
- Toss in a handful of baby spinach leaves for more greenery. Those extra vitamins can’t hurt, either!
- Instead of Feta cheese, substitute it for goat cheese, cubed mozzarella, blue cheese, or ricotta cheese for a different taste.
- Slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, or cashews would be a delicious substitute for walnuts or pecans.
Awesomeness
Would avocado go well with this salad?
Yes! That would be delicious!
I usually substitute yogurt for mayo in recipes. Would the dressing work with double the yogurt and no mayo?
Thanks!
Yes, the dressing may be a little thinner, but it will still taste great. Thanks for asking!
One of my favorite salads to make during Christmas! Can’t wait to make this again! My family loves this salad! So delicious and yummy!
Yummy, healthy and fresh!! JUST what I crave over the holidays after all the treats and rich foods.
So delicious! The perfect salad to have with my Thanksgiving Turkey! Perfect proportions of sweet and salty and creamy, and bright!
Hi there,
Do you ever make the dressing a day ahead? Or is it best to make it day of?
You can make it a day or even up to a week ahead. Thanks for asking!
I have bought this dressing. I can’t wait to make my own.
What a light and delicious salad! So colorful with the perfect balance of flavor! Delish!
I love everything about this salad, especially this creamy dressing! I want to put it on everything!
This is such a colorful & beautiful salad! Love all these ingredients combined & the dressing is amazing!
This Christmas salad is light, easy and delicious!
Would you be able to use tin mandarins??
Hi Charmaine, I’m not sure if canned mandarin oranges are what you are referring to by “tin” mandarins. If it is, then answer is yes. You can use 1/2 cup of drained oranges from a can or tin. Thank you for asking!
Do you toss the salad and the dressing before serving or do you serve the dressing on the side? The recipe looks delicious!!
You can do it either way! Usually if I’m feeding a large group, I like to toss it with the salad, just to make things easier.
Help! The recipe won’t show up!
Could you please specify how many this would feed?
Thank you
As a side dish or starter salad, this will serve 6 people. Thanks for asking!
This salad was absolutely delicious! My family loved it! I made the poppyseed dressing with splenda and it turned out fantastic,thanks was so good.