Pomegranate Salad: the simple recipe for an elegant holiday salad

Pomegranate salad has it all – this beautiful yet simple salad is sweet, salty, and tart, and has a fantastic crunchy texture thanks to the pomegranate seeds and candied pecans. It's a stunning salad to serve for the holidays and is sure to impress your guests, thanks to the jewel-like look of the pomegranate seeds.

Made with feta, pomegranate seeds, lettuce, pecans, and onions tossed in a wonderful red wine and mustard vinaigrette, pomegranate salad is hard to resist. You can customize your salad to suit your tastes.

It's a truly delicious salad that you may not want to save for special occasions – after one bite, don't be surprised if you find yourself making pomegranate feta salad all year round!

Pomegranate Salad Ingredients

Pomegranate feta salad gets its satisfying crunchy texture and sweetness from candied pecans and pomegranate seeds.

The feta adds a salty, savory flavor, while red onions give it a bit of a kick.

The dressing is super easy to make.

All you need is a little mustard, some vinegar, oil, and lemon juice, plus a dash of salt and pepper for seasoning.

How to Make Pomegranate Salad

The first step to making this beautiful pomegranate salad is to make the candied pecans. Place the pecans and sugar in a large skillet and cook over medium heat until the sugar caramelizes. Make sure to stir everything constantly so nothing burns. Once the caramel starts to form, toss the pecans in it to coat them completely. Place them on a piece of baking parchment greased with cooking spray and leave them to cool.

Combine the lettuce, pomegranate seeds, onion, feta, and cooled candied pecans in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the mustard, red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, salt, and pepper until smooth. Pour the dressing over the salad, toss well to combine, and serve immediately.

What is the Best Dressing for Pomegranate Salad?

This salad is served with a red wine vinaigrette. It's made from Dijon mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, and of course, red wine vinegar. It has a light, tangy, lemony flavor that complements the flavors in the salad perfectly. You can try out other types of vinegar to make a delicious variation on this tasty salad.

Tips for the Best Pomegranate Feta Salad

You can buy pomegranate seeds from your local supermarket if you want to save time and avoid removing the seeds from the fruit yourself.

For a tasty variation, substitute the feta for fried halloumi.

If you don't care for pecans, walnuts or almonds are delicious in this salad as well.

For an even heartier salad, you can add avocado, crumbled crispy bacon, or blue cheese.

What to Serve with Pomegranate Salad

Serve your pomegranate salad as a side dish with other classic holiday meals like pot roast, roasted turkey, glazed ham, roasted duck, coq au vin, lamb shanks, and more.

Don't forget extra side dishes like mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, noodle casseroles, or Brussels sprouts!

How to Store Pomegranate Salad

Cover and refrigerate your pomegranate salad, then enjoy it within 2 days.

Can You Freeze Pomegranate Salad?

Unfortunately, you can't freeze pomegranate salad. Neither lettuce nor cheese freezes well.

Instructions

Grease a sheet of baking parchment with cooking spray.

Place pecans and sugar in a skillet. Saute over medium until the sugar caramelizes. Stir constantly. Once the sugar turns to caramel, stir the nuts to coat completely. Transfer the candied pecans to the baking parchment to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, combine lettuce, pomegranate seeds, onion, feta, and pecan pieces.

In a separate bowl, whisk mustard, red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, salt, and pepper.

Pour the dressing over the salad, toss well to combine, and serve immediately.

Notes

If you don't have red wine vinegar, balsamic or apple cider vinegar would be excellent substitutes.