It has become something of a tradition for us to talk about salad right now, days before the Thanksgiving holiday. Yes, Thanksgiving is a literal feast of heavy, delicious foods like mashed potatoes swimming in butter (see our luxurious recipe here) and the sweetest flaky pies. But I think that a good salad is also essential.
Not for any misplaced concerns for health or a balanced diet (this is a once-a-year affair, after all) but for pleasure. A well-mixed salad provides a pop of color on the buffet, and its crisp flavors complement and enhance everything else on the table.
So here are a few of our favorites, from a beautiful kale and citrus mix, to fennel tossed with beets, to a simple roasted cabbage slaw with lemon. There's a classic Southern coleslaw, and our guide to the perfect side salad. Even if everything else on your table is planned out, it's not too late to add in a pretty and refreshing salad!
TOP ROW
• 1 Roasted Cabbage Slaw with Hazelnuts & Lemon
• 2 Fresh Fennel and Lemon Slaw
• 3 Classic Buttermilk Coleslaw
• 4 Cabbage Beet Coleslaw
• 5 Kale Salad with Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon
MIDDLE ROW
• 6 Oi Muchim (Spicy Korean Cucumber Salad)
• 7 Winter-to-Spring Salad
• 8 Crunchy Peanut Slaw
• 9 Orange, Olive, and Fennel Salad
• 10 Tri-Color Slaw with Lime Dressing
BOTTOM ROW
• 11 Warm Golden Beet Salad with Greens and Almonds
• 12 Fennel, Beet, and Orange Salad
• 13 Celery and Grapefruit Salad with Parmesan
• 14 Roasted Squash and Arugula Salad with Pecans, Bacon, and Goat Cheese
• 15 Asian Pear, Fresh Date, and Pomegranate Salad
Do you put a salad on the Thanksgiving table? Or do you skip it for cooked vegetables like Brussels sprouts?
(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)
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Yes, a fresh salad is so important on Thanksgiving! Great list, and I'll add one more from the Not Without Salt blog: my absolute favorite winter salad. It's easy and beautiful and delicious!
http://notwithoutsalt.com/2009/11/05/winter-white-salad/
Very nice and refreshing. I usually make a green salad with pomegranate seeds to make it festive on Thanksgiving. All of the above will be great with turkey leftovers the day after.
We always have a fresh salad. It's usually a green salad that my mom makes, with red onions, almonds and mandarin oranges, but I've also made spinach salad with warm vinaigrette.
My aunt's family always served a cold crab salad with Thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinner that was absolutely delicious, but they'd never share the full recipe so we were never able to duplicate it exactly.
People have salad on Thanksgiving? What a waste of stomach space!
I think I only like two salads in that round-up. Why is it that it that most of these involve throwing a never-ending list of incongruous ingredients on a platter?
The salad should not be the attention-getter at the Thanksgiving table.
Less is always more.
Ciao,
L
Love the salad!Look yummy and fresh!Great for Thanksgiving!
I like to turn the cranberry sauce in to a big crunchy fruit salad. And I love the idea of slaws. You do need something crunchy and colorful with this meal that tends to be brown and mushy. Here's a link to the salad I like to make. http://wp.me/p2LOx3-3r
Everyone loves to eat the leftover fruit salad for a healthy breakfast the next day!
Sorry got the link wrong in my previous comment. Here's the cranberry fruit salad link.
http://wp.me/p2LOx3-Km
Wow, those mostly look delish!
An easy one is this, for purple lovers:
Shredded red cabbage, fresh blueberries, vinagrette of rice wine vinegar and sugar (quantities of each to taste). Mix together the day before and let marinate in the fridge. The cabbage and blueberries meld to a crunchy sweet and sour purple delight! (I suppose you could drain any excess vinagrette and add something contrasting like mandarin organce, if so inclined.)
What a delish array of salads. Thanks for doing all the work for us by putting this line up of delightful sides together. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
My partner has to have the LL Bean broccoli salad at Thanksgiving and Christmas. He calls it rabbit food. And it's delicious!
I don't think some of these complement Thanksgiving foods. would not put cabbagey slaw with this meal, although they all look good for other occasions. Thanksgiving food tends to be very sweet, and there's no crunch in all the traditional soft foods - the dressings, the potatoes. Our first course salad is a slice of very ripe pear on Bibb or boston lettuce, with a little slab of bleu cheese on the side, toasted walnuts and pomegranate seeds sprinkled over . The dressing is walnut oil and sherry vinegar. Watercress if I can find it. Among our side dishes are braised pearl onions in balsamic, and fennel braised in orange juice. And of course two kinds of cranberry sauce - one raw, one cooked. No Jell-O, no marshmallows. four wines.