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Allow me to make a case for salads at the Thanksgiving dinner table. This staple side during the year is too often overlooked as an option on what is arguably America’s most important food holiday. By the end of this article you will see that salads provide taste variety, are easy to assemble, and best of all are a no-cook alternative for the holiday table.
Continuing the theme of the last two weeks, making a salad as a side in lieu of a cooked vegetable dish frees up much needed oven space on Thanksgiving Day. What’s more, most salads can be partly prepped ahead of time, up to a couple of days in advance, then assembled the day of. Wash, chop, and slice, then store the salad ingredients into space-saving Ziploc bags. The vinaigrette too can be whisked up and refrigerated until mealtime.
The day of, all you need is a corner of a coffee table in the living room and a pair of free hands to toss together already cut vegetables, chopped nuts, maybe some sliced fruit, and a vinaigrette. The salad can go right to the table, bypassing kitchen chaos altogether.
But every good Thanksgiving dish is only as good as it tastes. There is a lot of competition on Turkey Day from the overly sweet to the super rich to the carb dense. Think of a salad as a refreshing palate cleanser. Crisp, bright, zingy--fresh fruits and vegetables add texture and flavor that is not found in casseroles of pureed root vegetables and trays of dense stuffing.
When dreaming up a palate cleansing salad for this special occasion, start with simple. Three or four ingredients plus vinaigrette are all you need.
I like to find a star ingredient that is fresh and ripe at the market then build the other salad components around to complement. The star ingredient is one that I want to be different than what is already being served at the Thanksgiving table, something with a bold point of view; bitter or spicy are two elements I often look for as a counterpoint to the sweet and rich already on the table. Radicchio, fennel, even persimmon (fuyu, not hachiya) all work well for this role.
To tame the bitter or spicy, I then look for something sweet to add in, usually a seasonal fruit. Citrus like grapefruit, tangerine, or blood orange add sweet without saccharin and acidity. Apples and pears might already be in play for Thanksgiving dessert, but can be worked in differently here with a whole different texture when sliced and served raw.
Next when composing salad, I think about texture. Nuts are plentiful at the Thanksgiving table, from garnishing Brussels sprouts to baked in pies. What I do here is just reserve some nuts from whatever other dishes I was working on after they have been toasted. Then to finish off a bright salad of persimmon, orange, and butter lettuce, all I need is a crunchy handful of pumpkin seeds rained upon the bowl and Thanksgiving salad is ready to go.
Here are some combinations I think work well for the time of year and the Thanksgiving table.
* Persimmon, Orange, Butter Lettuce, Pepitas, simple vinaigrette of orange juice and olive oil, salad sprinkled with minced chives
* Fennel, Pear, Hazelnut, honey-champagne vinegar-olive oil vinaigrette
* Radicchio, Walnut, Apple, blue cheese dressing
Quick, space saving, and bursting with flavor, reserve a place for a bright seasonal salad at this year's Thanksgiving table.
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1205-thanksgiving-salad/
A Salad That Sings At Thanksgiving
Continuing the theme of the last two weeks, making a salad as a side in lieu of a cooked vegetable dish frees up much needed oven space on Thanksgiving Day. What’s more, most salads can be partly prepped ahead of time, up to a couple of days in advance, then assembled the day of. Wash, chop, and slice, then store the salad ingredients into space-saving Ziploc bags. The vinaigrette too can be whisked up and refrigerated until mealtime.
The day of, all you need is a corner of a coffee table in the living room and a pair of free hands to toss together already cut vegetables, chopped nuts, maybe some sliced fruit, and a vinaigrette. The salad can go right to the table, bypassing kitchen chaos altogether.
But every good Thanksgiving dish is only as good as it tastes. There is a lot of competition on Turkey Day from the overly sweet to the super rich to the carb dense. Think of a salad as a refreshing palate cleanser. Crisp, bright, zingy--fresh fruits and vegetables add texture and flavor that is not found in casseroles of pureed root vegetables and trays of dense stuffing.
When dreaming up a palate cleansing salad for this special occasion, start with simple. Three or four ingredients plus vinaigrette are all you need.
I like to find a star ingredient that is fresh and ripe at the market then build the other salad components around to complement. The star ingredient is one that I want to be different than what is already being served at the Thanksgiving table, something with a bold point of view; bitter or spicy are two elements I often look for as a counterpoint to the sweet and rich already on the table. Radicchio, fennel, even persimmon (fuyu, not hachiya) all work well for this role.
To tame the bitter or spicy, I then look for something sweet to add in, usually a seasonal fruit. Citrus like grapefruit, tangerine, or blood orange add sweet without saccharin and acidity. Apples and pears might already be in play for Thanksgiving dessert, but can be worked in differently here with a whole different texture when sliced and served raw.
Next when composing salad, I think about texture. Nuts are plentiful at the Thanksgiving table, from garnishing Brussels sprouts to baked in pies. What I do here is just reserve some nuts from whatever other dishes I was working on after they have been toasted. Then to finish off a bright salad of persimmon, orange, and butter lettuce, all I need is a crunchy handful of pumpkin seeds rained upon the bowl and Thanksgiving salad is ready to go.
Here are some combinations I think work well for the time of year and the Thanksgiving table.
* Persimmon, Orange, Butter Lettuce, Pepitas, simple vinaigrette of orange juice and olive oil, salad sprinkled with minced chives
* Fennel, Pear, Hazelnut, honey-champagne vinegar-olive oil vinaigrette
* Radicchio, Walnut, Apple, blue cheese dressing
Quick, space saving, and bursting with flavor, reserve a place for a bright seasonal salad at this year's Thanksgiving table.
Fennel, Pear, and Hazelnut Salad
Made with hazelnuts, salt and pepper, olive oil, fennel bulbs, Bosc pears, lemon, honey, champagne vinegar
Made with hazelnuts, salt and pepper, olive oil, fennel bulbs, Bosc pears, lemon, honey, champagne vinegar
Serves/Makes: 8
- 3 fennel bulbs, fronds reserved
- 4 Bosc pears
- 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped
Remove fronds from the fennel bulbs and reserve. Cut each bulb in half and use a sharp paring knife to remove as much of the core as possible.
Using a mandolin or very sharp knife, slice the fennel in paper thin slices. Cut lemon in half and toss fennel with the juice of half of the lemon. Peel pears and core. Cut into slices, about 8 per pear. Add pears to the fennel in a large bowl and toss with the remaining lemon juice.
In a small bowl whisk together champagne vinegar and olive oil with salt and pepper to taste. When ready to serve, dress fennel salad with just enough dressing to lightly coat. Garnish with a handful of roughly chopped reserved fennel fronds and chopped toasted hazelnuts.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1205-thanksgiving-salad/