Favorite Winter Salad Recipes

The holidays are a time to make, eat, and enjoy foods of all kinds – often of the decadent, sugary variety. But come January, you might be in the mood for something a little, well, lighter. Winter salads are a delicious and easy way to eat a hearty meal, but without the heaviness of some holiday entrees. Here are some of our favorite recipes for winter salads from the Yankee archives.

FAVORITE WINTER SALAD RECIPES

Spinach, Feta and Grape Salad with Maple-Soy Vinaigrette

This delicious maple-infused dressing is adapted from chef Charlie Menard of The Inn at Round Barn Farm, in Waitsfield, Vermont. We loved it with spinach, feta, and grapes, but it also pairs perfectly with fresh spring strawberries and chèvre, or, in the fall, with blue cheese and pears.

Warm Bean and Squash Salad

Squash salad? You bet! This dinner salad, with sweet squash, savory sausage, and crunchy kale, is a meal in itself.

Brussels Sprouts Salad with Squash and Walnuts

Fresh Brussels sprouts have all the nutty flavor of kale, and become tender and crunchy when shaved. Add sweet roasted squash, walnuts, and pickled shallots to this Brussels sprouts salad, and you have a healthy, multi-sensory treat.

Winter Vegetable Salad with Spiced Honey Vinaigrette

A terrific combination of tastes and textures: sweet, hot, peppery, bitter, soft, and crunchy. Cut the root vegetables all roughly the same size (about 1½ inches is good), so that they roast at the same rate. You’ll have more dressing than you need; the extra keeps in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. One bite and you’ll know why this is one of our favorite winter salads.

Quinoa Salad with Tomato and Basil 

Gluten-free and high in protein, quinoa is a great way to add rich nutrients and fiber to your diet. Added flavors of basil, lemon, tomato, and edamame blend beautifully.

Broccoli Salad

Tired of the same old spinach salad? Broccoli winter salads are a delicious alternative. They incorporate the same flavors as the standard spinach salad, but can be made up to a day in advance and won’t wilt on the table.

Beet Salad with Crispy Goat Cheese

This easy roasted beet salad with crispy goat cheese uses just a small number of ingredients to produce a delicious and filling meal. We combine greens and mint leaves in a citrusy dressing and top them with roasted beets and crisp, panko-crusted goat cheese rounds. Thrifty Yankees will love it because it makes excellent use of beets, booth the root and the leaves.

Herbed Carrot Salad

This easy, no-added-fat herbed carrot salad plays the nutty flavor of toasted sunflower seeds against sweet carrots and fresh herbs. Serve it right away or make it the day before.

Harrisville Kale Salad with Feta, Cranberries, and Walnuts

Just up the road from Yankee’s New Hampshire offices, the folks at the Harrisville General Store lure locals and tourists alike with their made-from-scratch food, much of it locally sourced. Their take on kale salad with feta is so popular and delicious that many Yankee staffers have to plan ahead each day to get their share before it sells out. Tossed with a light dressing, sweet cranberries, and crunchy nuts, it’s one of our most popular winter salads.

Spinach, Walnut, and Kabocha Salad with Sweet-Onion Vinaigrette

This salad isn’t just delicious, with its flavors of sweet squash, walnut, and pickled onions–it’s economical, too. While the squash is roasting, whisk together vinegar, sugar, and salt and quickly pickle some sliced red onion for 15 minutes. When that’s done, the pickling liquid becomes the base of the vinaigrette.

Winter Salad with Tangerines, Radishes, and Dates

Fresh mint leaves are scattered throughout this winter salad and then chopped into the vinaigrette, giving this recipe a bright, fresh, almost summery flavor.

Which winter salad recipes are your favorite? Let us know!

Cathryn McCann

While on staff as digital assistant editor, Cathryn wrote and promoted content for NewEngland.com and its social media channels. Prior to this role, she lived and worked on Martha’s Vineyard as a newspaper reporter, covering everything from environmental issues and education to crime and politics.

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