This Pomegranate Mandarin Salad with Avocado and Feta is a festive salad for any winter meal! Serve it as a holiday wreath, just for fun.
The holidays always make me crave mandarin oranges. While I love just eating them as a healthy snack, adding them to salads like this Pomegranate Mandarin Salad perks up my daily dose of leafy greens as well.
If you’re my age, you’ll probably remember that mandarins were only available for a short time every winter, and never until the beginning of December. They came individually wrapped in thin green tissue papers in small wooden (yup, wooden) boxes. To us kids, their arrival in the stores meant that Christmas couldn’t be far behind, and that in itself was cause for great excitement. At school, our Christmas gift from our teacher was always a mandarin orange and a candy cane. It was a big deal to see who could remove the peel from their orange in one piece.
Today, the boxes are smaller, they’re made of cardboard, but the oranges are just as sweet and delicious!
This gorgeous salad is bursting with Vitamin C-rich fruit, crunchy pecans and creamy avocado, and it’s topped with crumbled feta or goat cheese. Make it festive by serving it as a holiday wreath in a round serving dish, decked out with cheerful coloured fruits and nuts, tiny pomegranate jewels and sprinkled with a little feta “snow” on top.
Or you can keep it dairy-free by omitting the feta, if you like.
Make this holiday wreath salad to add some fun to your winter meals! Arrange healthy crispy greens in a round shallow bowl or platter around a central dish that will hold the citrus vinaigrette. Then, top with mandarin orange segments, sliced avocado, pomegranate arils and finish with feta cheese and pecans. Make this pretty salad ahead of time, refrigerate, and add avocado slices and drizzle with the slightly sweet citrus dressing just before serving.
3 Reasons to make this Pomegranate Mandarin Salad today
- it tastes amazing
- every bite is fresh, juicy and nutritious
- it will brighten up any dull winter day!
- 4 cups romaine lettuce or crisp mixed greens
- 1 long English cucumber thinly sliced
- 1 avocado peeled, pitted and sliced
- 2 mandarin oranges peeled and sectioned
- 1/2 cup pomegranate arils
- 1/2 cup feta cheese crumbled
- 1/3 cup pecans toasted
- 1/2 cup olive oil extra virgin
- 3 Tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeeze
- 2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar or Champagne vinegar
- 1 small shallot finely minced
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon each, sea salt and pepper
- To make a wreath-shaped salad, place a small bowl for the vinaigrette in the centre of a larger round shallow bowl or platter.
- Arrange bite-sized pieces of romaine or other greens in the bowl around the small dish. Top with remaining ingredients, finishing with feta cheese and pecans.
- Whisk vinaigrette ingredients together and pour into the small bowl in the center of the serving bowl.
- Serve and drizzle vinaigrette over all just before serving.
If you're not serving this salad right away, add the avocado just before serving to prevent browning.
You'll have dressing left over for another salad, so nutrition label does not include dressing.
If you love adding citrus fruit to salads, you may like these too!
Orange and Avocado Salad with Parmesan Crisps
Baby Bok Choy Salad with Ginger Orange Dressing
Shrimp Salad with Grapefruit and Mint
Bernice Hill says
Hi Elaine.
I’m excited because I think I have all the ingredients to make this salad!! yay!
Do you thing herbed crumbled feta would work as well?
Flavour & Savour says
Absolutely!
Cathy says
I love salads like this! Yours is especially beautiful. The wreath is a great idea! Pinned!
Flavour & Savour says
Thanks Cathy! We eat with our eyes first, right?
The FoodOlic says
This salad looks fantastic! A colorful, tasty and healthy dish is always a winning one!
Trish says
Lovely salad….. I love Mandarin’s too.. My mom always puts them in her salads around the holidays. Totally a Christmas thing for me too.
Flavour & Savour says
Thanks Trish! I love Christmas traditions, even when they’re as simply as adding mandarin oranges to a salad!
Teresa says
I love this kind of winter salad – full of healthy ingredients and flavour!
Stephanie@ApplesforCJ says
This is such a beautiful looking salad. Love the presentation and would be perfect for the holiday table. Pinning for later.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Beautiful winter salad! It looks so bright and fresh.
Flavour & Savour says
Thanks! The word “cheerful” springs to mind whenever I serve this one! Love all the colours. Thanks for stopping by.
Kari Peters says
This salad is incredibly beautiful, perfect for entertaining during the holidays!
Flavour & Savour says
Thanks Kari!
T says
If you make this a head of time…how do you make sure the avocado doesn’t turn brown?
Flavour & Savour says
Oh that’s such a good question, so thanks for asking! I either toss them with a little lemon juice first, or even better, add them just before serving. I’ve added that to the recipe notes. There’s nothing less appealing than brown avocados!
Teresa says
I made this recipe for a family gathering last weekend. It was very well received and I was also asked for a copy of the recipe. I halved the oil content for the dressing as my family aren’t keen on oily dressings.
Does anyone know if you can freeze pomegranate seeds as they are not available all year round and I think they really made this delicious recipe as well as adding colour.
Flavour & Savour says
Hi–Great question! Yes, you can freeze pomegranate seeds. Treat them as you would blueberries: pat them dry, spread them out on a baking sheet, freeze until firm, then store in an airtight bag or container. They will last for several weeks in the freezer.