Roasted-Beet Salad With Horseradish Crème Fraîche and Pistachios
Beet and horseradish is a classic combination, and this salad makes the most of it with tender, deeply sweet roasted beets and a crème fraîche–based horseradish sauce.
Carrot Salad With Yogurt, Ghee, and Barberry Dressing
This gorgeous (and easy) salad incorporates carrots both as thin strips shaved with a peeler and in larger, crunchy quick-pickled pieces. A dressing of warm spices, rich ghee, and tangy yogurt balances out the vegetal flavors of the carrots and dill.
Charred Brussels Sprouts and Leek Muchim With Coffee-Dijon Dressing
This Korean banchan-style fall salad features charred Brussels sprouts and raw leeks in a punchy coffee-Dijon dressing. For the dressing, the bitterness of the coffee and Dijon are balanced out with ingredients like honey, cider vinegar, and toasted sesame oil.
Toasted Barley Salad With Kombu and Pepitas
For this grain salad, we reach for hulled barley and toast it in a dry saucepan to bring out its deep, nutty aroma. The barley is then simmered with kombu to give it a light seasoning.
Continue to 5 of 10 belowWarm Brussels Sprout Salad With Bacon and Hazelnut Vinaigrette
The key to cooking sprouts is to use very high heat, giving them a nutty char. Here, we char the leaves in meaty bacon fat and dress them with a flavorful hazelnut and bacon vinaigrette.
Broccoli Salad With Radicchio, Basil, and Pistachios
Here, broccoli stems and florets are tossed with radicchio and a bold vinaigrette made from basil and pistachios.
Salt-Wilted Brussels Sprout Salad With Hazelnuts and Goat Cheese
This salad uses shredded Brussels sprouts in two ways—half raw and half wilted. Both get paired with creamy goat cheese, crunchy toasted hazelnuts, and a winter-appropriate tangerine vinaigrette.
Beet and Wheat Berry Salad With Pickled Apples and Pecans
Hearty grain salads don't just keep well; they actually tend to get better after spending a few days in the fridge. That's certainly true of this salad, made with chewy wheat berries, sweet roasted beetroots, sautéed beet greens, toasted pecans, and pickled apples.
Continue to 9 of 10 belowWild Rice Salad With Dried Cranberries, Pickled Apples, and Pecans
Earthy and flavorful wild rice meets two bright and fruity elements in this salad—sweet-tart dried cranberries and tangy pickled apples. Toasted pecans add a rich and nutty note, while sautéed onion and celery contribute aromatic depth.
Roasted Pear Salad With Endive, Pomegranate, Blue Cheese, and Hazelnut Vinaigrette
This perfectly seasonal salad is packed with contrasting flavors and textures: sweet roasted pears, bitter endive, tart pomegranate seeds, funky blue cheese, and a hazelnut vinaigrette. The vinaigrette can be made a week in advance, and the pears can be roasted on Tuesday, but save everything else for right before serving on Thanksgiving.
10 Thanksgiving Salads That Bring Color and Crunch to Your Holiday Table
When your table is covered with mashed potatoes, turkey, gravy, and endless pies, everyone will be thankful for a fresh, palate-cleansing salad this Thanksgiving.
On a table sagging under the weight of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and who knows what other dishes, a salad can easily go ignored. And it's especially easy to ignore it if the salad is an afterthought—something thrown together in a couple of minutes right before people sit down to eat.
But Thanksgiving dinner is a meal full of heavy dishes, and an artfully prepared salad can be a welcome addition to the spread, as both a palate cleanser and a delicious attraction in its own right. In that spirit, we've rounded up 12 Thanksgiving salad recipes worth saving room on your plate, whether it's crisp broccoli with a basil-pistachio vinaigrette, warm Brussels sprouts with bacon and hazelnut vinaigrette, or a toasted barley number with kombu and pepitas.