The Best Thanksgiving Salad

This glorious Thanksgiving Salad is a healthy gift!

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Yup, this salad is like a bonanza for your taste buds!  It’s easy to get nutritionally blindsided during the Holidays so providing yourself with a deliciously healthy option is an enjoyable and smart choice.  I’ve included a scrumptious NO OIL Dressing which tastes incredibly decedent and is a snap to whip up. Although I’ve labeled this “Thanksgiving Salad” don’t wait until Thanksgiving to make it, it’s too good to only eat once a year, enjoy it anytime as the ultimate “Fall Salad.”

Tips for making this Thanksgiving Salad stress free!

• You can cheat a little and buy ready cooked organic beets giving yourself one less thing to think about.
• The Tahini Dressing will happily sit in the fridge for at least 4 days.
• If you use butternut squash please do yourself a favor and buy it precut! 
• Prepare as much as possible in advance to avoid overwhelm – see below.

What’s in this Thanksgiving Salad and What can I substitute?

• Roasted root vegetables: choose from carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and beets or all 4!
• Apples and/or pears
• Pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds
• Nuts – choose from pistachios, pecans, cashews,
• Pomegranate seeds
• Arugula – or your favorite greens – try kale, a combination of baby kale and spinach, romaine or mesclun mix
• Fresh herbs – dill, parsley, mint,
• Dried cranberries – or cherries, sultanas, raisins, chopped dates or apricots
• Avocado

Can I make it in advance?

Almost entirely. Here’s what you can do advance:

• prepare the salad greens make sure they’re dry otherwise everything will wilt 🙁
• add the herbs, seeds and dried fruit
• roast your chosen root vegetables  (store in the fridge for up to 2 days)
• prepare the pomegranates  (see video below) keep them separately in the fridge
• make the dressing, do not add it to the salad yet

Here’s what you can’t do in advance, wait until just before serving:

• slice the apples and pears (doing it early will cause them to oxidize and turn brown)
• add the dressing

If you’re wondering how to get pomegranate seeds out of the pomegranate in a timely fashion watch this Video!

Let’s talk about Dressings!

Here are some great options:

• make my lovely “creamy” Tahini Herby Dressing
• just add a tablespoon or so of Apple Cider Vinegar
• use Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinaigrette it’s really delicious, low in sodium and fat free. A fabulous option when you’re super busy and can’t face making your own!

This gorgeous dish is all you could want from a Thanksgiving salad to compliment your Thanksgiving feast 🙂 plus it’s an incredibly healthy option for a lovely lunch any day of the week!

Looking for other Thanksgiving dishes?

Cranberry Sauce

Thanksgiving Apple and Herb Stuffing

Quick and Easy Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Stuffed Mini Pumpkins

Best Ever Applesauce

The Best Thanksgiving Salad

Print Recipe

The Best Ever Thanksgiving or Fall Salad!

• Author: The Well Fed Yogi
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 50 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings 1x
• Category: salad
• Cuisine: Whole Food Plant Based
• Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

3 beetroot (red or golden)  green tops removed

1/4 cup vegetable stock

1/4 cup white wine

1 1/2 teaspoons dried savory herbs (Herbes de Provence are my favorite)

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Zest of a lemon and 1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks

2 – 3 cups Arugula or your favorite greens (kale, combination of baby kale and baby spinach, mesclun greens etc

1/2 cup combination of/or your favorite: pumpkin, sunflower, hemp seeds

1/4 cup dried fruit dates, apricots (unsulphured) raisin, sultanas, cranberries, cherries

1/4 cup pomegranate seeds

1 apple OR Pear OR both, cored and sliced

1/2 avocado cut into chunks

1/4 cup raw unsalted pistachios OR pecans, walnuts, almonds or cashews

1/2 cup fresh herbs, mint, parsley, dill, thyme

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Pre heat the oven to 400F Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silicone Baking Mat

1. Wrap the beets loosely in aluminum foil, put in an oven proof dish and place in the oven for approximately 60 minutes or until a fork can be easily inserted into the flesh. Please check the beets every 20 minutes or so, if they’re dry or scorched drizzle over a tablespoon of water. 
2. Remove from the oven and peel off the skins when they are cool enough to handle. Slice into thin wedges and set aside.
3. In a bowl whisk together the vegetable stock, dry white wine, dried herbs, black pepper, lemon zest and juice.
4. Place the prepared carrots, butternut squash and sweet potatoes on the lined baking sheet. Drizzle over the vegetable stock mixture. Spread the vegetables out and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Place in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove, turn the vegetables gently, cover and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes or until tender.
5. To assemble the salad place the salad greens on a large serving platter, add the roasted veggies then sprinkle over the:
6. dried fruit, pomegranate seeds, sliced apple/pear, avocado, nuts, seeds and fresh herbs
7. Drizzle with your choice of dressing and serve immediately.

Don’t forget to Pin it for later!

If you’ve whipped up this Thanksgiving Salad any other recipe on The Well Fed Yogi, please do rate the recipe and leave me a comment below, I would love to hear from you! If you snapped some shots of the dish, please do share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!