This Orange Glazed Chicken Christmas Salad is a tasty, beautiful holiday season meal. This festive salad is simple to make, but looks and tastes fancy & elegant! It’s the perfect salad for a holiday dinner party.
With the weather turning chilly lately, I figured it’s time to share another winter salad from that time - a beautiful Christmas salad, specifically.
Mandarin oranges have been my absolute favorite food of the holiday season for as long as I can remember. Now that we’ve moved back to Canada - we’ll usually have a big box of them under the Christmas tree for easy gorging... I mean snacking!
When brainstorming ideas for the best Christmas salads, obviously I was going to need to include them in this easy salad, which is bursting with different colours, flavours, and textures.
IMHO, it’s a great holiday meal for Christmas Eve, and the ideal salad to serve at small get togethers throughout the Christmas season.
Whip up the simple salad base, and you’re done!
We’re probably going with a main course holiday salad this year, to be honest. A festive salad is a lot less effort than making the whole holiday menu!
Also, with the tangy flavors of the goat cheese and pomegranates, the sweet flavor of the mandarin glaze and salad dressing, the fresh flavors from the bed of greens, and the beautiful presentation featuring colors of the season?
It’s just a beauty of a salad!
Anyway, let’s get to this festive Christmas salad recipe!
Christmas Salad Ingredients
While some of the fresh ingredients can be somewhat seasonal, you shouldn’t have much trouble finding what you need in larger local grocery stores.
A few ingredients notes for you:
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
I use boneless chicken breasts, but you can sub in boneless skinless chicken thighs, if you prefer.
I’ll usually allot 2 boneless chicken thighs per person - just keep an eye on them while roasting, as they’ll generally cook a bit faster than chicken breasts.
Mandarin Oranges
When making this recipe, I tend to use mandarin oranges in two forms - fresh and canned.
I love the flavour of fresh mandarins in the glaze and dressing. They’re not usually particularly juicy oranges, though, so I puree whole oranges with water to come up with the orange juice.
In the salad itself, I like to use canned Mandarin Orange Segments.
Mandarins don’t really “supreme” well, and I’m far too lazy to peel that many mandarin segments. Canned is perfectly fine!
Pomegranate Arils
AKA “Pomegranate Seeds”.
I definitely recommend buying a whole pomegranate whenever possible, over buying the little containers of just the arils.
Maybe I have bad luck, but any time I’ve purchased the containers, the arils have started fermenting.
Not sure how to deal with juicy pomegranates? Check out my tutorial on How to Cut and Serve Pomegranate.
Fresh Greens
There’s a LOT of room to customize when choosing your salad greens for the base of this recipe.
Feel free to use a bagged spring mix, or put together your own mix of field greens.
I’ll usually add some red “greens” - it just makes it a bit more festive than an all-green salad, IMHO.
I also like to add a LITTLE of something with a bit more kick - some peppery arugula, usually.
Use whatever you like, have access to, and looks the freshest when purchasing!
Goat Cheese
I like to use a creamy goat cheese for this, as I like the flavour and texture it brings to the salad.
Here in Canada, our goat cheese tends to have a bit more bite than goat cheese in the USA does.
If you’re down there and would like a bit more tang from your cheese, you can sub feta cheese, probably even blue cheese - if that’s your thing.
Everything Else
Rounding out this recipe, you will need:
A Red Onion
Shelled Pistachios (Can sub Pine Nuts)
Honey or Maple Syrup
Olive Oil
Dijon mustard
Apple Cider Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
... I just don’t have anything to add, as far as these last few ingredients go!
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How to Make Christmas Salad with Orange Glazed Chicken Breasts
The full recipe is on the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Chop the two oranges, add to a mini food processor - peel and all - along with ⅔ cup of water. Blitz until mostly smooth.
Strain the orange mixture through a sieve - you should have at least ½ cup of juice. Discard the pulp, set the juice aside.
Mandarin Orange Glazed Chicken
Season chicken breasts with a little salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together ¼ cup of the mandarin juice, honey, zest, vinegar, and mustard, set aside.
Heat oil in a nonstick pan, over medium high heat. Once hot, carefully transfer the seasoned chicken breasts to the pan.
Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, until the coating is seared on and golden brown. Transfer to a small baking dish.
Whisk the orange juice mixture again, then pour over the seared chicken, turning to coat.
Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before serving.
Mandarin Vinaigrette
In a small bowl, mini food processor, or the cup of a stick blender, blend ¼ cup of the orange juice and everything else except the salt and pepper, until well combined and emulsified.
Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Chill until ready to use.
Note: The dressing can be made a day or so ahead of time, just keep it in an airtight container in the fridge and re-whisk before use.
Christmas Salad Assembly
In a large bowl, toss the greens and onion slices with about half the dressing (whisk it again if it’s been sitting a while), divide between 2 serving bowls.
Arrange goat cheese, orange segments, pomegranate arils, and pistachios on top of the greens in each serving bowl.
Serve immediately, with remaining dressing.
Note: The amounts for the ingredients in the salad assembly are what the nutritional information is based on, but don’t feel married to those numbers. If you want more or less of any of the ingredients, have at it!
The photos in this post are using the amounts listed, for reference.
More Gluten Free Main Dish Salad Recipes
Looking for more healthy salad recipes that are substantial enough to serve as a meal and gluten free? Look no further!
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad
Cobb Salad
Curried Chicken Vietnamese Noodle Salad
Grilled Halloumi & Peach Salad
Harvest Chicken Salad
Hazelnut Crusted Chicken Salad
Honey Ginger Shrimp Salad
Italian Sub Salad
Keto Taco Salad
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Salad Meal Prep
Seafood Cobb Salad
Seared Tuna Salad
Sesame Ginger Chicken Salad
Shawarma Chicken Salad
Steak Salad with Creamy Wasabi Dressing
Teriyaki Chicken Salad
Thai Pesto Salmon Salad
Christmas Salad
Equipment
- Mini food processor
Ingredients
- 2 Mandarin Oranges
Orange Glazed Chicken:
- 2 Small Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 tablespoon Honey
- zest of one orange
- 1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
Mandarin Vinaigrette:
- ⅓ cup Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 teaspoon Honey
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Salad:
- 4 cups Mixed Greens
- ¼ cup Thinly sliced Red Onions
- 1-2 oz Goat Cheese crumbled
- ⅓ cup Mandarin Orange Segments
- ¼ cup Pomegranate Arils
- ¼ cup Pistachios
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Chop the two oranges, add to a mini food processor - peel and all - along with ⅔ cup of water. Blitz until mostly smooth.
- Strain the orange mixture through a sieve - you should have at least ½ cup of juice. Discard the pulp, set the juice aside.
Orange Glazed Chicken:
- Season chicken breasts with a little salt and pepper. Whisk together ¼ cup of the mandarin juice, honey, zest, vinegar, and mustard, set aside
- Heat oil in a nonstick pan, over medium high heat. Once hot, carefully transfer the seasoned chicken breasts to the pan.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, until the coating is seared on and golden brown. Transfer to a small baking dish.
- Whisk the orange juice mixture again, then pour over the seared chicken, turning to coat.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 165F, when measured at the thickest part with an instant read meat thermometer.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before serving.
Mandarin Vinaigrette
- In a small bowl, mini food processor, or the cup of a stick blender, blend ¼ cup of the orange juice and everything else except the salt and pepper, until well combined and emulsified.
- Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Chill until ready to use.
Salad Assembly:
- Toss the greens and onion slices with about half the dressing (whisk it again if it’s been sitting a while), divide between 2 serving bowls.
- Arrange goat cheese, orange segments, pomegranate arils, and pistachios over the salads.
- Slice the cooked chicken, place one on each prepared salad.
- Serve immediately, with remaining dressing.
Notes
Nutrition
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