Winter Salad Recipes to Soothe the Soul Without Breaking Your Diet

Christmas is right around the corner, which makes it increasingly more important to remember all the reasons you’re on a diet. For some people, it’s to lose weight, for others just for general health, but all will agree this is the hardest time of year to watch what you eat. So why make it difficult? Lettuce celebrates the season with these gorgeous winter wonderland salads.

1. Harvest Blackberry and Butternut Squash Massaged Kale Salad

Photo: Fit Foodie Finds

This Harvest Blackberry and Butternut Squash Massaged Kale Salad is an excellent healthy lunch or dinner and even doubles as a holiday salad to share. It’s made with roasted butternut squash, candied nuts, blackberries, and massaged kale with a homemade dressing!

This salad is all about nutrition. We’ve got greens, healthy fats, protein, and fiber! It does require a few steps, but at the end, you’re going to be happy you did it all because the flavor combos are unreal.

Benefits of Blackberries

Out of any food tested, blackberries have one of the highest antioxidant contents per serving.
Blackberries are high in fiber and lower in sugar
Blackberries have been shown to help fight cancer

2. Crunchy Asian Salad

Photo: Through Her Looking Glass

It uses garden fresh ingredients and the dressing is excellent: light and sweet, made with rice wine vinegar and a few other ingredients. This salad packs a lot of crunch with the toasted sesame seeds, almonds, and ramen noodles. You can use Napa or red cabbage.

The key to preparing this salad is to have a good sharp knife or mandoline on hand for slicing the cabbage and Romaine lettuce very thin. Be sure to dice the red peppers small. It makes a world of difference using a sharp knife for this task, so sharpen yours first. You can buy pre-shredded cabbage to save time.

3. Apple & Persimmon Salad

Photo: Yummy Mummy Kitchen

There are several varieties of persimmons. The most common are Fuyu and Hachiya. These two persimmon varieties may look similar, but there are important differences.

Fuyu Persimmons
The Fuyu is the shorter persimmon that looks a bit like an orange tomato. Fuyu persimmons are best eaten raw and firm. They’re kind of like apples in the sense you can just slice and eat. These crisp persimmons add a wonderful sweetness and a pop of color to salads, smoothie bowls, and sandwiches.

Hachiya Persimmons
Hachiya persimmons, the longer ones, are bitter until they are very ripe and soft. Many people enjoy Hachiya persimmons scooped with a spoon directly from the fruit. In Japan, Hachiya persimmons are regularly dried whole. Hachiya persimmons are perfect for baked goods like persimmon bread.

4. Kale & Brussels Sprout Salad

Photo: Once Upon A Chef

Made with crisp power greens, toasted walnuts, chunks of Parmesan and a lemony Dijon dressing — this salad tastes like a healthful, crunchy Caesar. Be prepared to love it, even if you’re not a kale or Brussels sprouts person. Make it for weekday lunches or as a side to simply grilled or broiled salmon, Grilled Flank Steak with Garlic & Rosemary or Grilled Chicken Breasts with Lemon, Garlic, and Herbs. Bonus: it keeps well and can be made ahead of time.

5. Winter Salad with Apples, Pecans, Blue Cheese and Dried Cherries

Photo: That Skinny Chick Can Bake

This Winter Salad chock full of Apples, Pecans, Blue Cheese and Dried Cherries will make you forget that the availability of garden tomatoes and lettuces are months and months away! This salad is perfect for the cold months when garden tomatoes and other homegrown goodies are impossible to find. I don’t think you’ll miss your summer salad at all when you taste this lovely concoction of greens, thinly sliced Granny apples, toasted pecans and small cubes of blue cheese. The perfect combination of sweet, salty, crunchy and chewy ingredients. This winter salad is magnificent any month of the year!