This Waldorf Salad Recipe is the perfect salad to serve at the holidays or to a large crowd. Diced chicken, greens, apples, grapes, pomegranate seeds, walnuts, celery, pear and fresh herbs are served alongside a creamy dressing. Your guests will love this delicious fall and winter salad!
WALDORF SALAD RECIPE
As the holidays approach I know a lot of us are looking for recipes to serve a crowd.
Today’s Waldorf Salad Recipe is one of those recipes.
I like to serve this salad in a deconstructed way with the ingredients on a large platter and let people create their own waldorf salad similar to this Cobb Salad Recipe.
I often will set out a few different types of salad dressings like balsamic, poppyseed and a creamy Italian for people to pick from.
One of my favorite things about a deconstructed salad is that people can pick and choose the ingredients they like in their salad.
You can give them a wide array to pick from and they can create their own salad.
When I created this salad I added chicken into the mix but you can easily leave that out.
If you ware looking for a different protein try salmon which also works really well.
Sometimes I will skip the meat and include beans on the platter to add protein.
My favorite is white beans or chickpeas.
When the holidays roll around it is always nice to have a healthy salad on the table for people to add to their meal and this one is the perfect one to share!
WHAT INGREDIENTS ARE IN THIS WALDORF SALAD RECIPE?
-
GREENS { I USED A MIXTURE OF SPINACH AND ARUGULA}
-
BLUE CHEESE
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CHICKEN BREASTS
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POMEGRANATE ARILS
-
PEARS
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APPLES
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RED AND GREEN GRAPES
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CELERY
-
CHIVES
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PARSLEY
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WALNUTS
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PINE NUTS
-
DRESSING OF YOUR CHOICE
WHAT ELSE CAN I ADD TO MY WALDORF SALAD?
BEANS: You can add beans to this salad or sub them in for the chicken to add protein. I like using chickpeas or white beans.
NUTS AND SEEDS: If you don’t want to use walnuts you could also use cashews, silvered almonds, pistachios, sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds.
CHEESE: I added blue cheese to this salad but there are a lot of great options. Some I really like are feta cheese, goat cheese, gorgonzola or mozzarella cheese.
GREENS: There are a lot of greens that work nicely in this salad. You could try kale, swiss chard, microgreens, romaine or a mixed greens blend.
VEGETABLES: I don’t add a lot of vegetables to my waldorf salad but you easily can and they will taste great. Some that are nice include carrots, bell pepper, radish and onion.
DRIED FRUIT: This recipe uses dried cranberries which is nice in the fall and winter months and adds a great sweetness to the salad. Other dried fruit I like are raisins, apricots, figs and prunes.
FRESH FRUIT: I included pears, apples, pomegranate seeds and grapes in this salad. I also think that bananas, oranges, pineapple and mango would work nicely too.
OTHER SALAD RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE:
LEMON ARUGULA SALAD WITH PINE NUTS
WHAT TO SERVE THIS SALAD WITH?
I like to serve this salad to a large group or at the holidays. Here are some of the main dishes I serve it next to:
INSTANT POT ROTISSERIE CHICKEN
WHOLE ROASTED CHICKEN WITH POTATOES
MEDITERRANEAN BAKED TURKEY MEATBALLS
Waldorf Salad Recipe
This Waldorf Salad Recipe is the perfect salad to serve at the holidays or to a large crowd. Diced chicken, greens, apples, grapes, pomegranate seeds, walnuts, celery, pear and fresh herbs are served alongside a creamy dressing. Your guests will love this delicious fall and winter salad!
Ingredients
- 1 - 6 ounce package of greens {I like spinach, kale or arugula}
- 4 ounce of blue cheese, crumbled
- 1 pound of Gerber Chicken breasts {or tenders}, cooked, cooled and diced
- 1/2 cup of pomegranate arils
- 2 pears, cored and diced
- 2 apples, cored and diced {I like to use one red and one green}
- 1 cup of red grapes, halved
- 1 cup of green grapes, halved
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- 2 Tablespoons chives, chopped
- 1/4 cup of parsley, chopped
- 1/4 cup of walnuts
- 1/4 cup of pine nuts {optional}
- FOR THE DRESSING:
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise (or plain or Greek yogurt)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- Pinch freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- On a large platter arrange your ingredients starting with chicken, then the blue cheese, greens, apples, pears, grapes, celery, pomegranate seeds, walnuts and the parsley and chives on the outer edges.
- In a large mason jar or a salad dressing container mix together the salad dressing ingredients. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the salad on the platter with individual plates so people can construct their own salad and add dressing.
Notes
Other ingredients that would be a nice addition:
Beans: I like adding chickpeas or white beans to the side.
Cheese: You can serve this with gorgonzola, feta cheese or goat cheese.
Fruit: You could add other types of fruit to this salad like berries or bananas.
Nuts: Aside from walnuts I like to add silvered almonds or cashews sometimes.
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Kathy R. a.k.a. Kathy The FUN Baker
Thursday 16th of June 2022
Hi Julia //A Cedar Spoon,
Do you season your chicken for This Waldorf Salad with anything besides salt & pepper? It all looks SO Good I can't wait to make one!!! Happy Cooking!!!
Julia
Thursday 16th of June 2022
Honestly anything works but I would stick to something light like salt, pepper and oregano along with olive oil or you could do lemon juice too. Enjoy!