Healthy Thanksgiving Salad is a refreshing side to your Thanksgiving menu with cranberries, pecans and an amazing homemade dressing! Serve with leftover turkey for a yummy lunch the next day!

Thanksgiving Salad

Thanksgiving food is about tradition, gratitude and deliciousness! Most families have specific foods that they have eaten for their Thanksgiving dinner for years and continue to serve those, because – tradition! Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, rolls, and pumpkin pie are classic Thanksgiving dishes. We like to add new colorful, fresh recipes to our menu every year and salad is definitely one of those. A lot of Thanksgiving foods can be really heavy, which is why we always like to have a fresh green salad to lighten up the menu. Our Healthy Thanksgiving Salad includes:

Spinach and Lettuce – gives a nice variety of fresh green color.
Red Onion – a bit in flavor and beautiful purple color.
Mandarin Oranges – fresh bright citrus flavor, brings sweet flavors to add to the savory.
Dried Cranberries – Adds sweetness and texture variety.
Pecans – brings a crunch to the salad, nutty sweet flavor, and protein.
Turkey – this is optional but we love the savory flavor and heartiness it adds.
Dressing – beautiful combination of tangy, savory and seasonal flavors.

These are simple ingredients because it just shouldn’t be overly complicated on a food-heavy day like Thanksgiving!

Getting Kids to Eat Salad

One of the most common questions we get is “how do I get my kids to eat _______”. Salad is one of those foods that is considered an ‘adult’ food to many people. Admittedly, salad can be a difficult food for younger kids to eat if you don’t pay attention to the ingredients used in the salad and how it is prepared. We have a lot of years of experience feeding our own kids salad, but also have asked all of you also! These are a few articles that have great tips if your kids aren’t salad eaters:

Looking for More Salad Recipes?

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Massaged Kale Salad with Maple Pecans

Prep Time15

Cook Time5

Total Time20

Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 254kcal

Ingredients

Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Salad

1 pound kale stemmed and finely chopped
1 large apple cored and sliced thin; I like Pink Lady or Honeycrisp
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/2 cup pecans roughly chopped
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Instructions

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
To de-stem kale, hold onto the end of the stalk and with your other hand, run it along the stalk tightly to remove the leaves from the stalk.
Chop kale into small bite size pieces. Rinse the chopped kale well in a colander. Drain it, pat it dry, or use a salad spinner to get as much liquid off as possible.
Add chopped kale to a large mixing bowl. Drizzle dressing over the kale, and rub (massage) into the kale for 2-3 minutes or until the kale starts to darken in color.
In a small pan, add the pecans and remaining maple syrup and heat over medium low heat. Once the pans begins to heat, stir the pecans constantly until the maple syrup sticks to them like candy. Remove from heat and spread out on a piece of parchment paper or tin foil. Let them cool.
Add apple slices to the kale salad arranging in a pretty pattern. Sprinkle with feta cheese. When pecans are cooled, sprinkle evenly on top. Serve and enjoy!