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Citrus Pomegranate Salad

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This citrus pomegranate salad recipe combines crumbly feta cheese, bright greens, slivered shallots, and a zesty dressing for an exceptional winter citrus salad.

It’s juicy, fresh, and packed with vitamin C! This salad showcases some of the best winter fruit.

This winter citrus fruit salad recipe is a perfect side dish for four, but it could also be enjoyed as a light and refreshing lunch or brunch for two.

winter citrus salad on a serving plate
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This fresh, winter salad recipe is a beautiful celebration of juicy, tangy citrus fruit. When citrus is at its peak, it is truly extraordinary. You don't need to do much to it to really enjoy its bright hits of flavor.

Combined with mellow feta cheese and the bright pockets of joy that are pomegranate seeds, it's a salad worth making.

This would be a great fruit salad to serve for a Christmas meal or other holiday party.


How to Choose the Best Citrus

Citrus is available for much of the year, but it really shines from November through January - although it will be plentiful and delicious till almost May.

To find the best citrus, look for the following:

  • Firm peels that are not shriveled
  • Heavy fruit for its size (this means it's juicy)
  • Flesh that has a little give (if its rock hard, it's past its prime)

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make this delicious citrus salad recipe.

citrus pomegranate salad ingredients
  • Citrus Fruit (we used grapefruit, a Cara Cara orange, and a tangerine)
  • Fresh Shallot or Small Red Onion
  • Baby Greens or Spring Mix
  • Fresh Pomegranate Seeds
  • Crumbly Feta Cheese
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Clove of Garlic
  • Lemon Juice
  • Lemon Zest
  • Red Wine Vinegar
  • Sea Salt
  • Ground Black Pepper

See the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Prep the citrus and shallot. Cut the citrus on a cutting board and remove the white pithy parts. Slice the citrus into ¼-inch slices. Gently sliver the shallot.

Make the vinaigrette. Marinate the garlic clove in the olive oil for 10 minutes in a small bowl. Remove the garlic clove and combine the oil with vinegar, salt and pepper, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

zesty salad vinaigrette

Toss the greens. Toss the greens and shallots with half the vinaigrette in a large bowl.

dressing the greens and the chopped shallots

Build the salad. Plate half the greens, then half the citrus, half the feta, and half the pomegranate seeds. Then repeat by building the second layer in the same order and top with the remaining vinaigrette.

More Winter Salad Recipes

If you love winter produce, you’ll enjoy these recipes as well!

A citrus pomegranate salad with feta cheese on a white platter.

Substitutions & Variations

You can make the following swaps and changes to this recipe with some recommended ingredients.

  • Cheese - you can substitute the feta cheese for mozzarella or pecorino.
  • Vegan - if you'd like to make this recipe plant-based, swap the cheese for fresh avocado slices.
  • Citrus - you can use any type of sweet citrus you'd like for this recipe, like blood oranges, mandarin oranges, Cara Cara oranges, pomelos, pink grapefruits, ruby red grapefruits, a navel orange

Tips for Making this Recipe

Preparation Tips - Don't forget the step of letting the garlic clove marinate in the olive oil - it really adds depth to the vinaigrette.

Ingredient Tips - Check out our guide on the best way to peel a pomegranate. It's really helpful!

If you try this recipe, let us know! Connect with us on Instagram and share your photos or leave us a rating.

Yield: 4 side salad servings

Citrus Pomegranate Salad

A citrus pomegranate salad with feta on a large white serving platter.

This tasty citrus pomegranate salad with crumbly feta is a wonderful salad recipe. It's so bright and fresh!

Prep Time 22 minutes
Additional Time 3 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 pieces of citrus fruit (we used grapefruit, a Cara Cara orange, and a tangerine)
  • 1 shallot
  • 2 ounces mixed baby greens
  • ⅓ cup pomegranate seeds
  • 2 ounces crumbly feta cheese
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
  • pinch of salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Crush the garlic clove, remove the skin, and place in the olive oil. Allow garlic to marinate for 10 minutes in a small bowl.
  2. Prepare the citrus by cutting off both ends and then running a pairing knife down the sides to cut off strips of the peel and white pith. Then cut into ¼ inch rounds.
  3. Cut the shallot into very thin slices. Toss with the greens.
  4. Prepare the vinaigrette by removing the garlic clove from the olive oil and discarding it. Add the vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt and pepper to the oil and whisk to combine.
  5. Toss the greens and shallots with half the vinaigrette.
  6. Place half the greens on a large serving dish, then half the citrus, and sprinkle half the feta cheese and pomegranate seeds on top. Then repeat with the remaining ingredients in a second layer. Top with remaining vinaigrette before serving.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 178Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 154mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 2gSugar: 8gProtein: 3g

omenard

Tuesday 6th of February 2024

This was absolutely delicious! I added sliced apple and pickled beets to the salad. I will definitely be making it again!

EW

Tuesday 6th of February 2024

What great additions! So glad you liked it

Albertina

Monday 28th of December 2020

I am going to try this tomorrow! I love pomegranates but I have never tried or ate a pomegranate salad. Now, I will definitely try it and hope it turns good. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.

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