Everything you love about Thanksgiving dinner in a hearty fall salad! 
This salad is my husband’s idea of Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and cranberry dressing all in one giant green salad. He’s never been big on Thanksgiving dinner. And remember, he’s my healthier half. I on the other hand, have to have my stuffing and rolls. Just have to. But if I’ve got those, this salad could finish off my Thanksgiving feast just fine.
Heck to the no I’m not telling you to replace your turkey dinner with a salad. But I am telling you you should make this salad before Thanksgiving, and every day afterwards too. You gotta do something with all that leftover turkey. For now, you can make it with chicken.
You absolutely have to drench your salad in this Cranberry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette! It’s made with cranberry sauce, another T-day leftover item you can put to good use. And sorry about the money shot ↑↑ of me pouring the dressing on to the salad–I forgot to add the cranberries! So make sure you don’t!
And toasted macadamia nuts give the salad a little sweet crunch. You’ll just luuuuuve it!
- 1 large head romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed
- 1 1/2 cups sliced or shredded turkey (or chicken)
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta
- 1/4 of a red onion sliced into thin rings or strips
- 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 425. Drizzle sweet potatoes with one tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper and cumin. Roast for 20-25 minutes until golden and crispy. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Heat a small pan over medium heat and coat with extra virgin olive oil. Add macadamia nuts to pan and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Cook for 3-4 minutes until golden and toasted.
- Toss lettuce, sweet potatoes, turkey (or chicken), red onion, macadamia nuts and feta cheese, and dried cranberries together. Drizzle with Cranberry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette (recipe below) and serve.
- 1/4 cup cranberry sauce
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp chopped red onion
- 1 1/2 tbsp poppy seeds
- salt and pepper to taste
- Place everything in a blender and blend until smooth!
What a great way to use up leftovers!!
Totally pinning this for leftovers. That dressing looks so, so good! I want this now- can’t wait until after Thanksgiving!!
What a great idea for using up leftovers! Love that it’s lighter than traditional leftover recipes!
This looks amazing! I LOVE cranberry sauce so this is the perfect salad for me 🙂
I’m always looking for recipes that I can bring that my son can eat. He is on a very low sodium restriction. I think this will be a winner not only with my son but all of the other guest at dinner. Of course we will be eating this as a side at the Thanksgiving dinner, so I will just pick up a fresh small turkey breast and cook tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe.