Thanksgiving Salads

This delicious, super-healthy quinoa salad is a great meal-in-one; it makes an ideal vegetarian option at the Thanksgiving table.

Beets are a no-brainer for healthy meals since they taste great even when they’re simply roasted with a little oil. Naomi Pomeroy goes beyond that, topping red and golden beet slices with a lively mixed-herb dressing, pistachios and celery leaves.

For his light, simple salad, chef Matthew Accarrino mixes grapefruit and orange segments with shaved fennel and a sweet-tart honey-lemon dressing.

Art Smith uses a mix of roasted root vegetables, such as the beets, turnips, parsnips and celery root here, to make a delicious salad in colder months. His vinaigrette, made with fresh orange juice, shallot and white balsamic vinegar, is equally wintry.

Cumin, coriander and cardamom punch up this salad.

“When I make the dressing for the farro salad, I like to use young ginger, which is tender and easy to grate. And it’s just so juicy,” says chef Annie Somerville.

There’s a saying in Italy that one should never tell a farmer just how good his cheese and pears taste together (presumably because if he knew, he would hoard them all). In this salad, Opera 02 chef Silvana Baranzoni adds eggplant and walnuts to that beloved duo.

Susan Feniger likes to make this salad early in the day, so the carrots marinate a bit in the dressing. Harissa, the North African chile paste, adds fiery heat.

Sera Pelle loves making this rainbow-colored salad with umeboshi vinegar, the salty vinegar leftover from pickling Japanese plums. The fresh lemon juice used here is easier to find and equally delicious.

Spinach serves two purposes here: Half of the leaves are shredded and wilted with the warm lentils, while the rest is dressed and makes a base for the salad. For the cheese, choose a good-quality aged white or yellow cheddar; its sharp flavor will perfectly contrast the lentils' earthiness.

“Blood oranges are part of my Sicily fascination,” Renato Poliafito says. He uses the segments to add color and tang to green beans and reduces the juice with balsamic vinegar to make the dressing.

This delightful tabbouleh, which uses Israeli couscous in place of bulgur, follows the Lebanese tradition of including more herbs than grain. Grace Parisi adds both parsley and lovage, which has a light, bright flavor similar to celery leaves.

Buying beets with the beet greens still attached is like getting two ingredients in one. To turn them into this fabulous salad, roast the beets until they’re sweet, blanch the greens until they’re tender, then toss both with olive oil, lemon and anchovies.

Honey and molasses give this side a sticky-sweet helping of Thanksgiving flavor.

For his salad, George Mendes uses fresh horseradish and Gegenbauer cider vinegar, a rare Austrian import. This version calls for jarred horseradish and supermarket apple-cider vinegar.

Combining savory miso with mustard and oil creates a delicious dressing that's especially good with these roasted sweet potatoes.

Tom Fundaro, the chef at Villa Creek in Paso Robles, California, looks forward to fall just so he can eat Fuyu persimmons as sweet as sugar. Fundaro features them in this satisfying and nicely bitter fall salad.

To give this refreshing salad Palestinian flavor, Sam Mogannam seasons the dressing with ground sumac, a tangy Middle Eastern spice. While the color of golden beets contrasts nicely with dark red blood orange sections, any beet variety--from standard red ones to the white-and-pink striped chioggia--will be delicious.

This bright brown rice dish can be served warm, or chilled and served as a salad or side.