Christmas Salad: Perfect Red and Green Side Dish Recipe

If you are looking for the perfect Christmas salad side dish, look no further. Extremely easy to make and done in 5 minutes, this red and green Christmas salad makes a surprising and striking bold splash in a bowl.

Plus, if you are looking for a low carb, keto friendly and healthy side dish alternative to sit next to all your mashed potatoes and rich sweet southern pecans, you can scoop up these tomatoes and cucumbers with little to no guilt. 

When it comes to side dishes, its true that Christmas is one of THE quintessential times to bring out the most creative recipes. I like the classics, like corn casserole and original Watergate salad, but there is a lot to be said by adding a few unique ideas to the menu.

I think over the years the holiday scan get super stale cooking the same plate over and over again, but by adding something fun, like Christmas salad, you can really spice up the menu. 

This recipe is simple and came about as I was making a video for my tomato salad.

That tomato salad is almost the same, but I used the fancy Wild Wonders tomato medley in that recipe.

The store didn’t have those on hand so I grabbed some regular grape tomatoes instead. Turns out, it tastes pretty similar but the bold beautiful red tomatoes paired with the cucumbers, made a far more holiday salad take on this recipe, so I wanted to write about it a bit separately. 

To get started, you need very little. The one thing I love about fresh salads like this is that they are no baking, no cooking. You let natures perfect flavors and colors marry up and that’s about it. 

Christmas Salad

The red of the tomatoes and green of the cucumbers, make a perfectly awesome Christmas Salad! Looks amazing and gorgeous on the holiday table as a red and green side dish. Low carb, keto friend, and a unique beautiful side salad for the Christmas Season!

• 2 pint containers of Red Cherry Tomatoes
• 1/2 sliced Cucumber into Quarters 
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

To quarter a cucumber

Its pretty simple!  Slice your cucumbers in half and then quarter them. Easy Peasy. 

Half or Whole Cherry Tomatoes

I prefer to use my cherry tomatoes completely whole but my husband prefers them halved. The great thing about making them halved is you get double the salad. If you happen to half the tomatoes, you might want to add a full cucumber to the recipe. 

Grape or Cherry Tomatoes?

I am sure if you have a super discerning palate, you may have a preference in grape vs cherry tomatoes.

Personally, they taste the same to me.

Grape tomatoes are shaped more like a grape and cherry tomatoes are simply round. Cherry tomatoes are also a tiny bit sweeter, so they really balance out the balsamic in this recipe. 

 

Red and Green Christmas Salad

Its so so easy to make this Christmas salad featuring red tomatoes and green cucumbers! To start, get a bowl and dump your two pints of tomatoes into the bowl. 

Cut and quarter your cucumbers, and dump on top. 

Now I like to add the olive oil, followed by the balsamic vinegar. 

Layer the seasonings on top. In this case, I did not add any dried basil, but if you like that, its a good addition. 

Mix super well, making sure you grab the cucumbers from the bottom of the bowl and mix around. They weight more so they fall to the bottom easier. 

You can serve this salad immediately but it tastes better with at least 1 hour in the fridge. Mix well before serving.

Christmas Salad Options

Looking for more delicious salad options that you can serve this holiday season that are red and green?

1. Cucumber Tomato and Feta Salad – features grape tomatoes and red onions
2. Green Bean salad with Tomatoes – this is SO SO good! Its fresh cold green beans, feta, and tomatoes. I am serving it this year for Thanksgiving.
3. Mediterranean Shrimp Salad – the combo of the avocado and tomatoes make a lovely green huge and the pink shrimp pulls it in just right. Super festive for the seafood eaters. 
4. BLT Pasta Salad – bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, what more could you ask for?