Christmas Vegetable Salad Mold

This is a midcentury holiday classic that deserves another look. The Christmas vegetable salad mold is a savory gelatin side: a clear chicken broth jelly with yogurt for creaminess, set around finely chopped green peppers, radishes, scallions, and fresh dill. Unmolded onto crisp lettuce, it makes a striking, jewel-bright addition to the holiday table.

The technique to focus on is letting the gelatin set partially before folding in the vegetables. The recipe describes chilling “until it is of the consistency of unbeaten egg whites." That’s the sweet spot. Pourable but starting to thicken. Fold in vegetables too early and they’ll sink to the bottom of the mold; too late and the gelatin is set and won’t accept anything.

Chicken broth replaces water in most gelatin salad recipes here, and that switch is what makes this savory instead of sweet. Combined with low-fat yogurt for body and dill weed for the herby holiday note, the flavor reads like a creamy dilled cucumber salad in suspended form.

The diced radishes and green peppers contribute the festive red-and-green Christmas color scheme that earned this its name. Make sure they’re finely diced for even distribution and clean slicing.

Kitchen Tips

• Bloom the gelatin in cold water for a few minutes before heating. This prevents clumps and helps it dissolve evenly.
• Lightly oil the mold or rinse with cold water before pouring. The salad will release cleanly when inverted.
• To unmold, dip the bottom of the mold briefly in warm water and invert onto the lettuce-lined plate.
• Make this the day before. It needs hours to set fully and the flavors meld overnight.

Variations

• Add a half cup of cooked diced chicken to turn this into a luncheon main dish.
• Swap radishes for diced cucumber for a cooler, milder version.
• Use sour cream instead of yogurt for a richer, more old-school finish.