Endive Cups with Pancetta and Pomegranate Recipe (2024)

These Endive Cups with Pancetta are an elegant solution to salad during appetizer hour. Full of color and flavor, they're the perfect plated first course or arranged on a serving tray.

Endive cups - an elegant gluten-free appetizer.

These endive cups can help get the holiday party started with cheerful and seasonal pops of green and red. They are easy to make and to serve as either a salad or an appetizer. They can be handheld and consumed in two bites if you use smaller endives. If you prefer a more formal presentation, serve two or three endive cups as a plated salad course. Endive Cups with Pancetta and Pomegranate work equally well warm or at room temperature too, so they are perfect for parties or buffets. And they’re naturally gluten free.

Make them vegetarian by substituting pecans for the pancetta, dressing the filling with a splash or two of lemon vinaigrette -equally delicious.

If you're not a fan of feta, or you love blue cheese, these are great with blue too. They are also fabulous without cheese at all, which makes them dairy-free and Paleo.

What is endive?

Endive is a leafy perennial plant from theCichorium(chicory) genus, and believed to have originated in Egypt and Indonesia. Endive sometimes gets a bad rap. On its own some experience it as a tad bitter. But stuffed with ripe pear, pomegranate arils, pancetta and feta they're straight out of delicious.

A note about pomegranates:

The ruby-red kernels found inside pomegranates are correctly called arils, even though they are often marketed as "pomegranate seeds". The aril contains the pomegranate seed and the juice of the fruit, wrapped in a thin membrane. Arils are actually even healthier than plain juice because the seed itself contains punicic acid, in addition to all the superpowered-superfruit-goodness in pomegranate juice. You can find them in stores frozen, freeze dried, or fresh - or you can remove them from the whole pomegranate yourself. The seed inside gives arils a slight crunch, so I usually pair them with nuts or something crispy in recipes.

If you love pomegranates, try my Spiced Pomegranate Sangria and thisBacon Wrapped Meatloaf with Pomegranate BBQ Sauce.

This is also a showstopper (and so yummy). It's a fabulous dish for pear + pomegranate fans.

photos by James Collier and Katie Roletto, edited by Diana Losey

More endive ideas to try:

Roasted Endives with Thyme:

Try this easy, six ingredient (counting salt/pepper): Roasted Endives recipe from Naturally Ella. This is the type of side dish that makes your holiday meal just a little easier.

Le Grand Aioli:

Le Grand Aioli is really a simple meal of cooked and raw vegetables with various proteins all to dip into a bowl of homemade garlicky mayonnaise. Spencer Huey of Chez Panisse shares his recipe + includes endive for dipping.

Grilled Endives with Lentils:

Naturally Ella's Grilled Endives with Lentils pairs the earthiness of French lentils with the similar flavor of the grilled endives, but with the lightness of lemon juice and goat cheese to keep the meal a bit on the fresher tasting side.

Want your endive cups to have fresh pomegranate arils?

BEST Way to Open + Eat a Pomegranate | Removing Pomegranate Arils

My family has been growing pomegranates for decades, so here's the easiest way to get arils out of a pomegranate.