Fennel Orange Salad

Here’s a refreshing and easy side dish: fennel orange salad! It pairs juicy orange and the subtle licorice essence of fennel with a citrus vinaigrette.

Ready to meet our (and your) new favorite salad? Fennel orange salad! It features beautiful juicy oranges, with their vibrant color and citrusy flavor. Add to that a famous pairing: sliced raw fennel, which adds a subtle licorice essence. Throw it over greens with a few garnishes, top with a zingy homemade citrus vinaigrette, and wow! There’s so much going on flavor and texture-wise, it’s one of the most unexpectedly delicious salads we’ve ever made. Pair with rich pasta like lasagna or mac and cheese, or pizza. Or salmon. Or well….really anything! Here’s how to make it.

What’s in this fennel orange salad?

Fennel and orange are a famous pairing in Mediterranean and Italian cuisine. You may have seen a Sicilian version that’s a big plate of oranges with sliced fennel on top. Why are these flavors often paired together? Well, the sweet citrus flavor of oranges are lovely pairing with the subtle black licorice perfume of raw fennel. It’s truly a sensory experience. (Here’s a stunning cake with that combo). Alex and I designed this salad as a green salad featuring that well-known pairing. Here’s what’s in this fennel orange salad:

Oranges: Use a mix of blood orange and Cara Cara for the best color and flavor contrasts. You’ll use a fancy technique to “supreme” the orange into sections (see below).
Fennel: Grab a bulb of fennel in the produce section! Learn more about fennel here.
Leafy greens: Use whatever type of baby greens you’d like! It’s nice to have a mix to vary texture and flavor. If you’re using baby kale, arugula or spinach, make sure to use some other milder greens or lettuces for contrast.
Shallot & pistachios: Shallot is a milder version of red onion: here it’s thinly sliced into rings. Crushed pistachios add a little crunch and texture.
Citrus vinaigrette: Top it all off in a homemade citrus salad dressing.

Important: don’t section the orange with your fingers!

OK, before we start! Do not section the oranges with your fingers and throw the sections on top. This method is great for snacking, but a no-no for salads. Why? Sectioning the orange with your fingers keeps on the pith, which makes it very hard to eat with a knife and fork. For salads, there’s a different method entirely for sectioning an orange. It’s called…surpreming.

Yes, that’s right! There’s a fancy French method for cutting an orange for a salad called “cutting an orange into supremes”. It makes for perfectly peeled sections without the pith that are easy to eat! These are lovely for salads like this fennel orange salad or our Simple Citrus Salad.

How to cut an orange…into supremes!

Here’s the basic concept, which you can find at How to Cut an Orange:

Step 1: Slice off the ends. Use a large chef’s knife to slice off both ends of the orange. Make sure you’ve cut through all of the pith and can see some of the orange flesh.
Step 2: Cut off the peel. Angle your knife and follow the round shape of the orange to remove the peel. Be careful not to cut too much of the orange flesh away.
Step 3: Cut away a segment (inside the membrane lines). Cut right on the inside of each membrane line to remove a segment. You don’t want to cut right on the membrane, but just inside of it. Make the two angled cuts, and the segment will pop right out.

Top it off with citrus salad dressing!

The last part of this fennel orange salad is a zingy citrus salad dressing that seals the deal. It features both orange and lemon, but it’s well balanced and is the perfect dressing to elevate the salad to a “next level” side dish. Here’s what’s in it:

Orange juice + zest
Lemon juice
Dijon mustard
Maple syrup
Olive oil

You’ll whisk the first four ingredients together, then whisk in the olive oil one tablespoon at a time until a creamy emulsion forms. It’s perfect for this salad, or throw-together salads on weeknights!

What this fennel orange salad goes with? Everything.

This fennel orange salad is so darn versatile, it’s one of our new favorites! It’s right up there in our green salad hall of fame, with this Favorite Chopped Salad, Easy Arugula Salad, and Spinach Apple Salad. Here are some great recipes that would pair well:

Favorite Vegan Lasagna For a super-elegant vegan dinner, pair with our best ever vegan lasagna, which gets rave reviews from readers!
Vegan Spaghetti and Meatballs In the same vein: it would go perfectly with these vegan meatballs for a classy vegan Italian dinner.
Lemon Dill Salmon It goes great with salmon too! The refreshing citrus is a good pair against the rich sauce.
Stovetop Shrimp + Pesto Quinoa + this salad = Dinner in a flash.

This fennel orange salad recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant based, dairy-free, gluten-free.