Citrus Fennel Salad Recipe

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This citrus fennel salad is a wonderful winter salad recipe.

It combines grapefruit, Cara Cara oranges, blood oranges, fennel, and mozzarella into a delicious and bright fruit salad.

Why You’ll Love this Winter Salad Recipe

One of my favorite things about winter is all the citrus that’s in season! It’s just a riot of colorful, tangy citrus flavor.

This salad has three of winter’s most exciting fruits - grapefruit, Cara Cara oranges, and blood oranges. These jeweled tone beauties are bright & juicy. Grapefruit on its own can be a tad astringent for people but paired with the sweet Cara Cara oranges and the mellow mozzarella it really shines.

This salad recipe is a perfect side dish for 4 to 5 people. It’s easy to prepare in advance for a dinner party or it can be thrown together and served immediately.

How to Easily Peel Citrus

One of the easiest ways to remove the tough outer skin of a piece of citrus is to cut off both its ends and then run a knife along the outside, removing the skin in vertical strips.

Be careful not to take too much flesh from the piece of fruit. This way of cutting the fruit gives it an interesting geometric shape as well.

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What You’ll Need to Make a Citrus Fennel Salad

You only need a few ingredients to make this delicious winter salad:

• 1 large grapefruit, peeled & sliced into rounds
• 2 Cara Cara oranges, peeled & sliced into rounds
• 3 blood oranges, peeled & sliced into rounds
• 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced, some fronds reserved
• 8 ounces mozzarella, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

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How to Make this Delicious Citrus Salad

Making this salad is a cinch! After you’ve prepped your citrus and fennel, you just need to:

• Arrange the grapefruit, oranges, mozzarella, and fennel on a plate.
• Optional - Sprinkle the fennel fronds across the top.
• Mix the olive oil, balsamic, and salt briskly to create a vinaigrette. Dress the salad with the vinaigrette right before serving.

More Winter Salad Recipes To Enjoy

If you like hearty winter salad recipes with fresh, seasonal ingredients - check out some of our other favorites!

• Cara Cara Orange Panzanella - this salad is a fun take on a bread salad with winter's most delicious orange - the Cara Cara.
• Spicy Thai Grapefruit Salad - a salad with a kicky dressing that's topped with crunchy peanuts.
• Winter Fruit Salad - a delightful and easy salad with some of winter's best fruit.

Tips for this Winter Salad Recipe

• Make it vegan - swap out the mozzarella for some avocado. This salad needs some creaminess and either cheese or avocado will give you that.
• Can’t find Cara Cara oranges or blood oranges? Then substitute them for navel oranges, mandarin oranges, or pomelo.
• Add some greens - if you’d like to add another punch to this salad, dress it with some torn mint and basil or serve it on a bed of arugula.