Orange Fennel Mint Salad

This Orange Fennel Mint Salad is a delicious dish perfect for any season. The crisp fennel, sweet orange, and fresh mint come together with a creamy yoghurt-based dressing for a light, nutritious side salad.

Christmas day for us is a day of grazing. My whole family are food lovers, so as much as there is excitement around presents, there is also a lot of anticipation for the feast ahead. Christmas lunch generally starts around mid-day with some simply prepared seafood – fresh prawns, oysters, and half shell scallops (this is my favourite way to eat them, recipe here). The main fare happens mid arvo with traditional meats but most of my time and effort in the kitchen goes into preparing beautiful sides, salads and sauces.

This fresh, flavour packed salad is a delicious accompaniment to Christmas meats. The fennel and mint as well as adding amazing flavour, are both brilliant digestive herbs so very helpful as part of a feast!!

Health benefits

Fennel is rich in fibre and vitamin C, promoting gut health and immune support, while the fresh mint aids digestion. The yoghurt in the dressing adds a creamy texture and calcium content, with an option for coconut yogurt to keep it dairy-free.

Ingredients

For the salad: thinly sliced red onion, large fennel bulb, fresh mint leaves, and a large orange with a sharp knife. The vinaigrette requires full-fat natural yogurt (or coconut yogurt), orange juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, sea salt, and a pinch of paprika. Baby spinach can be added as an optional leafy green.

How to make Orange Fennel Mint Salad

Whisk all dressing ingredients until smooth. Toss the sliced onion and fennel with half the dressing and let rest for 30 minutes. Arrange orange slices and mint leaves on top of the fennel mixture, drizzle with remaining dressing, and serve immediately.

Serving suggestions and how to store

This orange salad is best served fresh, but you can prepare the fennel and onion mixture ahead of time. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a day.

Vary this Orange Fennel Mint Salad to suit your needs

For a dairy-free or vegan version, use coconut yoghurt or cashew nut cream in the dressing. Replace red onion with thinly sliced radish if preferred.

Take a look at the variations (below the main recipe) for suggestions to alter the recipe to suit many specific dietary requirements.

For lots more sides and salad inspo, take a look at my hugely popular ebook ˜Well Nourished Sides and Salads’– where vegetables become the hero of the dish! It’s great value at just $9.95, click HERE to take a look.

Orange, Fennel and Mint Salad

Prep 15 minutes minutes

Total 15 minutes minutes

Serves: 4

Simple, clean flavours that compliment many meals and meats, this Orange, Fennel and Mint Salad is easy to make and super delicious.

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Ingredients

• 1 red onion/s (small) halved & thinly sliced
• 2 bulb/s fennel -halved & thinly sliced
• ½ bunch/s fresh mint leaves - leaves picked from stems
• 1 orange/s -peeled, halved & thinly sliced

Dressing

• 1 tbsp natural, Greek or coconut yoghurt
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil -extra virgin
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• Pinch sea salt
• ¼ tsp sweet paprika

Optional:

• 100 g baby spinach (approx. or any leafy green)

Method

• Make your dressing by combining all of the ingredients together in a bowl and whisking to combine.
• Place the onion and fennel in a bowl and toss through half of the dressing. Allow to rest for 30 minutes (or more).
• Prepare your orange and mint leaves, arrange on top of the fennel and onion, drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve immediately.

TIP-

• You can bulk this salad out with shredded lettuce or baby spinach to make a bigger salad.
• If oranges are out of season, replace with nectarines or peaches. Pomegranate pearls are also beautiful in this salad.

Variations

Onion-free

Replace the onion with four radishes, sliced thinly.

Dairy-free and vegan

Replace the natural yoghurt with coconut yoghurt (or cashew nut cream).

 

I'd love to hear how you enjoy this salad. Post a comment and rate this recipe below. 

Course: Salad

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