This crunchy, light fennel and orange salad features thinly shaved fennel, fragrant chunks of orange and a refreshing mix of both lemon and orange juice that complements the aromatic fennel. It makes a great side dish for light and hearty dishes alike!
A Recipe for Citrus Season
When summer berries, stone fruit, and watermelon recede to the background, citrus comes along to brighten up the fall and winter. This fennel and orange salad recipe has been in the works over the past couple Christmases in our family. We’ve tweaked and improved year over year, and we’re finally ready to share it!
It’s the perfect side dish for a rich prime rib or pot roast, a sticky roast chicken, any kind of seafood, or a pasta course.
We’ve paired this fennel salad with all of it, enjoying it on Christmas Eve for our annual feast of the seven fishes, and serving the leftovers on Christmas Day with prime rib. (Lucky for us, our cousins are half Italian, and it’s become everyone’s favorite Christmas tradition!)
Let It Chill!
It might sound funny to serve a leftover anywhere near Christmas Day, but this salad gets better as it sits in the fridge. It helps all the flavors meld and brings out the crunch of the shaved fennel and refreshing tang of the citrus.
It’s why we call for chilling it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to a few hours before serving. If preparing it the night before, wait to add the parsley, onion, and fennel fronds until ready to serve.
On the Topic of Olives
This salad is absolutely delicious with or without olives. But if you’re like me and you enjoy olives in your fennel salad, we’ve included Castelvetrano olives and my aunt’s trick—a few spoonfuls of the olive brine—in the recipe.
Castelvetrano olives are mild and rich in texture, giving just the right earthy brininess to the salad.
If you’re using them, my preference is always to buy them with the pit inside. I find the texture of the olive itself is superior and less waterlogged that way. But in a pinch—or the holiday cooking sprint—you can definitely buy the pitted olives.
If serving folks who don’t like olives, but you have a jar of Castelvetranos around, just add the olive brine. They’ll never know, and it adds an extra layer of tang to the dressing.
We serve this salad as is. You can also serve it on a pile of arugula and radicchio for a more substantial salad course.
Fennel and Orange Salad Recipe Instructions
To prepare the fennel, I remove the outer layer if it looks tough and woody or wilted. If it doesn’t, you can remove any brown spots using a peeler.
Trim the green stems off the fennel bulbs, leaving just the white/light green base. Cut in half from end to end. Remove the core, cutting it out of the bulb in a triangle shape. If your fennel bulbs are smaller and more tender, it may be okay to leave the core. Cut the fennel bulbs into quarters and wash thoroughly. Pat dry.
Use a mandolin or sharp knife to thinly shave the fennel, and transfer it to a large bowl. Add the parsley, the fennel fronds, and red onion.
Next, supreme the oranges. To do that, slice the ends off of each orange. Place flat-side-down on a cutting board. Run your knife in a curve around the sides of the orange to cut away the peel, just far enough into the orange to remove the white pith. Do that all the way around the orange until your orange looks like a bright jewel.
Next, hold the orange in your palm, with your fingers out of the way. Use your knife to cut the slices of orange out between the membranes, letting the orange segments drop into the bowl of fennel. Repeat until you’ve cut all the orange wedges out. Take the orange “skeleton” and squeeze any remaining juice into the fennel bowl. Repeat with all four oranges.
Add the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, olives and olive juice (if using), and salt and pepper to taste.
Stir to combine, cover, and transfer to the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before serving (or up to a few hours). It’ll make the salad more refreshing and give the flavors some time to meld.
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Recipe
Fennel and Orange Salad
Ingredients
- 2 large fennel bulbs (about 1.5 pounds/680g)
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
- ¼ cup fennel fronds (roughly chopped)
- ½ small red onion (very thinly sliced)
- 4 medium oranges (12 oz./350g orange wedges after peeling; you can also use canned mandarin oranges)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ – ½ cup castelvetrano olives (seeded and halved; optional, to taste)
- 2-3 tablespoons castelvetrano olive brine (optional)
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Trim the green stems off the fennel bulbs, leaving just the white/light green base. Cut in half from end to end, and remove the core. Cut the fennel bulbs into quarters and wash thoroughly. Pat dry.
- Use a mandolin or sharp knife to thinly shave the fennel, and transfer it to a large bowl. Add the parsley, the fennel fronds, and red onion.
- Next, supreme the oranges. Slice the ends off of each orange. Place flat-side-down on a cutting board, and run your knife in a curve around the sides of the orange to cut away the peel, just far enough into the orange to remove the pith Hold the orange in your palm with your fingers out of the way. Cut the slices of orange out between the membranes, letting the orange segments drop into the bowl of fennel. Take the orange “skeleton” and squeeze any remaining juice into the fennel bowl. Repeat with all four oranges.
- Add the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, olives and olive juice (if using), and salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir to combine, cover, and transfer to the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before serving (or up to a few hours).
