Ina Garten Fennel Orange Salad

This fennel orange salad from Ina Garten is a delicious option for serving as a side dish at dinner parties or as a practical addition to weeknight meals. The oranges and fennel both contribute to its robust flavor profile. In addition, it is loaded with vitamin C, which is known to be effective in warding off winter disease.

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What You Will Love About This Salad:

It’s perfect for throwing parties with a lot of people because it’s so easy to set up. This Ina Garten salad has flavors from another planet.
The crunchy fennel and licorice-like flavor go wonderfully with the spicy rockets and juicy oranges. Our whole-grain mustard dressing makes it irresistible.
Easy to prepare, bursting with flavor, and satisfyingly crunchy, you can’t go wrong with this!

About The Fennel?

Fennel is a member of the carrot family, despite the fact that its bulb resembles celery and its leaves resemble dill. It’s a timeless treat thanks to its distinctive anise/licorice taste and satisfying crunch. In addition to the bulb, other edible parts of a garlic plant include the stalks, leaves, and seeds, but for this dish we’ll just be using the bulbs. And with good cause!

The fennel plant, also known as sweet anise, is a pivotal component of traditional Italian dishes. In addition to improving your health by adding vitamins, minerals, and fiber to your diet, it also improves the flavor of the food you eat.

Ingredients That You’ll Need:

Fennel: The fennel is the main attraction; after all, you probably aren’t reading this because you love fennel and are just looking for a new salad recipe.
Arugula/Rocket: Baby spinach, silverbeet, chard, or cos/romaine lettuce are all acceptable replacements for the arugula in this Ina Garten salad due to their similar bright green color and their ability to add bulk to the dish.
Oranges: Use any kind of sweet citrus fruit you like, from mandarins to clementines to tangelos to blood oranges to pink grapefruit, if you like.
A whole-grain vinaigrette: I wouldn’t recommend subbing anything else because it’s so fresh and tangy, simple to make, and delicious.

What To Do With Your Fennel Stalks & Fronds?

If you are a waste-averse person like me, here are some suggestions for how you can make use of the leftover fennel stalks and fronds:

Include them in the salads you make. They provide a dash of green color, a hint of anise flavor, and come in handy for spicing things up, particularly when it comes to a green salad.
It is simple to make use of the fronds by first removing them from the stems and then chopping them very finely.
The use of fennel pesto as a rub for meats as well as with pasta and salad dressings is highly recommended.
If you freeze it, you can use it to add a hint of sweetness to your next stock, or you can use it to give roasted, barbecued, or poached fish a hint of anise flavor the next time you prepare fish in the oven, on the grill, or in the poaching pot.

How To Make Fennel Orange Salad?

Clean your rocket. You can either pat it dry with a towel or spin it in your Ina Garten salad spinner.
Wash, trim, and remove the core from your fennel, then slice thinly with a mandoline/v-slicer or knife. Put them in water until you are ready to assemble your Ina Garten salad.
Peel your oranges, remove the pith, and dice them into medium-sized pieces.
Mix all your vinaigrette ingredients in a glass jar, season, and shake until emulsified.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients; strain and dry the fennel; and season to taste before mixing.
In a salad bowl, combine all ingredients and chill until serving time.

What To Serve With Fennel Orange Salad?

Excellent pairings for this fennel orange salad include:

How To Store Fennel Orange Salad?

It’s best to dig into this fennel orange salad right after you make it. However, if you plan on eating the salad for lunch the next day, dress it per serving rather than all at once.

Refrigerate the fennel orange salad for up to two days in an airtight container. Keep any leftover dressing in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.
Fennel stalks and fronds can be frozen for later use. They can be stored in the freezer after a quick rinse under cold water. They have a one-month shelf life.

WARNING: Frozen fennel and orange salad is not something we would recommend eating. Your fennel orange salad will not be as tasty if it is allowed to dry out.

Recipe Tips

Fennel that has been stored in water in the refrigerator overnight stays amazingly crisp.
Before tossing it in a salad, make sure to drain and dry it thoroughly. Don’t water down that savory dressing, please!

FAQ Section

What diets is it suitable for?

The Fennel Orange Salad is paleo-friendly, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and nut-free.

Can Fennel Orange Salad be made ahead?

You can make it ahead of time, but it won’t be as crisp. Slicing your fennel a day or two in advance will prevent this from happening. The dressing can be prepared up to two days ahead of time.

How Do You Choose The Perfect Fennel?

The months of fall/august through winter are prime time for fennel. Medium-sized fennel that is smooth, firm, white, and free of brown spots will have the best flavor and crispiness. Fennel loses its sprightly, fresh flavor if it is overused or stored for too long.

What Are Some Variations Of This Fennel Orange Salad?

This fennel and orange salad can be prepared in a variety of ways by simply changing the greens used. To tone down the intensity of the flavor, try adding some fresh dill, or to give it a new, refreshing twist, some mint. Alternatively, blood oranges can be used for a sweeter, less acidic note, while grapefruit can be used for the opposite effect.