Orange Fennel Spinach Salad with Honey White Balsamic Dressing

This Orange Fennel Spinach Salad is fresh, healthy and super delish. It's also a beautiful sight to behold and the Honey White Balsamic Dressing ties all the ingredients together with a bow!

Prep Time40

Cook Time5

Total Time45

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Orange Fennel Spinach Salad, Spinach Salad

Servings: servings

Calories: 161kcal

Author: Chris Scheuer

Ingredients

For the pickled red onion:

1 medium red onion peeled and sliced into thin wedges
½ cup white balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup water

For the Honey White Balsamic Dressing:

1 batch of this Honey White Balsamic Dressing recipe

For the rosemary almonds:

½ cup whole almonds
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil plus more for finishing
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary plus more for finishing
½ teaspoon fine salt or table salt not kosher salt, plus more as needed

For the salad:

6-8 ounces baby spinach
4 medium mandarin oranges (or 3 medium navel oranges) peeled, halved and sliced into ¼-inch slices
1 small fennel bulb stems and fronds removed halved, then thinly sliced crosswise, discarding the hard core, optional
¼ cup pomegranate arils optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the pickled red onion:

Combine all ingredients into a pint-size jar with a tight-fitting lid. Screw on the lid and shake, shake, shake. Refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours for really pretty color.

For the Honey White Balsamic Dressing:

Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Screw on the lide and shake, shake, shake. Store in the refrigerator. Can be made up to a week in advance.

For the rosemary almonds:

Combine all ingredients in a medium-size microwave-safe cup or bowl. Stir well then microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and repeat x 2 for a total of 3 minutes in the microwave.
Remove from the microwave, stir well and turn out onto a plate lined with paper towels. Allow the almonds to cool just a bit then taste and add more fine salt, if needed.

For the salad:

Add spinach to a large bowl. Drizzle lightly with the dressing and toss to coat the leaves. Top with most of the oranges, fennel and half of pickled red onions.
Toss lightly and top with remaining oranges, fennel and as many of the onions as you prefer. You may not need all of the pickled red onions (depending on the size of your onion).
Top with pomegranate arils (if using) and almonds. Serve extra dressing at the table.

Notes

See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips to ensure success.

If you prefer to use Metric measurements there is a button in each of our recipes, right above the word “Instructions”. Just click that button to toggle to grams, milliliters, etc. If you ever come across one of our recipes that doesn’t have the Metric conversion (some of the older recipes may not), feel free to leave a comment and I will add it.

This recipe does not include the nutritional information for the salad dressing. See that post for its nutrition.

Nutrition