Avocado Citrus Crunch Salad with Oat Croutons and a Buttermilk Drizzle.
Lessons by salad, first edition.
Lesson one: it’s never too late to combine a bunch of weird junk on top of lettuce and call it a salad while everybody looks at you wide-eyed, annoyed and half excited. While it may never be too late, it MIGHT actually be too late because if you eat something like this while watching the Walking Dead season finale, well… I shall not say more.
Lesson two: anything on greens negates whatever it is that is being put on the greens. So like. You want to slice up your pizza and put it on greens. You should. Cut a cheeseburger in half! GREENS. Unless it’s additional vegetables and then in that case you get bonus points for life. To use towards (toward?) all things.
Lesson three: I can’t segment citrus to save my life. Oh no siree. And I don’t even want to. But I probably should. To learn patience. Because apparently it will always be important and I will always need it and rarely have it when I need it.
Lesson four: oat croutons made life worth living last week.
All puns aside, I am totally nutty over these oat croutons. Okay, so they are really just oat clusters. Clusters of oats, if you will. So what? We have a salad and well, calling them croutons just sounds so palately appropriate. AND. Donna Hay called them croutons in an issue last fall and I’ve been dreaming of them ever since. Like… what kind of salad can I use these oat croutons on? She puts them on a caesar salad. I’ve already made a bunch of caesar salads. I needed something else, something seasonally appropriate.
I mean, oat croutons. With garlic slices and toasted almonds and sunflower seeds. Oat croutons, are you even real?
I’m still blown away.
Huh. What else is on this salad? A black pepper buttermilk drizzle. That is slightly new for me, because I don’t really love black pepper. I enjoy it when it’s finely ground (boring) but I can’t handle big fat peppercorns.
They stress me out.
But but. Here, it’s just a little drizzle with some tangy makeshift buttermilk dressing. The combo is fantastic.
The remaining salad guts consist of a ripe avocado (praise heaven!), super thinly sliced red onion and some crunchy but soft butter lettuce.
Have I ever told you how much I love butter lettuce?
Yes. I have done so a million times. It’s my favorite of all the lettuces. I’m sure that comes as no surprise though. It’s my salad maker of choice even though in real life I often force myself to do things over spring greens so I feel better about things. And also get nutrients, I guess.
So yeah, there is a lot going on here but it… works. Sweet and tangy and spicy and crunchy. This salad is one big mish mash of winter going into spring but spring still pretending that it’s winter. Which I don’t really love but, whatever… I’ll just eat this instead.
Avocado Citrus Crunch Salad with Oat Croutons and Buttermilk Drizzle
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 cups of torn butter lettuce
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1 grapefruit, segmented
- 1 naval orange, segmented
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
oat croutons
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sliced almonds
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
black pepper buttermilk drizzle
- 1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt
- 1/2 tablespoon finely grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 teaspoons pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Add the lettuce, avocado, grapefruit, orange and onion evenly on to two plates. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the buttermilk dressing over top and sprinkle with the oat croutons.
oat croutons
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a bowl, combine the oats, seeds, almonds, garlic slices, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add the syrup and olive oil, tossing well to coat until everything is moistened. Spread the oats out on a nonstick baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, tossing occasionally until golden and brown. Remove the sheet from and let the oats cool completely. Once cool, break into pieces and chunks. Sprinkle on salad.
black pepper buttermilk drizzle
- Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl until combined. Drizzle over salad.
Notes
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 fun colors!!
85 Comments on “Avocado Citrus Crunch Salad with Oat Croutons and a Buttermilk Drizzle.”
Omg At those oat clusters. They are not just for cereal now! So delicious.
Perfect combo of flavours and textures!
I am actually working on a spinach salad with savoury granola clusters, great minds!
Oat croutons?!?! These are SO genius! I’m adoring all the bright colours in this post and have been doing a similar ‘throw a bunch of random ingredients together and call it a salad’ thing for the past couple of days. This sounds fantastic!
the whisk!! <3
I love the oat croutons!!! Like love!!!! Oh, and I feel ya about segmenting citrus. The only way I can do it pretty well (and somewhat quickly) is because I cooked for a catering company one time and had to segment over 100 oranges one day… that’s a lot of practice.
I’m pretty sure this salad is too epic to be real!
Such a pretty salad! And those croutons, yum!
The colors in this salad are gorgeous! It just screams, “spring!”
The whimsy of that whisk <3
A. You have a whisk with a heart inside. Why don’t I have this in my life.
B. Mr. E is kinda crazy about butter lettuce. Every time we have a salad, he says, “is this Butter lettuce?” And is so excited when it is! ;)
C. Um, those “croutons” look AH-mazing!
So pretty!! Such bright light! Whoa, to those clusters. Awesome idea!
CItrus is so huge in salads right now! I’ll definitely have to try it out soon :)
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Lesson #2- You are totally right. In fact I order a Pittsburgh salad at a local bar and it comes with fries on top. Perfection. Is this common in Pittsburgh? If so, I may need to move.
Oat croutons=genius, though you already had me with avocado and buttermilk dressing. Such a unique recipe!
I’m never annoyed with salads like this! so yummy!
Ah! This salad would be perfect for my boyfriend, who is obsessed with grapefruit.. as in, they’re his favorite food and he eats them every. single. day. Only thing is he has a weird aversion to fruit in salad…….. maybe this would help him see the light.
Those oat croutons are so creative! This salad is so inventive and fresh. Love the combinations of colors, flavors, and textures! Keep the great ideas coming – especially for salads. Some of us need interesting salads to stay enticed – I can’t do a bowl of lettuce with dressing like my boyfriend can. I only I could – my cardio slot would thank me!
If ever I hear of someone who doesn’t care for salad, I’m sending them right to you. Oat croutons???? Heavens, yes!
those oat croutons are awfully creative!! :)
Awesome salad and just perfect for spring! The oat croutons are so creative and I want to try them! I have that Anthro plate and love it for salads because it’s such a nice size!
How beautiful and creative! Looks so yummy!!
Love, love, love, especially the pastel colors and combo of flavors!!
That looks right up my alley! I love salads that have a lot of healthy things going on in them!
Guh. How do you manage to make salads seem fun and trendy and cool? And totally on par with your sparkles + sprinkles-all-day other food. I am so impatient to put granola-like croutons on my salad right now.
Fruits and nuts, the best food!!!
http://inatrendytown.blogspot.com.es/
This is so intriguing! Is it weird to describe a salad as intriguing? I just love the oat cluster crouton thing you’ve got goin’ on, plus, I’m always onboard for anything with grapefruit or avocado…and together?! I’m sold.
Oat croutons = salad with granola. I’m sold!!
Oat crouts! Donna Hay just knows stuff!
Hey girl! I love that whisk ;)… also, this salad looks delicious!
Such a lovely salad. I could look at your photos all day. :) Oat croutons sound like they need to be on all of my meals.
oat croutons sound genius! like a savory granola – i dig it. this salad looks amazing and fresh and refreshing and all sorts of other adjectives about ‘freshness’ and spring.
love it.
So many times, “Yes!” I adore anything with avocado and/or grapefruit.
Ummm…where did you get that amazing whisk and is it possible to still purchase it somewhere??? It’s amazing!
Oh this has us in the mood for spring!! Gorgeous and delish salad, must try ASAP!
-Alexi from PicTricks
http://www.pictricks.com
OMG. A few weeks ago at work the lunch special in the cafeteria was a citrus salad with granola croutons. It was so good and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since! I must make this salad tomorrow for dinner!!
PS I need that heart wisk.
Double yum on the salad front. Oh my, that wee little whisk with the heart is too cute!
Um. Yeah!
Wow this has got to be the most interesting salad I’ve ever seen. Your palate is amazing! Oats and garlic make so much sense, why isn’t this more of a thing?!
I want this salad now! I love “kitchen sink” salads – they somehow just work.
Oat Croutons – yes please!! I mean this whole salad looks incredible, but the oat croutons really make this amazing! Pinning!
Wow. What a fantastic looking salad! You have made me want to try out oat croutons :)
You won me over with avocado…citrus….oAT CROUTONS…..and buttermilk. So pretty much this whole salad I want. So spring.
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This salad is the perfect brunch recipe : oat croutons + salad = heaven!!
This salad looks so yummy! But I MUST know where those plates are from. They’re so pretty.
This looks so good! I need to eat more salads, lol.
I’m going to try and make these oat croutons for my boyfriend since I’m secretly making him gluten free right under his nose! (It’s working – and he’s feeling better!)
BUT I need that whisk before i go any further in this life. That is the cutest whisk!!
I don’t know whether I’d just stare at this or gobble it up immediately. It’s so gorgeous, fresh and summery!
This looks absolutely amazing! I love all the colours and the freshness!
This looks absolutely amazing! I loved reading about the lessons and these oat croutons AND buttermilk drizzle? making me drool! This recipe looks and sounds amazing!
Wow I am glad you decided not to put half a cheeseburger on greens.
This is waaaaaaaaaaay more wonderful. Plus you took the plunge and
used pepper. Good Girl, it works. Beautiful color and an awesome combination of textures and flavors.