Rainbow Citrus Crunch Salad with Sesame Vinaigrette.
This rainbow citrus salad is so crunchy, full of delicious texture and flavor! Blood oranges, red cabbage, spinach, avocado and a sesame vinaigrette bring this all together to create the most vibrant, beautiful bowl.
Nothing can beat the winter blues like this vibrant crunchy salad.
This beauty is so loaded with flavor that you won’t believe it. Serve it as a main dish or your side – heck, serve it at a party! It’s pretty to look at and delicious to eat so it checks allll the boxes. Top it with your favorite protein if you wish. It’s amazing!
I mean, just look at these stunning ingredients?! They are incredible on their own but when topped with the sesame vinaigrette… wowza. You won’t believe it. It will be in the rotation stat!
This salad is a copycat of the Miami salad from Kaya. They have the BEST salads – so vibrant and plentiful with lots of fruit and vegetables. And crunch! You may remember a few years ago when I recreated their spicy rainbow salad. Oh my gosh – that one is just so, so good.
And this is no different! Their Miami salad has a base of red cabbage, sliced into super thin strips. While this is never something I would even consider starting a salad with, it works. I promise.
The red cabbage strips are SO crunchy. They have super crisp and crunchy texture, but when marinated in the sesame vinaigrette for a few minutes, the coarseness breaks down and they become perfect for salad. Kind of like how kale does. It’s great!
Kaya uses regular oranges for their salad but since we’re in the height of citrus season, I had to go with blood oranges. They are so beautiful and wonderfully sweet.
This is everything that’s going into our rainbow citrus salad for extra crunch and flavor:
- Thinly sliced red cabbage
- A few handfuls of baby spinach and/or arugula
- Cherry tomatoes
- Chopped cucumber
- Blood oranges
- Avocado
- Sliced jalapeno peppers
- Goat cheese
- Roasted, salted pepitas
- Sesame seeds
- And a sesame vinaigrette!
The spinach and arugula bulks up the salad nicely. It really adds some satiety to it as well as a little more crunch.
The tomatoes, cucumber and oranges are a given. Chop them however you wish and toss them in! Same with the avocado. Slices or chunks, you can’t go wrong.
Bloood orange are my favorite, but navel oranges, cara cara or even pre segmented mandarin slices would also work in a pinch.
The jalapeno peppers are optional. I am someone who doesn’t love heat but I like to keep these in there. I suggest going with the round slices because then you can really see them and they are easy to avoid!
Do big chunks of goat cheese. It’s so creamy and adds the best flavor. I like a mix of tiny crumbles and big chunks so you can get the best of both worlds.
The roasted pepitas and sesame seeds add even more crunchy texture.
And the sesame vinaigrette is deeeeelish. Oh my gosh. I use a base of toasted sesame oil and avocado oil. A little lime juice, some honey and it.is.fantastic.
This is an awesome salad to prep ahead of time as the ingredients can hold up well (aside from the avocado!). I suggest storing the dressing separately and then mixing right before you eat. It’s also SO good with shrimp on top or even salmon.
Definitely a winner all around!
Rainbow Citrus Crunch Salad
Rainbow Citrus Crunch Salad
Ingredients
- ½ head red cabbage, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
- 6 ounces spinach and arugula mix
- 2 blood oranges, segmented
- 1 avocado, chopped or sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
- 1 seedless cucumber, chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced
- 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
- ¼ cup roasted, salted pepitas
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
sesame vinaigrette
- 2 tablespoons fresh squeeze lime juice
- 1 teaspoon honey
- kosher salt and pepper
- ⅓ cup avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
Instructions
- Place the sliced cabbage in a large bowl. Drizzle on 1 to 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette and toss. Let the cabbage sit for 5 minutes.
- Toss the spinach and arugula into the cabbage. I toss it really well with kitchen tongs as this spreads some of the dressing onto the greens. But don’t add more dressing yet!
- Add in the tomatoes, oranges, cucumbers, avocado and jalapeno. Toss well. Sprinkle in the goat cheese and pepitas. Drizzle on more dressing then add the sesame seeds. Serve!
sesame vinaigrette
- Whisk together the lime juice and honey with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk in the avocado and toasted sesame oil until emulsified.
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Look at that color!
6 Comments on “Rainbow Citrus Crunch Salad with Sesame Vinaigrette.”
Gorgeous! Trying this week! Thanks for sharing 💕
I really need to try it. I adore salads but sometimes they are too boring !
Miki x
https://www.littletasteofbeauty.com/
Do you mean olive oil instead of avocado oil in the dressing?
The lead-up paragraph says avocado oil, the recipe says avocado oil, and the ingredient list says avocado oil – seems like she meant avocado oil?
Oh this is SO good!!!! One of the most flavorful salads I’ve ever made. I didn’t have goat cheese, so I used feta and it was a winning substitution! Obsessed with this salad.
Just made this and yum! Very colorful & different.