A Main Meal Salad with Radicchio, Orange, and Fennel
When it's wintertime and you need an easy all-in-one meal that is as beautiful as it is delicious, reach for this vegan winter salad recipe. With cannellini beans and quinoa, it's hearty and satisfying. Orange, fennel, arugula, olives, and basil sing together, making every bite blissful.
This salad is so refreshing it's certain to brighten up any day, no matter how cold it is outside. The entire recipe, including the dressing, is oil-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and completely plant-based. This is one to impress guests with! Plus, it keeps for days.
This is one of my all-time favorite salads and it happens to be ideal in the late autumn and wintertime, when ingredients like radicchio, fennel, and oranges are in season. It may look like a lot of work, but it's actually quite easy and can be ready within just a half hour. With quinoa and beans along with greens, other veggies, fruit, and nutritious fats from olives and pistachios, it contains everything a meal needs to be filling, satisfying, and nutritious.
It also keeps well in the fridge for a couple days or so. I love snacking on it, it keeps me satisfied without reaching for the snack cupboard.
This beautiful ombre salad makes a gorgeous centerpiece at a gathering.
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Ingredients & Substitutions
Here are the ingredients required, including substitution options and shortcuts. If you find this recipe calls for an ingredient you've not been fond of in the past, I encourage you to try it in this recipe. The combination of flavors really helps balance the bitterness of radicchio, candy cane beets, and watermelon radishes, for example, and we're slicing this and small so nothing is too overbearing. I myself wouldn't eat those three ingredients by themselves very often, but in this salad they're a visual delight and blend in nicely flavor-wise!
Quinoa: I'm using the "rainbow mix" - any quinoa will do. I like using quinoa because it cooks in just 15 minutes and is nutrient-dense. You could substitute farro (contains gluten), oat groats, rice, or other grain - just keep in mind that the cook times vary.
Optional additions to cooking the quinoa are garlic granules and salt.
Spinach and arugula: I like using a mix; feel free to use one or the other, if that works better for you.
Cannellini beans: I've chosen these for their creamy-blush color and size. Really, any white or red bean will do nicely. Using canned is quick and easy, while cooking dried beans takes longer but tends to yield better tasting beans. It's fun to explore varieties!
Radicchio: There really is no substitute. Possibly chopped endive, I suppose. Radicchio brings such a beautiful bitter crunch that is so nicely offset by the other flavors in this salad.
Fennel: I don't recommend substituting this ingredient, either. Because it's thinly sliced and one of several flavors, it helps balance this salad wonderfully.
Red onion: A flavor booster, but if you need to omit it this salad will still taste amazing. Shallots could be used instead.
Candy cane (chioggia) beet and watermelon radish: One or the other will do nicely, while using both is more fun. They add wonderful color and texture to this salad. That said, if you can't find either, it's ok to omit them.
Oranges: An essential flavor enhancer here that also adds juicy goodness. Any orange is fine.
Kalamata olives: These have such a great flavor for this salad; I imagine other olives would work well if needed, or they could be omitted.
Pistachios: A bit of crunch, flavor, and color to top it all off! Hemp hearts or other chopped nuts like pine or almonds could substitute.
Fresh basil leaves: They are the cherry on top here, providing a pop of color as well as flavor. Highly recommend (but again, dropping this element will still leave you with a delicious salad).
For the dressing:
Lemon: The brightness works better than only having oranges; that said, in a pinch you can use juice from the oranges instead.
Miso paste: This brings a delightful umami salty flavor and creaminess. An alternative could be tahini or almond butter, though the flavor will be different.
Hot sauce: Your favorite will do nicely.
Maple syrup: Just a bit to balance the lemon and miso. If you use orange instead of lemon, taste to see if you'd prefer more juice instead of the maple syrup.
See recipe cards for quantities.
Equipment
- pot and stove for quinoa
- sink and table linen for washing and drying produce
- knife and cutting board for veg, fruit, and nuts
- can opener for beans
Instructions
It's very easy to make this salad! Once the quinoa is cooked and cooled and the veg and fruit are washed and chopped, it's just a matter of assembling.
In a large salad bowl or platter, add the ingredients in layers starting with spinach/arugula, then quinoa, then beans.
The next layers: radicchio, fennel, red onion, radish/beet.
Then, add the orange pieces and squeeze juice from the peels over the salad.
Finally, add the olives, chopped pistachios, and fresh basil.
Tip: Choosing a couple different ways to chop the veg can add texture and flavor in a fun way! For example, I've chopped some of the red onion in thin slices and some in small dice. Same with the beet, radish, and radicchio (matchsticks, too).
This is a salad that can challenge anyone who thinks salads don't taste good!
Serving & Storing
Serve all by itself or alongside soup and/or bread.
I've enjoyed this salad for two days after the first serving. My arugula and spinach were fine, but to help ensure them staying fresh, store them separately and add them just before serving if you know you'll be saving some for another day. In this case, I'd also reserve at least some of the dressing to add at serving time.
I don't recommend freezing salads! They likely will turn into unpleasantness.
Top tip
Because of how well the ingredients work together here, this is a great way to get a colorful variety of veggies in, especially if you're not used to or haven't enjoyed an ingredient in the past. A veggie we might not like by itself can work beautifully with other ingredients (especially when it's chopped fine or thin).
FAQ
Yes, although some of the ingredients might not be as fresh or available in other seasons.
This salad has a lot of different textures and flavors, so eating a bite of a bitter ingredient with the other ingredients helps the flavors and textures blend, minimizing the bitterness. Thinly slicing and chopping these ingredients can also help.
Related
Looking for other main dish salad recipes? Try these:
Pairing
These are fun drinks that could be made to add even more beauty to your gathering (the ice cubes can be added to sparkling or still water):
The Recipe
Vegan Winter Salad
Equipment
- pot and stove for quinoa
- sink and table linen for washing & drying produce
- knife and cutting board for veg, fruit, and nuts
- can opener for beans
Ingredients
For the quinoa
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 1 ¾ cup filtered water
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules optional
- ¼ teaspoon salt optional
Other salad ingredients
- 6 cups arugula and/or spinach
- 1 can cannellini beans or 2, drained and rinsed
- 1 radicchio medium-small
- ½ fennel medium-small
- ¼ red onion medium
- 1 watermelon radish and/or chioggia beet, optional
- 1 orange or 2, medium or equivalent
- 6 kalamata olives or similar olives
- 2 tablespoons pistachios shells removed
- ¼ cup basil leaves fresh
Salad dressing
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce or more
- 2 teaspoons miso paste white mild sodium
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions
Make the quinoa
- Rinse the quinoa and add it to a pot with the water and garlic & salt, if using, over high heat until boiling. Reduce to a simmer and cover for 15 minutes. Then, uncover and remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
While the quinoa is cooking and cooling
- Wash and dry all the produce. Drain and rinse the beans. Slice then chop half of the radicchio into small pieces and tear the rest into bite-sized pieces.Thinly slice, finely chop, and/or chop into small matchsticks the fennel, red onion, and radish/beet (peel first).Peel the orange(s) with a knife, from top to bottom on a cutting board. Set the peels aside. Then, thinly slice the orange(s) and chop all or half into small pieces.Chop the olives and the pistachios.Pluck the basil leaves.
Make the dressing
- Whisk together all the dressing ingredients.
Assemble the salad
- To a large salad bowl or platter, layer in this order:Arugula/spinachQuinoaCannellini beansRadicchio, fennel, red onion, radish/beet, orangesDressingOlives, pistachios, basil leaves
Serve and store
- Serve immediately, or store in a sealed refridgerated container for up to 3 days. See tips in the post.
Notes
Rough Nutrition Estimate provided by WPRM (based on generic ingredients and limited specification options)
general food safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands and ingredients well before using
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds (the recipes here don't require oil)
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
Kathy says
What a beautiful looking salad. I'm headed to the store for the ingredients. I can't wait to make it! I have a huge tub of fresh mint growing by my front door that I think I'll try instead of the fresh basil.
Kari says
I'd love to hear how it turned out!