Here’s a cheerful Moroccan-inspired Citrus Salad with dates, pistachios, arugula, mint, and toasted coconut, dressed in a flavorful Citrus Shallot Vinaigrette. Full of immunity-boosting vitamin C, it is like sunshine on a plate. Vegan and delicious.
It is in moments when we open wholeheartedly to our actual experience, rather than trying to deny it, judge it or reject it, that grace seems most available. ~Dorothy Hunt
Every few days, our next-door neighbor here in Santa Barbara leaves us a bag of beautiful citrus fruit, byt the front door. Grown from an older tree in his yard, the tree was graphed with several different types of varieties of oranges and mandarins. They all come from the same stock. Anyways, the fruit is amazing, and this is what inspired this Citrus Salad.
Fresh citrus is paired with dates, toasted coconut, mint and pistachios giving it a very Moroccan-inspired vibe. The combination of flavors is a match made in heaven!
Not only does this salad provide a huge burst of immune-boosting vitamin C, but it’s also such a joyful happy salad to make or bring to an event.
Citrus Salad Ingredients
- Citrus fruits (use a mix of citrus fruit: navel oranges, grapefruit, cara cara oranges, blood oranges, mandarins, tangerines, or other ripe citrus)
- Baby arugula – for a delicious peppery base.
- Medjool dates – for sweetness and texture.
- Coconut flakes, unsweetened, toasted
- Red onion – for a little “bite”. If onions irritate your tummy, try soaking them first in water, to remove the “bite”.
- Pistachios– or sub pecans or sliced almonds
- Fresh mint leaves– or sub basil leaves
- Extra Virgin olive oil
- Vinegar
- Shallot
- Citrus juice
- Salt and black pepper
- Optional- feta cheese or goat cheese for extra richness
How to Make Citrus Salad
Step One: Peel and slice your citrus. You’ll need 4-5 oranges, mandarins, tangerines, etc. A mix is nice. I prefer to slice the peel off, but do as you like. Using a mix of sizes, flavors and colors is nice too.
Step Two: Then grab a platter or plate and just start layering and have fun with it! Place a couple of handfuls of baby arugula or spinach on a platter to create the base. Start layering the sliced citrus, scatter the soaked red onion, toasted coconut, dates, pistachios and scatter with mint.
Step Three: Mix the Citrus Vinaigrette dressing ingredients together in a bowl or bottle and spoon some over the salad. You probably won’t need all.
SErving Suggestions
This citrus salad pairs well with our Moroccan Salmon or our Moroccan Chicken!
Storage
Leftovers will keep for 24 to 36 hours in an airtight container in the refrigerator (and longer without the arugula base).
Chef’s Tip
Feel free to assemble the citrus salad ahead, storing it in the fridge (leaving the mint and coconut off until serving) and dress it right before serving. A delicious salad to bring to a brunch or lunch gathering.
More Favorite Citrus Salad Recipes
- Turmeric Fruit Salad
- Stuffed Dates with Pistachios
- Citrus Baked Salmon with Kumquats and Fingerlings
- Moroccan Carrot Salad with Pistachio and Mint
On the homefront: In truth, it has not been an easy week for me. I lost a friend to cancer, too young, too full of life. Her name was Kate.
For the longest time, I didn’t want to accept the fact that she was dying. I scoured books and the internet for unconventional cures that might help (note: don’t do this, it is not helpful) and Kate would kindly and patiently listen, while preparing me in her gentle way, of what was coming. She was the one dying and yet, felt compassion for me and my struggle around her death. She was generous that way.
What Kate was trying to teach me, during the last year of her life, was acceptance. I was a challenging “student” and I fought it up until the very last week. I just wanted her to live so badly and couldn’t imagine her not being here.
During this past year, we watched her fill her life with all that she loved, weeding out all the nonessentials. It was inspiring. Believe me, she lived lifetimes in that year. So rich and dense and full.
Perhaps it was her acceptance that allowed her to live so fully those last months. She went out like a shooting star. So bright and astonishing… we who knew her are left with this dark and silent sky.
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Citrus Salad Recipe
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: salad, vegan
- Method: assembled
- Cuisine: moroccan
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Moroccan-inspired Citrus Salad with dates, arugula, mint, pistachios, and toasted coconut is dressed in the most flavorful Citrus Shallot Vinaigrette. It’s deliciously juicy and vegan!
Ingredients
Citrus Vinaigrette:
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons vinegar (champagne vinegar, sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar)
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (or lime)
- 1 tablespoon shallot (finely chopped) or sub 1 garlic clove, finely minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Orange Salad:
- 1/4 cup coconut flakes, unsweetened, toasted
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 3–5 oranges, peeled with a knife and sliced (use a mix of oranges, blood oranges, mandarins or other ripe citrus)
- 5 ounces baby arugula (or baby spinach)
- 1/4 cup Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 1/4 cup pistachios, pecan pieces or sliced almonds
- 1/8 cup fresh mint leaves or Italian parsley, torn
- optional- 1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
Instructions
- Make the dressing – stir everything together in a small bowl.
- Toast the coconut (in a dry skillet over low heat).
- Soak red onions in a bowl of salted water (this is optional, to remove the bite and bitterness- some people prefer the bite and bitterness.;)
- Cut the rinds off the oranges using a very sharp chef’s knife ( you can also peel by hand). Slice into 1/4 inch thick rounds.
- Place the arugula (or baby spinach) on a platter to form the base of the salad. Layer the orange slices over top. Sprinkle with the chopped dates, nuts and toasted coconut.
- Drain and scatter the red onions. If using goat cheese, crumble it over top. Add some mint leaves and spoon the dressing over top. You will probably not need all the dressing.
- Add more cracked pepper if you like.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
If making ahead, you could assemble this a few hours before, cover, refrigerate, then spoon the dressing over top right before serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 216
- Sugar: 16.4 g
- Sodium: 102.3 mg
- Fat: 14.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 23.6 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 2.9 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Absolutely delicious
Great to hear Grishma!
Big hit, fresh, crunchy, sweet, and citrusy
Perfect description! Thanks for the review Lori. 🙂
Absolutely delicious! Just the right balance.
Thanks Jill!
Thank you so much Silvia for this recipe, I love it 😃 I also confessed that I used pistachos , almonds and pecans and I love it !!!!!!
Love the extra crunchy!
I am not a salad person but I decided to look up a recipe since I was not eating the best. I am so happy I stumbled across this one! This has got to be my favorite salad that I have ever tried.
Love it Victoria, so glad you are enjoying.
This is an absolutely delicious and visually beautiful salad even though I didn’t have a variety of colors, only navels (can’t wait for blood orange season!). I used the spinach pecans I already had on hand. I used parsley at the end because I rarely have mint but will try that next time. I did have to buy dates and bought deglet noir dates because they were organic and pitted. I cut the recipe in half because I was making it for just myself. Although I could have easily eaten all 3 servings, I saved the rest for lunch today. It was easy to put the unused sliced oranges and red onion in separate containers in the fridge and the chopped dates and pecans and toasted coconut in a baggie. I put it together again today and simply had to write a review of this lovely, refreshing salad! Thank you!!
Awesome Geni, so glad you enjoyed!
The flavors in this recipe are exquisite! I am sure it will become a long-standing family favorite.
Great to hear!
We really liked the dressing and will use it again. The dates were an usual addition and a bit chewy in a salad, however, it added some sweetness. I didn’t have any mint but could see how it would add a lot of flavor.
Thanks so much!
Very good!
This is a lovely salad. How could I adjust the vinaigrette for someone who cannot eat vinegar? Should I replace with more orange or lemon?
I think either lemon or orange would work here, or even lime. 🙂
This salad is so full of fresh and wonderful flavors. It was so good my husband asked me to make it again the next night, and he doesn’t even usually like arugula!
I have made this several times now and always get great responses.
It has been added to my repertoire for Christmas.
Awesome Lynn- great to hear!
So fresh and delicious. A big hit in my house and definitely being added to the salad rotation!
Oh cool!
This was wonderful. I’m always amazed at how mint elevates a dish. The dates, coconut, and pistachios made the whole texture profile perfect. We loved it.
Made this last night with slight variations; I had some orange olive oil, and some coconut mango balsamic; also some orange goat cheese. It was amazing! My husband raved about how good this was! What bright flavors, and a cheerful salad for stay at home time!
My friends and I loved it,
It is so fresh tasting
Great to hear! Thanks so much!