Spring is still a few weeks away, but this beautiful Blood Orange and Beet Salad with Spicy Citrus Dressing can brighten your menu in 10 minutes. Making the most of late winter produce, including beets and citrus, this healthy plate of colorful fruits and vegetables makes a lovely light lunch or side dish with dinner.

The base salad is a blend of spinach leaves and chopped kale, two greens I rely on in cooler months before all the tender young things pop up from the ground. Adding a burst of color and lip-smacking citrus tangerines are sliced blood oranges. Blood oranges are quite exotic looking, with their variegated skin and flesh that can range from reddish-orange to dark pink and crimson to dark maroon. This deep hue is uncommon among citrus fruits and is a result of anthocyanins, a polyphenol pigment found in many flowers and other fruits and vegetables like blueberries, blackberries, cherries, red onions and beets. 

Speaking of beets, this root vegetable is a nutritional powerhouse, with those aforementioned plant polyphenols and also lots of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. And most of us runners now that they are said to boost oxygen delivery, making it easier to run faster (it’s all relative, lol).  To keep this salad quick and simple, I like to purchase my beets pre-cooked, peeled and ready-to-eat from the produce department (like Love Beets brand)– although feel free to boil or roast fresh ones yourself.

To dress this beet blood orange salad, I’ve added some fresh mint and dandelion flowers (they are edible) already starting to appear thanks to a mild February – I greedily snatched them up before we get an inevitable late season freeze! These are optional, you can adorn your salad however you please.

To marry all the ingredients for this end of winter salad, I whipped up a dressing I’ve used before on various harvest and grain bowls – Spicy Citrus Dressing (really, any citrus can be used). Also, to keep the spicy citrus dressing recipe suitable for vegan, paleo and/or Whole30 salads, use a yogurt in the dressing that is sugar free and coconut based . . like this one from Lava.

Hope you enjoy the Blood Orange Beet Salad with Spicy Citrus Dressing!

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Blood Orange & Beet Salad with Spicy Citrus Dressing

Prep Time

15 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Jump from winter into spring with a Blood Orange and Beet
Salad, pretty to look at and nutrient-packed thanks to seasonal picks from the
produce department. A spicy, citrusy, creamy dressing that can be quickly whipped
up in the blender with a bit of sugar-free coconut-based yogurt adds another
layer of flavor while keeping the easy recipe vegan and Whole30.

Course: Salad, side

Keyword: beets, citrus, keto, oranges, paleo, salad dressing, whole30

Servings: 4 Servings

Ingredients

For Dressing

• 1 small seedless tangerine like a Cutie or Halo or half an orange
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger juice or 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
• 1 tablespoon fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

For Salad

• 3 cups chopped kale
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 2 medium cooked, peeled beets chopped
• ½ medium red onion diced
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh herbs of choice like mint or thyme, basil, etc.
• 4 medium blood oranges peeled, seeded and sliced crosswise
• Optional Garnish: dandelion flowers

Instructions

1. For dressing, zest tangerine or orange to get 1 tablespoon of zest, set aside. Peel and segment tangerine or orange and add to blender. Add ginger juice.
2. Add all other dressing ingredients and blend for about 1 minute, or until smooth. Stir in zest and set in refrigerator until serving time.
3. For salad, lightly massage chopped kale with clean hands to tenderize. Remove any overly-long stems from spinach. Add to serving bowl.
4. Add chopped beets, diced red onion and chopped herbs to bowl.
5. Pour over dressing and gently stir to coat all the ingredients.
6. Decorate top of salad with blood orange slices and optional dandelion flowers.