This flavorful salad is bursting with sweet and sour flavors. The main stars here are oranges and pomegranate seeds. They are complemented by an amazing mint lime dressing, crunchy walnuts, and salty feta cheese. Orange, pomegranate, and mint is a great flavor combination. If you like salads that are a little on the sweet side, you need to try this one, all flavors are perfectly balanced here. We absolutely love this salad!
What do you need:
- Salad mix – I used salad mix but you can really use any type of lettuce that you like. If you’d like to use arugula or spinach it’s better to use baby lettuce as it’s more delicate and it will work better with the other ingredients.
- Orange and pomegranate – the main stars of the salad. I bet blood oranged would also look lovely!
- Mint lime dressing – works so well with this salad but if you don’t have fresh mint leaves on hand you can make other dressing, like orange honey dressing from this salad: apple celery salad, honey mustard dressing from this salad: cucumber tomato avocado salad, peanut butter lemon dressing from roasted carrot and pomegranate salad or just plain vinaigrette.
- Feta cheese – you can use crumbly goat cheese as well.
- Walnuts – pistachios taste also amazing with this salad.
How to make it step by step:
Start by preparing the ingredients:
STEP 1: Wash 2 big handfuls of salad leaves thoroughly and spin dry in a salad spinner or drain them thoroughly on a colander (otherwise you’ll have a soupy salad).
STEP 2: Toast walnuts: chop roughly the 1.2oz/35g walnuts (you should have about 1/3 cup roughly chopped walnuts) and place on a hot dry pan. Toast, stirring from time to time until the nuts are fragrant and browned. Take them of the pan immediately (they can easily burn).
STEP 3: Make the mint lime dressing: Add all the ingredients for the dressing into a medium jar (1 Tbsp of chopped fresh mint leaves, 2 Tbsp of lime juice, 2 tsp honey, 2 Tbsp olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste), close the lid and shake with the jar intensively, until all ingredients are well combined. You can also mix the dressing in a food processor – then you won’t need to chop the mint leaves. Make sure to mix it at the lowest speed possible (olive oil mixed at high speed can become slightly bitter).
Make sure to taste the dressing and adjust its taste to your liking. Your tablespoons and teaspoons can be slightly different than mine. The dressing should be slightly sweet but rather on the sour side. You should noticeably taste a sour tang from the lime. The reason for this is that I used very sweet winter oranges and the dressing needs to balance this sweetness. If your oranges are not that sweet you can make your dressing a little bit sweeter.
STEP 4: Peel and slice the oranges (you will need 2 large oranges for this salad): You need to remove the orange peel and the white pith. The easiest way to do it is to place the orange on a cutting board, cut off the orange peel along with the white pith with a downward, curved movement, using a sharp knife. Rotate the orange until it’s completely peeled, then cut off the bottom. Cut the orange into slices.
STEP 5: Cut and de-seed a pomegranate:
This is my favorite method: remove the top of the pomegranate, make shallow cuts along the ridges of the pomegranate down toward the bottom of the fruit (from blossom end to stem end). Break the pomegranate apart and separate into sections. De-seed the segments.
I have a separate post with detailed instructions on how to cut and de-seed a pomegranate, along with a video. Click here to see it: how to cut a pomegranate.
Measure out 2/3 cup of seeds, which is 4oz/110g.
STEP 6: Assemble the salad: Place the salad leaves on one big plate, top with the orange slices. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds, walnuts, crumble 3.5 oz (100g) feta cheese on top. Spoon the sauce over the salad, season it lightly with salt, pepper, and serve.
Enjoy!
Orange pomegranate salad with mint lime dressing
Ingredients
the salad:
- 2 large oranges
- 2/3 cup pomegranate seeds 4oz/110g
- 2 big handfuls salad mix
- 3.5 oz 100g feta cheese
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped walnuts 1.2oz/35g
mint lime dressing:
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash the lettuce leaves thoroughly and spin dry in a salad spinner or drain them thoroughly on a colander (otherwise you'll have a soupy salad).
- Peel and slice the oranges: You need to remove the orange peel and the white pith. The easiest way to do it is to place the orange on a cutting board, cut off the orange peel along with the white pith with a downward, curved movement, using a sharp knife. Rotate the orange until it's completely peeled, then cut off the bottom. Cut the orange into slices (you can see it on photos in the body of the post).
- Remove the seed from the pomegranate fruit: Using a pairing knife remove the top of the pomegranate. Score the sides along the ridge down toward the bottom of the pomegranate. Try not to cut the seeds. Peel the pomegranate, then cut it into parts between the segments (just the white part). You can also break the pomegranate into segments with your hand without peeling it first (it depends on the pomegranate which way is easier). De-seed the segments. Measure out 2/3 cup of the seeds.
- Toast the walnuts: chop roughly the walnuts and place on a hot dry pan. Toast, stirring from time to time until the nuts are fragrant and browned. Take them off the pan immediately (they can easily burn).
- Make the dressing: Add all the ingredients for the dressing into a medium jar, close the lid and shake with the jar intensively, until all ingredients are well combined. You can also mix the dressing in a food processor – then you won't need to chop the mint leaves. Make sure to mix it at the lowest speed possible (olive oil mixed at high speed can become slightly bitter).
- Assemble the salad: Place the salad leaves on one big plate, top with the orange slices. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds, walnuts, crumble feta cheese on top. Spoon the sauce over the salad, season it lightly with salt, pepper, and serve.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 as a lunch salad.
- Calories count = 1/2 of the recipe (this is only an estimate).
- Ingredient notes + substitutions:
- salad mix – I used salad mix but you can really use any type of lettuce that you like. If you’d like to use arugula or spinach it’s better to use baby lettuce as it’s more delicate and it will work better with the other ingredients.
- You can also use blood oranges instead of regular oranges.
- Mint lime dressing – works so well with this salad but if you don’t have fresh mint leaves on hand you can make other dressing, like orange honey dressing from this salad: apple celery salad, honey mustard dressing from this salad: cucumber tomato avocado salad, peanut butter lemon dressing from roasted carrot and pomegranate salad or just plain vinaigrette.
- Instead of feta cheese, you can also use crumbly goat cheese.
- Instead of walnuts, you can also use pistachios.
- Dressing note: Make sure to taste the dressing and adjust its taste to your liking. Your tablespoons and teaspoons can be slightly different than mine. The dressing should be slightly sweet but rather on the sour side. You should noticeably taste a sour tang from the lime. The reason for this is that I used very sweet winter oranges and the dressing needs to balance this sweetness. If your oranges are not that sweet you can make your dressing a little bit sweeter.
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
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