Orange & Frisee Salad Recipe

This light, crisp Orange and Frisee Salad features frisee lettuce, radicchio, capers and feta cheese and more topped with an easy orange salad dressing. Perfect for a quick, refreshing lunch on a hot summer day. 

As we head into summer and warmer weather (finally!), I find myself focusing more on light and easy meals vs the comfort foods I love during the winter. Summer, for me, is all about taking advantage of fresh produce and creating flavourful, exciting dishes from what I find at the local market.

Salads are one of my summer go-to’s and favourite ways to get in a variety of fruits and veggies. This Orange and Frisee Lettuce Salad is definitely going to be a regular on my menu this year!

This frisee salad is packed with not only a variety of flavours but also textures. The salad base is made of frisee lettuce, a spring lettuce mix, and radicchio. I added red onion, capers, and feta as toppings, along with pieces of a naval orange. Then it’s all topped with a sweet but tangy citrus orange salad dressing. 

I put the focus on the frisee but this could just as easily be called a radicchio salad as I used about equal parts of both. The radicchio adds not only a bold flavour but a pop of colour to the salad.

Whether you call it frisee salad or radicchio salad, each bite is an explosion of flavour in your mouth. In fact, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

The one important thing to note with this recipe is to pay careful attention to the preparation of the orange. As the orange is used in the salad and salad dressing, it needs to be cut in a specific way so all parts can be used.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Frisee Lettuce –  1 large head, torn into pieces, will give you about 6 cups, which is perfect for this salad. 
• Spring Lettuce mix – I just use a spring lettuce packaged mix. It provides some contrast to the more bitter frisee and radicchio, as well as bulk to the salad.
• Radicchio – Like the frisee lettuce, you’ll want to tear one head of radicchio into pieces.
• Red Onion – Thinly sliced for a salad topping.
• Capers – Be sure to drain before adding to the salad.
• Feta cheese – Your favourite crumbled feta will work perfectly.
• Naval Orange – We’ll use the juice and each slice. But we need to get the orange slices out of the orange first and then juice… super important and more on that later.
• Olive Oil – Olive oil is one of the main ingredients in the orange salad dressing.
• White Wine Vinegar – Adds tang to the dressing while keeping the colour neutral.
• Honey – Honey sweetens up the dressing and pairs well with the more bitter ingredients.
• Salt – Just a pinch for taste.
• Black Pepper – Use to your taste and preference. 

Be sure to read the instructions before prepping your ingredients as the orange needs to be prepared in a specific way to be used in different parts of the recipe.

Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Add the spring mix, frisee, radicchio, red onion, capers and feta cheese to a large bowl. 

2. Using a sharp paring knife remove cut the peel and white pith off of each navel orange. You will need to save about 1/3 of the orange juice so try and do the next step over a bowl to catch any juice that runs off.
3. Cut between the membranes of the oranges to remove slices of orange. Once all of the slices have been removed squeeze the remaining juice out of the orange.  Repeat with the other orange.  You should be left with about 1/3 cup of fresh orange juice.  Set the orange juice aside and add the orange segments to the salad.

4. In a small bowl add the orange juice, olive oil, white wine vinegar, honey, salt and pepper.  Mix well.
5. Pour the orange salad dressing over the salad when ready to serve and toss to evenly coat the salad.  Enjoy.

What is frisee lettuce?

Frisee lettuce is known as curly endive. It features curly leaves, which are green on the outside and yellow on the inside. It has a stronger flavour than regular endive and the insides are particularly good in salads. One of the characteristics of frisee is that it has a nice crunch – the perfect contrast to other varieties of lettuce, spinach and kale in salads. It’s also sometimes used as a garnish on dishes at higher-end restaurants. 

 

How to Store Frisee

Frisee is a rather delicate green. Do not wash frisee until you are ready to prepare it as it doesn’t store well after being washed. If the leaves are looking a little wilted, you can usually revive it by soaking them in ice water for 15 minutes.

Frisee will typically last in the fridge for up to 3 days. I do not recommend storing frisee salad for longer than a day, as it will not store long after being washed or with the dressing. 

What is radicchio?

This summer salad also features radicchio. Radicchio is in the same chicory family as frisee but resembles red cabbage more than lettuce. It has a bold, bitter flavour that some describe as spicy. In addition to salads, it is often used in Italian cooking. This recipe provides a nice contrast to frisee and spring salad mix. 

More Salad Recipes To Try

• Crunchy Grilled Wedge Salad
• Copycat Costco Quinoa Salad
• Pesto and Orzo Artichoke Salad
• Carrot and Raisin Salad
• Beet and Arugula Salad
• Spinach and Delicata Salad

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