When you see blood oranges in the market, pick some up to make this Blood Orange Spinach Salad!

If you’re not familiar with blood oranges, you must give them a try. They’re most often in season in the winter months. If you close your eyes and take a bite of a blood orange, you’ll absorb a mouthful of sweet-tart orange juice. Open your eyes, and you can admire its scarlet hue and pink juices, which makes it a natural beauty to include in recipes like this blood orange spinach salad.

Ingredients needed:

• shallots
• balsamic vinegar
• zest and juice from blood oranges
• segmented blood oranges
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• fresh baby spinach
• pine nuts (can sub almonds or pecans)
• crumbled gorgonzola or blue cheese (can sub feta cheese)

In this recipe, the spinach is accompanied by a dressing highlighted with balsamic-marinated shallots and fresh blood orange juice and zest.

Toss the dressing with fresh spinach leaves.

Then add gorgonzola, toasted pine nuts and – of course – blood orange segments.  But naturally, the star of this salad is the blood orange. What a delicious piece of citrus fruit! If you don’t happen to have access to blood oranges, it’s okay to substitute regular oranges in this recipe. Enjoy!

How to toast pine nuts:

To quickly toast the pine nuts, just put them in a small fry pan over medium heat.  Watch them closely, and use a wooden spoon to move them around until they are lightly toasted.  Be careful- they’ll burn if you don’t tend to them!  Pour them onto a paper towel to cool before adding them to your salad. I like to buy pine nuts at Costco. They’re less expensive there, and you can keep the big bag in the freezer and use them as needed.

The Best Spinach Salad Recipes:

• Baby Spinach Salad with Warm Citrus Bacon Vinaigrette
• Spinach Salad with Hot Prosciutto Dressing
• Cranberry Spinach Salad with Cashews and Goat Cheese
• Southwest Spinach Salad
• Autumn Apple and Spinach Salad

Print

Blood Orange Spinach Salad

Spinach is accompanied by a dressing highlighted with balsamic-marinated shallots and fresh blood-orange juice and zest.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Keyword orange, salad, spinach salad

Prep Time 25 minutes

Marinating Time 20 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 325kcal

Author RecipeGirl.com (adapted from Yankee Magazine)

Ingredients

DRESSING:

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• zest from one orange
• ⅓ cup blood orange juice, freshly squeezed (use the zested orange)
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

SALAD:

• 2 medium blood oranges, peeled and segmented
• 3 cups (5 ounces) fresh baby spinach
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
• 4 ounces crumbled gorgonzola or blue cheese

Instructions

MAKE THE DRESSING:

• In a small bowl, combine the shallots and vinegar. Let the shallots sit in the vinegar for about 20 minutes.
• Add the orange zest and juice to the shallots. In a thin, steady stream, whisk the olive oil into the shallots, whisking until the dressing is well combined. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

ASSEMBLE THE SALAD:

• Remove the white pith and membranes as much as possible from the segmented oranges.
• Place the spinach in a large bowl and toss with enough dressing to coat. Add in the pine nuts, gorgonzola and orange segments and toss lightly until mixed.
• Serve immediately, drizzling more dressing if needed.

Notes

• Substitute regular oranges if you’d like.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 325kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 549mg | Potassium: 1293mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 17075IU | Vitamin C: 105mg | Calcium: 370mg | Iron: 6mg

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