Citrus Avocado Salad

I know it’s the tail end of citrus season, but this salad is absolutely, positively worth your time. I adapted it a bit and only used three kinds of citrus, and it was delicious. I also adapted the dressing recipe, since the quantities weren’t very conducive to being scaled down for my purposes – the variation below is mine. This was so simple, and yet mind-blowingly good!

And hey, if you have blood oranges left, try this blood orange chia pudding; you can thank me later.


For the salad
3-4 cups mixed greens (my favorite is arugula, but this time I used spinach)
2 navel oranges
2 cara cara oranges
2 tangerines
3 mandarin oranges
1 blood orange
3-4 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced (I used baby cucumbers)
2 avocados, cut into wedges
kosher salt and pepper, to taste

For the dressing
1 cup tightly packed basil leaves, stems removed (about 2 oz.)
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 generous pinch garlic powder
4 Tbsp. olive oil
kosher salt, to taste

For the salad
Arrange the lettuce on a large platter or bowl (I did this directly in the plates).

Carefully slice the peel off the citrus. Cut the citrus into slices and carefully pop out any seeds (you can cut them into pretty circular slices or more convenient segments, it’s up to you).

Arrange the citrus, cucumbers, and avocados in and around the lettuce and season with salt and pepper.

For the dressing
Combine all the ingredients in a high powered blender (I used an immersion blender) and blend for 60 seconds, until very smooth. Drizzle on top of the salad. (Leftover dressing keeps well in the fridge for a few days.)