Radicchio Salad With Orange, Apple and Pecans

This bright radicchio salad recipe combines bitter radicchio leaves with sweet orange, crisp apple, toasted nuts, and a tangy vinaigrette for a colorful winter dish. This radicchio orange salad works for both weeknights and festive meals and balances sweet, bitter, crunchy, and fresh flavors.

Meet This Radicchio Salad

I tested this salad multiple times to balance the bitter radicchio with enough citrus and sweetness, and the mix of texture is what makes it stand out from other winter salads. I developed this this radicchio salad recipe as the perfect antidote to the winter blahs, to help me (and others) stay out of the same-old roasted root vegetable rut. After all, winter can be a dark time of year, with what feels like limited options for fresh produce (and cooking inspiration).

Bright and colorful thanks to purple radicchio and orange citrus, this salad comes loaded with seasonal ingredients that strike all the right flavor and texture notes of sweet, bitter, savory, soft, crunchy, and crisp. It’s also very nutritious and easy to make.

This radicchio salad recipe makes a gorgeous, big salad that you can serve on weeknights or for celebration meals. If you’re stuck in a salad rut, this one’s for you.

Orange is a wonderful ingredient in winter, seasonal and fresh. Enjoy fresh oranges in these recipes for Poached Orange Cake and Homemade Orange Granita.

Why You’ll Love This Salad

A radicchio salad is especially good in winter when chicories are in season, and this version highlights orange and apple for natural sweetness. Here’s why this colorful radicchio orange salad belongs on your table:

• Easy to make: just chop the veggies, add the vinaigrette, toss, serve
• Colorful and fresh: purple radicchio, orange citrus, vivid herbs
• Flavorful: bitter radicchio complemented by sweet orange and apple, tangy vinaigrette, and savory nuts and cheese
• Nutritious: Radicchio is very healthful, loaded with vitamins, fiber and antioxidants, and the salad is full of other fresh produce and healthy nuts

Radicchio salad is good all year long, but is especially good in fall and winter. I like to pair it with something seasonal rich like cauliflower gratin, mashed potatoes, or an Italian casserole like baked ziti or lasagna.

What Is Radicchio? What Does It Taste Like?

Radicchio is a member of the “yeah, we’re a little bitter but you love that about us” chicory family of vegetables. Chicories are a tough and hearty category of greens, which is why they are common in winter. Chicories include: radicchio, escarole, endive, and frisée. (Speaking of frisée, you must make this French frisée salad with warm bacon vinaigrette.)

Radicchio is commonly used in Italian cooking, with a bright purple and white striped color. Wondering what radicchio tastes like? This bright, crisp vegetable has a peppery, mildly bitter taste, and a crunchy-soft texture.

Bitter greens are especially good, and no one does ’em quite like the Italians. Check out this essential Italian broccoli rabe recipe and this sausage and broccoli rabe pasta.

How to Make a Radicchio Salad (Step-by-Step)

For looking like it’s straight out of a gourmet restaurant, this winter radicchio salad recipe comes together in about 15 minutes and is easy to prepare. Gather the ingredients, chop and slice, make the vinaigrette, and assemble. Toasting the nuts does add a little extra crunch and depth of flavor, but is not necessary if you’re pressed for time.

Pro tip: Toasting the nuts adds extra depth and aroma.

Winter salads are the opposite of boring. You’ll also love this Italian orange and fennel salad recipe and kale and butternut squash salad. For another fantastic, easy-to-prepare holiday side dish, make this recipe for Crispy Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Maple Syrup Vinaigrette.

Key Ingredients and Components

This radicchio orange salad highlights seasonal fruit and a bright vinaigrette. Each part of this salad comes together to make a glorious whole filled with a variety of flavors, textures, colors. You will need:

• Radicchio (like Chioggia or Treviso): the main ingredient, available all year but best in fall and winter
• Citrus: navel oranges are the classic choice, but you could also use pink Cara Cara or ruddy blood oranges as well
• The vinaigrette: a tangy, slightly-sweet dressing made with olive oil, grain mustard (an emulsifier), salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, and a little maple syrup to offset the bitter greens
• Fresh herbs: vivid green Italian parsley and some dill adds color and aroma
• Nuts and cheese: for savory depth of flavor and texture

Fresh herbs are also the star of the show in this classic Egg Salad recipe, and recipes for Deviled Eggs and Herby French Potato Salad.

Recipe Steps

This winter radicchio salad with orange and nuts looks like it could be served in an upscale restaurant, but is perfect for even beginner cooks. Here are the main steps:

1. Cut the fruit and vegetables: Slice radicchio leaves into ribbons for your salad. Peel and slice the orange into rounds, and cut the apple into matchsticks. Chop the herbs.
2. Make the vinaigrette: Whisk the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, mustard, and maple syrup together.
3. Toss the radicchio, apples, herbs, nuts, and cheese with the vinaigrette.
4. Serve: Arrange on a serving platter with the orange slices, top with a little extra nut, cheese, and herb garnish, and serve.

Extras, Substitutions, and Variations

• Add protein like diced or pulled roast chicken or salmon to make it a meal
• Cheeses: Sharp, nutty cheeses like Manchego and parmesan are top choices, as is creamy blue cheese crumbles like Gorgonzola or Roquefort.
• Nuts: I prefer halved pecans, but walnuts or pistachios make other good choices here.
• Fruit: You can substitute crisp pear for apple, and any variety of orange you like. Blood oranges and pink Cara Cara oranges have particularly beautiful colors, though classic navel orange is perfect.
• Vinaigrette: You could use white wine vinegar instead of red wine, and honey or agave makes a 1:1 stand-in for maple syrup.

Storing and Serving Suggestions for Radicchio Salad

For best results, make the vinaigrette and prepare all the ingredients up to one day in advance (except the apple, which will oxidize and brown a bit after a couple of hours). Dress, toss, and arrange shortly before serving.

Thanks to being a hearty green, radicchio salad holds up a little better than salads made from tender, soft greens like arugula or spinach, which will wilt quickly. For that reason, this radicchio salad can be prepared up to several hours in advance and chilled, covered, in the refrigerator.

Serve this radicchio salad with fish, roast chicken, pork tenderloin, or as a side to a hearty pasta like ragù bianco, or white Bolognese.

F.A.Q.s