This easy arugula salad is light and lemony with peppery arugula, marinated fennel, crisp radishes, creamy avocado, and toasted walnuts.
This bright arugula salad is one of my favorite simple side dishes. It’s so easy to toss together: marinate thinly shaved fennel and radishes for a few minutes before tossing them with arugula, toasted walnuts, and creamy avocado. And if you have it on hand, a dollop of pesto really takes it to the next level.
With a simple lemon dressing, this salad has the perfect balance of creamy, crunchy, bright, and bitter components. It’s an excellent choice for a weeknight, but it’s good enough to serve as a side salad for a special occasion.
Arugula Salad Recipe Variations
Like most simple salads, this one is easy to play with. You could:
- Try using thinly shaved celery in place of the fennel.
- Add a handful of your favorite fresh herb – mint or parsley would be excellent.
- Substitute toasted pine nuts or sliced almonds for the walnuts.
- Top it with a little cheese – crumbled feta or shaved Parmesan are my top picks.
- Mix in some shaved apple (I love it this way in fall).
The most important thing is to make it to suit your preferences – be sure to taste and adjust!
If you love this arugula salad recipe…
Try making this spring salad, this kale salad, or this quinoa salad next!
Arugula Salad with Lemon & Fennel
- 1 small fennel bulb, white part, sliced paper thin*
- 3 radishes, very thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon honey or maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 5 cups arugula
- 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 small avocado, diced
- ⅓ cup toasted walnuts
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- dollops of pesto or freshly grated parmesan cheese, optional
- Make the marinated fennel & radishes. In a medium bowl, combine the fennel, radishes, olive oil, lemon juice, honey, and sea salt. Toss and set aside for 5 minutes to marinate.
- Make the salad. In a large bowl, toss together the arugula, olive oil, lemon juice, and pinches of salt and pepper.
- Assemble the salad with the arugula, marinated fennel & radishes, avocado, and walnuts. Add scoops of pesto or freshly grated parmesan cheese, if desired. Season to taste and serve.
Make this vegan by using maple syrup instead of honey.
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This would make a great healthy option for all the very fatty foods available on thanksgiving. the photos are just too amazing!
As far as I’m concerned Thanksgiving is all about the sides, and this one looks fantastic.
That’s what I think too 🙂
With all of this rich holiday food, I’m craving a nice healthy salad like this!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
I LOVE THIS SALAD SO MUCH. I’ve never worked with fennel bulbs before, but this salad looked so refreshing and lovely, so I thought I would give it a try. It did *not* disappoint, and I cannot wait to make it again. (I’m working through several of your salad recipes this month, and this is quite possibly my favorite!)
I made it as a full dinner salad rather than a side, and added diced Trader Joe’s goat cheese gouda, sliced apple, diced balsamic roasted chicken and substituted pistachios for the walnuts. I also added a dollop of pesto as recommended, and dang. This was so perfect, and I am so grateful for your recipes. Thank you, lovely!