Mandarin Orange Salad

Mandarin Orange Salad

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I posted about this salad on Instagram this morning and my best friend asked for the recipe, so here you go! This is a family classic for the Finnegans’. The original recipe comes from the Colorado Cache cookbook, which my grandmother loved! I believe all her children have a copy and I have two! We had our extended family Christmas party this morning and I brought this. However this year, more than half of us are eating at least Paleoish so I modified several things about this recipe to comply with all the food restrictions. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference in taste! The dressing recipe calls for white sugar, which I substituted with coconut sugar. The color was off, it looked more like a grinch-y brownish green color instead of the vibrant green it usually is because coconut sugar is dark brown. The original recipe also calls for canned mandarins. I couldn’t find some that weren’t in syrup so I just used fresh. But other than that, it was still just as pretty a salad and a hit with my family!

Mandarin Salad (Original recipe from the Colorado Cache Cookbook)
1/2 cup sliced almond
2 T coconut sugar

Dressing
½ avocado oil (or whatever oil you’d like)
Dash of Tabasco
Dash of pepper
½ tsp salt
Handful of cilantro, torn up
2T coconut sugar
1 T apple cider vinegar
¼ c water

Salad
2 heads of romaine
1 head iceburg
¼ cup sliced scallions
½ cup diced celery
6 clementines, peeled (the original recipe calls for canned. Either works)

1. In large skillet, heat almonds and coconut sugar over medium heat. Stir to coat almonds. Be sure to keep a close eye as sugar will burn easily. Note: I found it necessary to add a bit of butter to the pan as the coconut sugar got a bit clumpy. Regular sugar doesn’t do this so it could have been just me.
2. Wash and tear lettuces. Add to a large mixing bowl and top with celery and scallions
3. In a large, tall cup (I used a 4 cup measuring cup) add all dressing ingredients and blend with an immersion blender. You could also do this in a regular blender.
4. Top salad with almonds and clementines. Pour dressing over the top. Serve chilled.