Xanthan Gum Free Fennel-Orange Salad
Crisp shaved fennel, jewel-bright orange segments, briny Castelvetrano olives, and paper-thin red onion come together in a salad that looks like it belongs on a restaurant table but comes together with nothing more than a sharp knife and a little patience. The dressing is a simple whisk of extra-virgin olive oil, fresh citrus juice, honey, and a pinch of red pepper flakes — no thickeners, no stabilizers, just real ingredients that emulsify beautifully on their own. That matters a lot when you're avoiding xanthan gum, which sneaks into plenty of store-bought dressings and even some packaged salad kits as a texture agent. Here, everything that makes the dressing cling and coat comes from the natural sugars in the orange juice and the slow pour of good olive oil. The trick of soaking the fennel in ice water for ten minutes is a small step that pays off big — the slices curl, crisp up, and lose any harsh raw edge, making them genuinely delightful to eat. Finish with torn fennel fronds, flat-leaf parsley, and a shower of shaved Parmesan if you like, and you have something that feels both effortless and a little special. It's the kind of salad that disappears fast.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the salad
- 2 medium fennel bulbs, fronds reserved
- 3 medium navel oranges
- ¼ small red onion, very thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup castelvetrano olives, pitted and roughly torn
For the dressing
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh orange juice (from one of the segmented oranges)
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp honey
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ tsp black pepper
For serving
- 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp fennel fronds, roughly torn (optional)
- 1 oz shaved parmesan (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Trim the fennel bulbs: cut off the stalks and any tough outer layers, then halve each bulb through the root. Using a mandoline or a sharp knife, shave the fennel crosswise into very thin slices, about 1/8 inch thick. Place in a large bowl of ice water and let stand for 10 minutes, until the slices curl slightly and crisp up. Drain well and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel.
- 2
Working over a bowl to catch the juice, cut the top and bottom off each orange, then stand each orange upright and slice away the peel and white pith from top to bottom, following the curve of the fruit. Hold the peeled orange over the bowl and cut between the membranes to release the segments, letting them fall into the bowl. Squeeze the spent membranes over the bowl to extract the juice, then measure out 2 tbsp of the juice for the dressing.
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