Winter weather got you down? Assemble this easy Winter Citrus Salad with blood oranges, cara cara oranges, grapefruit, and more and bring a little sunshine back into your life!

Overhead close-up view of winter citrus salad with blood oranges, cara cara oranges, grapefruit, fennel, avocado, goat cheese, and more with ingredients in the background and recipe title at top

Let me start by saying that I am not here to complain. As far as New England winters go, this one has been downright mild with just a little snow and plenty of days in the 40s (basically tropical if you ask me!).

But one thing I have been missing? The sun. Though it hasn't been overly freezing cold or wintry here in Boston, it's been freaking gloomy. And since I don't have the power to make the sun come out myself, I've been trying to bring it back into my life with the food I'm eating. Hence this sunshine winter citrus salad.

Whenever I feel down in the winter, I try to come up with a list of things I like about it... And there are actually quite a few! I love hot coffee and tea and comfy sweatshirts and fireplaces and I even love my winter boots. But mostly? I love winter citrus.

Blood oranges, cara cara oranges, and grapefruit galore. In the winter months, I pretty much eat at least one form of winter citrus every single day.

Not only is it delicious, but it loads me up with vitamin C and keeps cold weather illnesses far, far away. This winter citrus salad lets me indulge in multiple forms at once, plus lots of other wintry goodies!

If you love this citrusy salad, you should also try this lemon salad!

🍋 What to include in salad

You can use any kind of winter citrus you want for your salad, but this recipe consists of four kinds of citrus:

Blood oranges
Bara cara oranges and
Grapefruit
Lemon (in the dressing)

In addition to all that citrus, I also added some other cold weather delicacies, like:

Fennel
Avocado
Pomegranate arils
Pistachios
Goat Cheese
Arugula

🍊 How to make winter citrus salad

Like most salads, this one is pretty easy to assemble. And thanks to all the gorgeous winter citrus, it's the kind of salad you'll be proud to serve at a dinner party.

Rather than section and supreme all of the citrus (which I really don't like doing), I simply peeled and sliced them into rounds. Easy peasy!

If you want, you can save all those citrus peels and candy them or to use for potpourri or zest the oranges and grapefruits before peeling and mix the zest with sugar.

Close-up view of peels from blood oranges, grapefruits, and cara cara oranges

I thinly sliced the fennel and chopped the pistachios to add a little crunch to the salad. I also sliced the avocado and crumbled the goat cheese for extra creaminess.

The pomegranate arils contribute a little sweetness and are just plain pretty.

I put it all on a bed of arugula and called it a day. Or a salad.

Overhead view of ingredients in salad, including fennel bulb, half an avocado, half a blood orange and grapefruit, hunk of goat cheese, arugula, and dressing in a white bowl with small whisk

The lemon honey dressing is incredibly simple and consists of just lemon, olive oil, honey, salt, and pepper all whisked together.

This is the kind of salad that doesn't really need a dressing, but I like just a light drizzle over it.

I'm honestly not sure if there's anything else I could ask for in a salad.

Overhead view of winter citrus salad on a white platter with pistachios, blood orange half, grapefruit half, goat cheese, fennel bulb, half an avocado, and small white bowl of dressing

I'm labeling this as a side dish or an appetizer, but I also ate it as my lunch for a couple days. There may not be any meat involved, but it's totally satisfying and filling.

However, I do highly recommend serving this alongside a beautifully grilled flank steak, a perfectly roasted chicken, or even a simple pan-seared haddock. I can't think of any protein it wouldn't complement!

And the vitamins and antioxidants? This winter citrus salad will help you fight off any of those nasty cold weather bugs. The flu will just look at this salad and run far, far away.

Bird's eye view of winter citrus salad with blood oranges, cara cara oranges, grapefruit, fennel, avocado, goat cheese, and more with some ingredients in the background

This sunshine winter citrus salad makes my gloomy wintry weather heart happy. Eating it, of course, but also just looking at these photos. A few cold, sun-free months are totally worth it for the joys of winter citrus. OK, maybe the sun could still manage to appear every now and then.

But if not, at least it's shining through in this salad!

🥗 Other unique salad recipes

I know some people think salads are boring, but that just means they're eating the wrong salads! When done right, I don't think there's much better than enjoying a big salad for a meal. Here are a few of my very favorite salad recipes:

Winter Kale Salad with Butternut Squash, Pears, and Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
Steak and Strawberry Salad
Bacon Cheeseburger Kale Salad
Roasted Cauliflower BLT Salad
Chipotle Kale Caesar Salad
Asian Ginger Miso Salad
Blackberry Feta Salad
Sweet Potato and Chickpea Salad (from Frozen Bananas)
Mediterranean White Bean Salad (from Salt & Lavender)

What's your favorite kind of winter citrus?

For another delicious way to enjoy winter's blood oranges, try my Blood Orange Mussels with Pomegranate Lime Linguine. And for another savory grapefruit recipe, try my Creamy Grapefruit Salmon.

📖 Recipe