Name: Orange & Carrot Salad with Feta
Yield: 4 people, easily doubled
Ingredients: 4 baby carrots; 1 small blood orange (cut into segments/slices, any juice saved for dressing); ½ tbsp olive oil; ½ tsp wholegrain mustard; Large handful of rocket; 100 g feta cheese; 35 g almonds (roughly chopped); Couple of fronds of fresh dill; Fresh black pepper

Take me to the Recipe!

This is a beautiful salad with sweet carrot, juicy blood orange, and salty feta. It is a light meal in itself, but is also works so well as a side for a barbecue, or served alongside a piece of fish.

I love pairing orange and carrots, and this a bright and colourful salad that stands out from the other salads on the table. With crunchy almonds and peppery rocket, all dressed in a mustard dressing made with the juice from the orange; it is full of colour, textures, and so fresh.

As you will see from the photo above, I have used yellow and purple heirloom carrots together with some orange Dutch baby for their contrasting colours, but you can just use orange carrots. It will taste the same, and still look very pretty!

I often add feta to salads, (as you may have seen from my beetroot and feta salad ). It adds a little salty creaminess and is also an ingredient which keeps very well if you have any leftovers. This salad, despite being best eaten on the day it is made is still very tasty the following day. Any leftovers can be place in an airtight container in the fridge and eaten for lunch the following day.

The peppery rocket/arugula pairs so well with the sweet orange, but if you don’t have any then baby spinach is a great alternative.

Blood oranges have a beautiful red flesh and slight raspberry flavour, and having only quite recently discovered them, the blood orange is one of my new favourite fruits. When buying blood oranges choose ones with a firm skin that feel heavy and smell fragrant. If blood oranges aren’t in season, then use a navel orange or ruby grapefruit. When I double the recipe to feed a larger crowd I like to use 1 blood orange and 1 navel orange. The contrasting colours are very striking!

What is the season for blood oranges?

Blood orange season in the UK is December to May. In Australia it is August to October.

What can I substitute for blood oranges?

You can use a navel orange or ruby red grapefruit in place of the blood orange.

Make it Your Orange Carrot Salad:

No baby carrots: use 2 larger carrots
Nut free: replace the almonds with pumpkin seeds
Dairy free/vegan: leave out the feta, and add a pinch of salt to the salad dressing
Serving to Toddler: leave out the roughly chopped almonds as they can pose a choking risk. I like to serve them in a bowl on the side and older family members can sprinkle some over their serving of salad.

If you are looking for more salad ideas why not have a look at my gluten free Watermelon Salad with Mozzarella, light and fresh Smoked Salmon Caesar Salad, or vegan Puttanesca Pasta Salad

Have you made this recipe? Tag me on Instagram #atmrsjoneskitchen or Facebook, or leave a comment below. I’d love to see your creation!