Citrus Kale Salad with Avocado and Jicama

This citrus kale salad with avocado and jicama is a deeply nutritious winter recipe that’s fast and incredibly easy. It’s a sweet and tart, crunchy and creamy vegan winter salad that’s packed with cold-and-flu-fighting Vitamin C. Healthy, delicious and gorgeous? Coming right up!

Citrus. Tis. The Season. Y’all.

Honestly, the only thing that makes winter worth it in my book is the arrival of oranges, clementines, meyer lemons, and all of the other delightful citrus varietals overflowing the co-op stalls. They might not be locally sourced, but they are super seasonal and damn delicious.

I add clementines and minneolas to our lunch boxes on the daily, and I’d be hard-pressed to let a week go by without tossing together a quick and easy salad, like this kale citrus salad with avocado and jicama. This salad is bright and colorful, packed with intense flavor, and deeply nutritious.

I must admit that it took me a long time to learn how to enjoy more bitter citrus fruits, like grapefruit and blood oranges. There’s a little trick I stumbled upon that’s a total game changer and I guarantee you have it in your pantry – salt. Ah, salt – the unrivaled flavor enhancer and equalizer. And obviously my favorite seasoning agent.

Have you ever had preserved lemons? They’re only slightly tart, intensely lemony and even a bit sweet. Over time, the salt breaks down the extreme bitter and sour notes, and brings out the essence of the lemon flavor. We’re using the same science on these salted fresh citrus slices.

Salting grapefruit, blood oranges, and other sharp citrus fruits cuts right through the bitter, sour profile and reveals the sweet notes hiding underneath. You can eat them on their own, but they are best paired with some contrasting flavors like creamy avocado and savory jicama.

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How to Make Whole30 Kale Citrus Salad

Grab a few pieces of citrus and let’s get started. I used one large grapefruit, one blood orange, and 1 cara cara orange.

Using a sharp knife, slice off the top and bottom. Stand the fruit upright on your cutting board, and slice off the skin and pith from top to bottom.

Work in with steady, even strokes, and cut away the skin bit by bit. If you cut your slices too large, you’ll remove too much flesh. Once you’ve removed the skin and pith, lay the orange on it’s side and slice it into quarter-to-half-inch slices through the center.

Hey there beautiful jewel tones.

Once you’ve sliced all of your fruit, lay it out in a single layer on your cutting board then sprinkle with about a teaspoon of kosher or sea salt. Set it aside and let the salt work its way into the flesh for about 15 or 20 minutes. Just enough time to prepare the rest of your salad.

Now let’s get our jicama on. If you’re thinking “WTF is jicama?” you’re not alone. Jicama is a tuber, sort of like a turnip, but you eat it raw. I recently saw it described as a savory apple, and that’s the most perfect descriptor I’ve ever encountered.

Jicama is super crunchy, a little bit sweet, and a little bit nutty. I love it in salads and slaws, and as crudite for dips and spreads. Jicama packs a healthy Vitamin C punch, so when paired with citrus they’re a cold-and-flu-season fighting superteam.

For this citrus kale salad, jicama gives it both a new texture and a satisfying crunch. Think of it like a savory, winter version of cucumber. I used half a medium jicama (about a cup to a cup and a half),  and julienned it using my mandoline.

Toss the jicama and the baby kale with a sweet and tangy citrus vinaigrette, and you’re ready to serve this bright, nutritious winter salad.

Both the kale base and citrus sliced keep on their own in sealed containers in the fridge for about 24 hours, so feel free to nosh on half the first day, and the other half the second.

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