Mandarin Orange Salad Recipe (2024)

Mandarin Orange Salad is perfect as a side, lunch, dinner, or for a potluck. You’ll love the combination of mildly sweet homemade poppy seed dressing, cool and juicy mandarin oranges, crunchy fresh lettuce, and more! This salad has all the flavor and is just a breeze to toss together.

Kid (and mom) Friendly Salad

I’m not the biggest salad lover ever. There, I said it. I’m a grown adult woman, and I don’t love salads.

However, I love the nutrient-rich foods that salads usually contain. Dark leafy greens especially are so good for our bodies! Learning to love fresh salads is important to me.

As I find salad recipes that I’ll eat without grimacing, I also want to include my kindergarten age daughter in the preparation of these meals filled with raw, fresh ingredients. For my picky eating child, being given opportunities to be hands on in the prep of a meal is key to her actually trying any of it.

This Mandarin Orange Salad is a kid-friendly winner. My picky girl had a great time tearing up lettuce leaves, measuring ingredients, shaking the homemade salad dressing, and tossing the salad. I pretended to not be outright shocked when she gobbled a whole big bowl… lettuce and all!

Let Us Talk About Lettuce

I know some people like the almost white parts of a head of iceberg lettuce, but get to know some dark greens too! Iceberg is good for you, but not nearly as good for you as other greens. In this Mandarin Orange Salad, I combine chopped iceberg and my favorite red leaf lettuce. You can use any two lettuces that you prefer. Romaine is a delicious and healthy choice.

When doing food prep with my little girl, I handle the chopping and anything involving heat. She’s in charge of tearing lettuce and mixing things together.

Okay, I know, I know… the crunchy chow mein noodles wouldn’t be classified as “healthy.” But for me, as a non-salad lover, they play an important role in my overall enjoyment of the salad.

Simple Dressing

This Mandarin Orange Salad is tossed with a simple homemade vinaigrette. It’s light and tangy and just a little sweet. Shaking the dressing in a jar is a fun part for kiddos to play in the meal prep! Just be sure the lid is well secured. 🙂

So pretty!

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You can prep the individual ingredients and the dressing in advance, but you’ll want to put it all together and toss it right before serving. This salad doesn’t keep and should be eaten right away.

For a super quick weeknight meal, prepare the lettuces and mix up the dressing the night before.This way you can dump everything into a big bowl, toss the salad, and serve it for dinner within just a couple of minutes.

Mandarin Orange Salad Recipe

I have to tell you, this recipe isn’t something I dreamed up myself. A former coworker was kind enough to give me the list of ingredients after the brought this delicious salad to a work lunch. I begged for the recipe because it’s so good! I made a few little tweaks and adjustments, and now you can enjoy this yummy salad in your own home.

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