Mandarin Orange Green Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Here is a delicious Mandarin Orange Green Salad recipe!

Mandarin Orange Green Salad:

This mandarin orange green salad recipe is all-kinds-of-awesome because it includes two goodies that pretty much everyone on the planet loves wholeheartedly:  mandarin oranges and bacon!  Dried cranberries are thrown in there too- because they’re always wonderful in a salad, so why not?  

Here’s what I have to say about bacon in salad:  “The more the merrier!”  Oh, and toasted almonds too. This salad pretty much has all of my favorite things in it.

How to Toast Almonds:

I toast almonds all the time since I love them so much.  And I find that the easiest way to toast almonds is to take out a small skillet and just add the slivered almonds to the skillet and set the heat to medium.  Have a wooden spoon handy, and don’t leave those almonds alone!  Stir them here and there, and watch the almonds as they begin to turn light brown.  Remove them from heat, and scrape them onto a paper towel or plate so they can cool.

The dressing for this mandarin orange green salad is a super simple, slightly creamy, tangy and sweet poppy seed dressing. It’s a perfect pairing with the sweet fruit in the salad. My family happily demolishes this salad. It turns out that when you add a bunch of yummy things to a bowl and mix it with lettuce… people tend to like it!

The Best Mandarin Orange Salad Recipes:

• Mandarin Orange Salad with Chicken 
• Orange Sherbet Jello Salad 
• Mandarin Orange Cabbage Salad with Peanut Dressing 
• Kale Mandarin Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing 

If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.

4 from 2 votes

Mandarin Orange Green Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

By Lori Lange

Sweet mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, crisp bacon and crunchy almonds make this a great salad for entertaining or every day.

Prep: 20 minutes mins

Total: 20 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

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Ingredients

DRESSING:

• ▢ ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
• ▢ ⅓ cup granulated white sugar
• ▢ 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dry mustard powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon poppy seeds

SALAD:

• ▢ 10 cups chopped Romaine or green leaf lettuce
• ▢ 6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• ▢ One 10-ounce can mandarin orange segments, drained
• ▢ ½ cup dried cranberries
• ▢ ¼ cup toasted slivered almonds

Instructions 

PREPARE THE DRESSING:

• Add the vinegar, sugar, red onion, mustard powder and salt to a blender. Cover and puree on high until smooth.  
• Keep the blender processing on low and slowly drizzle in the oil. Blend until incorporated and the dressing is creamy. Stir in the poppy seeds; set aside.

ASSEMBLE THE SALAD:

• In a large bowl, toss the lettuce with the bacon, oranges, cranberries and enough dressing to lightly dress the salad.  
• Top with the toasted almonds.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 218kcal, Carbohydrates: 17g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 11mg, Sodium: 189mg, Potassium: 266mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 14g, Vitamin A: 5588IU, Vitamin C: 15mg, Calcium: 41mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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