Winter Citrus Salad with Roasted Broccoli and Quinoa

Winter Citrus Salad with Roasted Broccoli and Quinoa

This is what happens when a foodie goes on a diet. Plain and simple. Because here we are in January and I find my pants unhappy with me after indulging a bit too much through fall and the holidays. And I flat out refuse to suck on boring lettuce leaves day after day in pursuit of abs that no longer exist after a kid. If I’m gonna do healthy, I’m gonna do healthy and fabulous. That’s exactly what this winter citrus salad with roasted broccoli and quinoa is.

Healthy and fabulous.

So let’s talk about this gloriousness, shall we? What makes me so unbelievably excited for a salad? In January? When I’ve pretty much eaten only salad and zoodles for the past 8 days straight.

Blood oranges. Well hello gorgeous. (Insert all the heart eye emojis right here.)

Of course I love them. They are deep red pink and just the most perfect color everrrr. Plus they are sweet but tangy. Kind of grapefruity. But not as tangy as a grapefruit. And while a lot of people put them in all things sweet, I’m in sweet overload still and I adore savory blood orange creations. Last year, I made a killer blood orange roast chicken that is seriously the ultimate winter dinner party food. Over a year later and I’m still swooning over it.

Is it weird that I swoon over food? And this is why diets are hard…

Moving on. Also last year I made the precursor to this winter citrus salad with roasted broccoli and quinoa. I made this blood orange salad over spicy arugula with quinoa and Parm. Really good.

But like Ariel says, “I WANT MORE!”

This salad takes that salad and healths it up even more without making it boring. So strange but true: I’m in a major roasted broccoli phase. I know. Who am I these days? I don’t even know. It’s like I ate too many peanut butter bars last month and my body is saying noooooo feed me veggies.

Have you tried roasted broccoli though? It’s all kinds of delish. It gets crunchy soft and a little smoky. And it takes on the flavor of whatever you roast it with. In this case, I roasted it with blood orange slices, lemon juice, rosemary, and a little garlic. And btws, if you want to take this one further feel free to throw in a chicken breast or some salmon and roast it along side the broccoli, citrus and spices because that would be next level.

So even though this salad has my beloved blood oranges, they aren’t the only star of this show. They are sort of the costar with the citrus herb roasted broccoli. And then the ensemble is rounded out with kale, quinoa, shallots, and walnuts.

And trust me, when I say there’s so much flavor that this bowl of kale will positively sparkle in your mouth.

Like one of those glitter lattes. But instead of glitter you get glorious PINK salad dressing. PINK. If you are me, you need to take a moment to appreciate that.

The combo of blood orange, lemon, shallot, rosemary, and sweet wine vinegar makes an OMG to die for dressing that really brings the whole salad together perfectly so you get a zippy sweet bite of citrusy goodness in every last bite.

Looking for other healthy salad ideas? Try these:

• Siracha Lime Chicken Salad
• Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing
• Sweet Garlic Chili Chickpea Salad with Roasted Broccoli
• Healthy Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
• Tomato Chickpea and Quinoa Salad
• Shrimp Caprese Salad with Honey Balsamic Reduction

Winter Citrus Salad with Roasted Broccoli and Quinoa

An immune boosting winter citrus salad loaded with broccoli, blood oranges, quinoa, walnuts and kale

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Seasoned Sprinkles

Ingredients

For Salad

• 1 cup of dry quinoa
• 2 blood oranges*
• 1 head of broccoli see below
• 1 shallot
• 5 cups of loosely packed kale

For Broccoli

• 1 large head of broccoli stems removed and broken into medium florets
• 3 tbs olive oil
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• juice of 1/2 a blood orange
• 1 blood orange evenly sliced
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 clove of garlic pressed
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 fresh rosemary sprig

For dressing

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• juice of 1/2 blood orange
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup of sweet Italian vinegar
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 tsp of rosemary chopped finely
• 1/2 small shallot chopped finely
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400.
• Cook the quinoa according to directions on the package.
• While oven is preheating, remove stems from broccoli and pull into florets. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, blood orange juice, honey, pressed garlic, red pepper flakes. Set the broccoli in the middle of a large sheet of tin foil. Pour the dressing mix over the broccoli and toss to evenly distribute. Spread broccoli out evenly, leaving enough room to make a tent. Place sliced blood orange and rosemary spring on top. Seal the foil pack and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.
• While the broccoli is roasting, put kale and quinoa together. into a large serving bowl. Peel and cut your 2 salad blood oranges into slices and arrange over kale. Sprinkle with walnuts. Add broccoli when it comes out of the oven.
• When salad is assembled, whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing, stirring vigorously prior to serving.

Notes

*If you can't find blood oranges feel free to substitute any citrus you like. Blood oranges are most similar in taste to grapefruit so they would work well but feel free to use regular oranges or even tangelos instead.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving

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