Step over boring salad side dishes this holiday: this Orange Salad with Honeyed Hazelnuts is sure to be your family's new favorite Christmas green salad recipe!
Preheat a non-stick pan over medium or medium-high heat. Prepare an 8-inch square sheet of parchment paper or silicone baking mat and set aside.
Add the chopped nuts to the preheated pan and toast for 3-5 minutes, shaking the pan to stir every 4-5 minutes, or until the nuts are fragrant, turning golden, and starting to make a sizzling noise. Note: toast the nuts on the shorter side if using dry roasted nuts and on the longer side if using raw nuts.
Remove nuts from the heat. Drizzle the honey over them and toss the nuts in the honey with a silicone spatula until covered.
Turn the nuts out onto the parchment paper or silicone baking mat and, working quickly, spread them out to cool for 5-10 minutes, or until the honey and nuts harden up.
While the nuts cool: whisk the salad dressing ingredients together in a small mixing bowl or measuring cup until combined.
Add the salad ingredients to a large salad bowl. When the nuts have cooled, gently break them up over the salad.
Drizzle the salad with salad dressing, toss it gently until combined, and serve immediately!
Notes
1. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator undressed and separate from the avocado. Leftovers will last 2-3 days. 2. An avocado storage pro-tip if you know you will have leftovers, only slice the amount of avocado you will need for the recipe when serving. Then, store the remaining avocado covered in the refrigerator with the pit touching the flesh and slice up the avocado as you need it. 3. Red wine vinegar can work as a substitute for the sherry vinegar in a pinch, but I highly recommend finding sherry vinegar if you can. 4. I buy my herbed salad mix at Trader Joe's. You can use baby salad with a handful of baby dill and cilantro as a substitute.5. The quality of the oranges you use is more important than what type of oranges you choose; therefore, use 2 cups of any combination of navel, blood, or Cara Cara oranges for this recipe.