Red Cabbage Apple Mandarin Salad

Crunchy and light, this Red Cabbage Apple Mandarin Salad is a great side dish with seasonal cabbage, citrus and crisp apples to brighten a winter day. 

This salad is inspired by one created by Chef Katy Sparks that I found a few years ago when I was searching online for winter salads. We love salads all year round and this one is one of my favorites because of the mix of tart and sweet with the added boost of flavor from the orange syrup. 

You will have some of the orange syrup left over. Drizzle it over pancakes or even hot buttered toast. Hope it brightens your day too! 

Red Cabbage Apple Mandarin Salad

If you can’t find mandarin oranges, use clementines, navel oranges or whatever sweet citrus you do have to hand. Blood oranges would be good in this salad too. Larger oranges can be cut into big sized pieces. I’ve given the weights of my onion, cabbage, apple and mandarins below but know that if yours weigh a little more or less, it’s all good. This salad is very forgiving. It’s also easily doubled or trebled. 

Ingredients

For the mandarin orange double syrup:

1/2 cup or 50g sugar

1/4 cup or 60ml water

zest peeled thinly from 1 mandarin (see photo below)

For the salad:

1/2 Spanish onion (6.5 oz or 184g whole) 

1/4 cup or 60ml walnut or cider vinegar

1/2 large green apple (9.5 oz or 270g whole)  

1 small red cabbage (about 1 lb or 450g whole)

2 tablespoons mandarin orange double syrup

3 mandarin oranges (each about 2.3 oz or 65g whole)

Method

First, to make the mandarin double syrup, heat all the ingredients in a small pot over a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside to cool. Store in a clean jar. 

Slice the onion as thinly as you can and put it in a large bowl with the vinegar. 

Cut the half apple in half again and remove the core. Slice it as thinly as you can and toss the apple slices in the vinegar with the onion. This will keep them from turning brown. 

Discard any tough outer leaves of the cabbage. Cut it in half and then remove the core. Slice the rest of the cabbage as thinly as you can. Add the orange syrup to the apples and onion and toss to combine. Add in the cabbage and toss again. 

Peel the mandarins, carefully removing all of the white pith. Separate into pegs. 

Add the mandarin pegs to the salad and toss again. Serve the salad at room temperature or chilled.

Enjoy!

Happy Sunday FunDay! Today we are serving up healthy salads we hope you will enjoy! Check them out below. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha's Recipe.

• Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad from Palatable Pastime
• Golden Apple & Potato Salad from Sneha's Recipe
• Irish Cheddar Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad from  Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Japanese Potato Salad from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Kale Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Red Cabbage, Apple, Mandarin Salad from Food Lust People Love
• Sesame Chicken Salad from Making Miracles
• Super Nacho Taco Salad from Amy's Cooking Adventures

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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