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Orange Olive Salad

Name: Orange Olive Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American, Moroccan
Ingredients: 5 ounces arugula; 4 oranges, peel sliced off. then sliced into ⅓-inch rounds; Nicoise olives; ½ small red onion, sliced and soaked in ice water to remove sharpness; Maldon sea salt; Balsamic vinaigrette

posted by Liz Berg on December 19, 2014 (updated 1/8/24)

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This simple, elegant Olive Orange Salad is a riff on a Moroccan classic according to cookbook author, Dorie Greenspan. It’s easy and refreshing!

Dorie’s Salade d’Orange is made with sliced oranges that are sprinkled with onion slices, Nicoise olive, and a drizzle of olive oil before a final dusting with Maldon sea salt.

Orange Olive Salad on a bed of arugula in a white bowl.

Table of Contents hide

1 Why You Must Make

2 Ingredient Notes

3 Dorie’s Olive Orange Salad

4 How to Make

5 You May Also Like

6 Orange Olive Salad

Why You Must Make

This Moroccan-inspired Olive Orange Salad pairs perfectly with Dorie’s Lamb and Dried Apricot Tagine. But it’s also tasty with almost any entree.
A variety of oranges makes for a beautiful salad!
Dorie’s orange salad could be a starter, salad course, or even a palate cleanser.

Ingredient Notes

Kitchen Staples – Maldon Sea Salt (or table salt)
Arugula – Salad greens with a peppery, mustardy flavor.
Oranges – Remove the peel with a knife, then slice into ⅓-inch rounds
Nicoise Olives – Grown in the Provence region of France, Italy and Morocco. They are small black olives that are cured then stored in olive oil.
Red Onion – Slice and soak in ice water to remove sharpness.
Balsamic Vinaigrette – Use my homemade dressing or simply drizzle with olive oil.

Moroccan Orange Salad with Nicoise Olives ingredients on a white plate.

Dorie’s Olive Orange Salad

No grocery list was necessary for this week’s recipe. 4 navel oranges and some Nicoise olives were all I needed. At first, I thought Dorie would have us supreme the oranges, but her method resulted in a prettier effect by peeling and slicing. The rounded ends were sliced flat, then the peel and pith were removed by slicing from end to end around the orange. The naked oranges were then cut into slices. I selected some Cara Cara oranges with their red flesh to contrast with the traditional navel oranges. The Nicoise olives were harder to source, but I found them in a mixture labeled “French Olives” at the olive bar. Unfortunately, pits were included.

How to Make

Dorie’s recipe was just sliced oranges, olives, onion, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of sea salt.
My sister taught me Dorie’s trick of soaking the onion slices in ice water for about 20 minutes to cut the bite. You get the taste and crunch of onion without the intense sharpness.
Then remove the peels along with the membrane with a knife before slicing the oranges.
Arrange the oranges on a plate. A variety of colors is nice when blood oranges are in season. Then add the olives and minced onions.
For my take, I added some greens…arugula this time. I tossed with my favorite vinaigrette and served it along with grilled chicken for our Sunday night dinner. Quite tasty even if I was the only taker. C’est la vie…at least at my house.