Cadry's Kitchen

A Vegan Adventure

  • Home
  • About
    • About Cadry
    • Contact
    • Work with me
    • Privacy Policy
  • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Vegan
    • Being Vegan
    • Vegan grocery list
  • Connect:

Vegan recipes from my kitchen

Jack o’ lantern salad with tangy peanut dressing

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my Privacy Policy for more details.

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
Jack o' lantern salad in carved orange on plate.

Adorable jack o’ lantern salads are perfect for your next Halloween dinner party. Or serve them to ghosts and goblins before a night of trick or treating. They are topped with a tangy peanut dressing. Vegan & gluten-free.

Orange carved with jack o' lantern face & stuffed with salad.

I have a confession to make.

You know how every year the Christmas decorations show up in stores earlier and earlier? And invariably there’s a woman pushing her cart past those aisles and saying grumpily, “Christmas decorations? It’s not even Halloween yet!!”

Well, I’m the person who is skipping through those aisles, pressing all of the buttons on the musical snow globes and dancing snowmen.

As that lady with the cart bemoans the extending season, I’m cooing over ornaments, perusing the stocking stuffers, and making my case to my husband, David, about how this should be the year he puts together an advent calendar for me.

Truth be told, for many years I made a point to go to stores on October 31st, because I knew that’s when the Halloween items would get relegated to sale shelves and all of the Christmas stuff would come out in earnest.

It was like a starting gun on the holidays.

Peanut salad inside of carved orange on plate.

The way I feel about Christmas is the way David feels about Halloween.

He loves the smell of rubber masks, admiring all of the costumes and jealously admitting that kids today have it so much better where costumes are concerned.

(“You want to be Strawberry Shortcake?  Here’s a hard plastic mask and a plastic apron with her picture on it.”)

For years when we lived in an apartment he’d fantasize about living in a house, where he could decorate for Halloween right with goblins hanging in the trees and carved pumpkins on the stoop.

So while we’ve been in a house a couple of years now, this year we’ve done it all.

We’ve carved the pumpkins. Ghost lights are lining the walkway. There’s a light-up bat in the window. There’s a ghostly figure hanging in our tree.

David is thrilled to the gills. All that’s left is to check costumes off the list, and we’ve done it.

Jack o’ lantern salad with tangy peanut dressing

Overhead jack o'lantern salads on plates with peanut dressing.

I got extra holiday bonus points by carving not only a pumpkin, but also this orange.

Just cut off the top, and hollow out the middle (saving the inner portions to use in the salad). Then use a small knife to cut a silly, scary, or angry face.

After making a salad of green leaf lettuce, carrots, celery, orange, and peanuts, I added a tangy peanut dressing.

I served these jack o’lantern salads at our annual pumpkin carving party. They’d also be a terrific starter alongside vegan fried rice.

If you decide to make them for your Halloween party, I recommend carving the orange lanterns ahead of time and keeping them in the refrigerator. Then add the salad into each one just before serving.

You can carve a variety of faces, and then guests can pick the one that suits them best.

These jack o’lantern salads are a mixture of nutty and sweet. And hey, that’s Halloween in a nutshell.

Text overlay: Jack o' lantern salad. Orange with face carved on it, on plate with peanut dressing.

Jack o’ lantern salad with tangy peanut dressing

These adorable jack o' lantern salads are perfect for your next Halloween dinner party or for serving ghosts and goblins before a night of trick or treating. They are topped with a tangy peanut dressing. Makes 4 jack o' lantern salads and about 1/2 cup dressing.
5 from 6 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Salad
Cuisine: American, Vegan
Keyword: halloween, holiday party food
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 204kcal
Author: Cadry Nelson

Ingredients

For the jack o' lantern salad

  • 4 oranges medium-sized
  • 2 cups green leaf lettuce chopped
  • 1 stalk celery chopped small
  • 1 carrot grated
  • 1/2 red bell pepper chopped small
  • 1/4 cup peanuts

For the tangy peanut dressing

  • 3 Tablespoons natural peanut butter unsalted
  • 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • 2 teaspoons brown rice vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon sriracha or hot sauce
  • 2 teaspoons low-sodium tamari
  • 3 Tablespoons water
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

To make the jack o' lantern salad

  • Cut the tops off of four oranges about a quarter of the way from the top. Use a knife to carefully cut around the edges of the inside of the orange. Remove as much of the orange flesh as possible and dice it, removing any seeds you find. To clean out the oranges the rest of the way, use a handheld juicer to juice the oranges and tops. You can drink the orange juice or use it for another recipe. After the oranges are cleaned out, use a small knife to cut jack o' lantern-style faces onto them.
  • Fill each orange with some green leaf lettuce, celery, carrot, and bell pepper. Top with a pinch of peanuts and diced orange. (You will likely have more orange left over than you need.) Serve with Asian-style peanut dressing that guests can pour on their salads.

To make the tangy peanut dressing

  • Whisk peanut butter, toasted sesame oil, brown rice vinegar, hot sauce, tamari, and three tablespoons of water in a small bowl until smooth.
  • If the dressing is too thick, add additional water (up to one tablespoon) until the dressing has reached your desired smoothness and intensity of flavor. If the dressing is too thin, add an additional teaspoon of peanut butter. Keep in mind that the dressing will thicken in the refrigerator, and don't add additional water until you're about to serve, if necessary. Taste the dressing and add salt, if needed.

Nutrition

Calories: 204kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 255mg | Potassium: 497mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 4640IU | Vitamin C: 91.6mg | Calcium: 79mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Tag @cadryskitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #cadryskitchen!
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Posted On: October 18, 2012
Comment: Leave a Comment

Comments

  1. Caitlin says

    October 18, 2012 at 11:58 am

    i’m a secret christmas lover, too. i usually am excited for halloween because then christmas season starts!!

    dayv is similar to david. i have a feeling that next year, after we’ve been settled into our house, dayv will go crazy with the halloween decorations!

    i love that you carved an orange rather than using a bell pepper(the usual). the peanut dressing sounds delicious. i’m pretty sure i could just drink it straight 😉

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 9:57 am

      Hello, fellow Christmas lover! 🙂 I think Halloween is okay, but Christmas is definitely what gets me going. In fact, I kind of wish it was a little further into winter, because it makes the snow and cold a little easier to swallow. It feels like it’s for the greater good, you know? Instead, after Christmas ends, the pretty lights go away, and it’s still cold!

      Dayv will really enjoy decorating your new house! It will be fun to see what magic he makes happen! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Richa says

    October 18, 2012 at 12:49 pm

    i love the crunchy asian salad and that orange is super happy:) We go around some of the seattle neighborhoods just to see all the decorations. some of the areas are known for their enthusiastic displays. there was an awesome techno display on thriller last year. hope the guy comes up with something super fun this year too!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 9:59 am

      A techno Thriller display sounds very cool! That would be really fun to drive around and see all of the displays. People here have some ghosts & pumpkins out, but there were definitely much bigger displays when I lived in Los Angeles. Once a blanket of snow covers everything, though, the Christmas displays are definitely more charming here than in California, where it seemed strange to see lit up snowmen & reindeer when everyone was walking by in tank tops!

      Reply
  3. KellyC says

    October 18, 2012 at 3:11 pm

    Haha! I totally commented that Hallween hadn’t even happened yet when I spotted all the Christmas stuff out at the bookstore today. I’m so not a Scrooge but I just want each holiday to get its fifteen minutes you know! Haha! Your pumpkins are adorable and that salad looks super tasty as usual! When are you going to put all these tasty recipes in a book?

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 10:03 am

      Totally understandable that you feel each holiday should get its due time! I’m definitely not putting up the Christmas tree just yet. That won’t go up until the end of November, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a little ornament eye candy at the store!

      I don’t have any book plans in the works currently, but I like the way you think! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Rose says

    October 18, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    5 stars
    I’m definitely that grumpy woman moaning about the Christmas decorations! 😛

    The salad is beautiful and sounds delicious. I love pairing of those fruits and veggies with the Asian flavor profile.

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 10:01 am

      Hello, Grumpy Woman! It’s nice that we finally get introduced at last. Sorry about all of the Christmas songs I’ve been humming! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Mandee says

    October 18, 2012 at 3:33 pm

    Bert & Ernie pumpkins!! Halloween is really not a big thing here but I wish that it was. We used to trick or treat as kids but didn’t get a good response from the people living in our suburb!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 10:05 am

      I can imagine people being a bit surprised by a stranger’s request at the door for candy if they weren’t prepared for it! 😀

      Reply
  6. chow vegan says

    October 18, 2012 at 4:43 pm

    It doesn’t bother me when retailers put out the holiday stuff but I do like to push the buttons on all of the musical / moveable things too. 🙂 The carved orange is such a great idea and so cute!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 10:05 am

      Those buttons are irresistible! 🙂

      Reply
  7. Maggie Muggins says

    October 18, 2012 at 5:33 pm

    Peanut dressing? Sold! That’s the cutest salad ever! I commend your patience for carving an orange, ha ha.

    I’m totally the grumpy lady in the store. I find that if it all starts up too early, by the time it gets here I’m already done. Although, I do find that it motivates me to buy gifts earlier, which is something I should do every year so that there’s no last minute stressing 🙂

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 12:19 pm

      Thanks, Maggie! Actually, the pumpkin was a cake walk! The real patience was required for carving that Ernie! It was my first time using a pattern, and I have come to the decision that freehand is more my style.

      There seems to be a team of grumpy ladies who visit my blog. You’re in good company! 🙂

      Reply
  8. VeganLisa says

    October 18, 2012 at 6:25 pm

    5 stars
    I love this! So absolutely adorable.

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 12:19 pm

      Thanks, Lisa! And welcome back from your trip!

      Reply
  9. luminousvegans says

    October 18, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    I need more salad in my life. This looks like a fun way to have it! It’s hard for me to feel salad-y in the fall but the cute jack-o-lantern puts me in the salad mood 🙂

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 12:21 pm

      I know what you mean about being drawn to warmer foods when the temperatures drop. Maybe try adding some roasted squash in the salad to heat things up a little!

      Reply
  10. Stephanie says

    October 19, 2012 at 4:36 am

    Love this!! And I love all the holidays, you name it, I’m excited about it!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 2:01 pm

      Yay! A woman after my own heart!

      Reply
  11. Somer says

    October 19, 2012 at 9:51 am

    So funny, my husband is Australian and doesn’t get my fascination with Halloween (it’s totally NOT a big deal there, kids don’t even go trick or treating). I’m a little bit obsessed but have learned to tone it down a bit. Cadry, I love this cute salad, and the dressing, I could DRINK it! Yum!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 19, 2012 at 2:03 pm

      That’s awesome that you’re such a Halloween lover! Why tone it down? I say embrace it whole-heartedly! You’re the second person to say that you could drink the dressing. Maybe I should have labeled it as a smoothie! 😉

      Reply
      • Somer says

        October 26, 2012 at 4:15 pm

        As a child my family used to bbq hot dogs on the front porch to give to all the neighbor kids while they were trick or treating. Our next door neighbor dressed up as a witch and gave out homemade root beer out of a “steaming” cauldron filled with dry ice. It was awesome. I’ve wanted to do something similar, but I don’t think the kids would dig veggie dogs like we do 😉

        Reply
        • Cadry says

          October 27, 2012 at 4:24 pm

          That is SUCH a fun idea! I bet your house was very popular! Do you think kids would even notice the difference or care? It seems like as long as they’re the right shape and come off the grill, they wouldn’t even know the difference. The frankfurters from Field Roast are my personal favorite, but that would make for a mighty pricey Halloween!

          Reply
  12. Kristy says

    October 20, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    What a cute dish! Your anthropomorphic dishes always put such a big smile on my face- they remind me of the way my grandpa would make pancakes with faces on them for me when I was a kid. So cool.

    I used to be a huge Christmas person until about ten years ago (has it been ten years!!!) my friends and I began celebrating Festivus every year. Now, I look forward to Festivus more than any other holiday. Christmas is a very, very close second, though. 🙂

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 21, 2012 at 8:59 am

      Yes, anthropomorphizing food definitely ups its fun factor! I like it that your grandpa would make faces on your pancakes for you. 🙂

      How did you and your friends happen to start celebrating Festivus? That’s a holiday I don’t know much about. What do you do to celebrate?

      Reply
  13. ameyfm says

    October 22, 2012 at 1:30 am

    what a great post. I like Halloween okay, but I am way more jazzed about Christmas. One year I actually made homemade advent calendars as xmas cards and had to send them all out before the end of November! It was wonderful, and also, never to be repeated. Happy Holiday season to both of you!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 23, 2012 at 10:03 am

      Homemade advent calendars!! What a neat idea! Did you make little paper flaps with your cartoons behind them? I imagine that took a lot of cutting, pasting, and folding!

      Reply
  14. Melissa says

    October 24, 2012 at 11:34 am

    5 stars
    Ok these jack o’ lanterns may seriously be the cutest things I have ever seen!!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 24, 2012 at 3:20 pm

      Yay! Thanks, Melissa!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search

Welcome

Hi, I'm Cadry Nelson. I'm the recipe creator, writer, and photographer behind Cadry's Kitchen.

Cadry's Kitchen is a vegan food & travel blog. It features plant-based comfort food classics that are ready in about 30 minutes.

You can also find travelogues & recommendations on where to eat vegan while traveling - even in unlikely places!

Contact me at cadryskitchen@gmail.com.

MORE ABOUT CADRY
Logos for sites where Cadry Nelson & Cadry's Kitchen have been featured.
Text overlay: vegan air fryer recipes. Hand dipping ravioli into marinara with air fryer ravioli on plate.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts.

© Cadry Nelson and Cadry's Kitchen, 2009-2019. The full content of this site, including recipes and photographs are copyrighted. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Cadry Nelson and Cadry's Kitchen with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

© 2021 · Cadry’s Kitchen