Green salad with oranges & peanut dressing

This vibrant green salad with peanut dressing is full of bright flavors and textures.

• A base of romaine lettuce and shredded cabbage mix
• Hydrating veggies like cucumbers, bell peppers, and celery
• Enveloped in a creamy peanut dressing
• And a handful of peanuts on top for added crunch

Because of the citrus and tangy dressing, it has similarities to a couple of restaurant salads.

It is reminiscent of the Thai crunch salad sold at California Pizza Kitchen, or Wolfgang Puck’s Chinese chicken salad. (Obviously there’s no chicken in this vegan recipe, though!)

It’s a quick, fresh, and easy salad that’s a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Your family will love it!

Enjoy it as a side dish. Or have it as a full meal by adding edamame, grilled tofu, or vegan chick’n.

In this post:

Romaine: Romaine has great crunch & mild flavor that lets the dressing shine. It can be replaced with green leaf lettuce.

Blood oranges: Blood oranges have bright, bold color. But you can easily replace them with any standard oranges, tangerines, or mandarin oranges.

Veggies: Celery, cucumber, bell pepper, and shredded cabbage mix.

Bagged shredded cabbage mix often includes carrot. I buy it at Trader Joe’s. It’s one of my favorite vegan Trader Joe’s products.

Feel free to replace with hand shredded cabbage.

Peanut salad dressing: This nutty & tangy peanut salad dressing is the star of the show.

Peanuts: A handful of peanuts add crunch & bring it all together.

Here’s how to make the recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

In a big salad bowl, combine the following:

• Chopped romaine lettuce
• Blood oranges
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Bell pepper
• Shredded cabbage mix

Make a batch of peanut salad dressing by mixing:

• Peanut butter
• Toasted sesame oil
• Rice vinegar
• Sriracha
• Tamari soy sauce
• Water
• Salt

Drizzle the peanut dressing over the salad.

You can easily make this salad your own by varying the ingredients.

Almost any of the ingredients can be swapped out or omitted.

• Replace romaine with iceberg lettuce, butter lettuce, spinach, or a lettuce mix.
• Instead of blood oranges, use standard navel oranges, tangerines, clementines, or mandarin oranges. (Even canned mandarin oranges would work here!)
• Instead of using bagged shredded cabbage mix, shred green or purple cabbage by hand.
• Use orange, yellow, or red bell peppers.
• Add edamame or seitan chicken for protein.
• For more deliciousness, add sliced or cubed avocado and/or green onions.
• If you’d prefer a dressing with no oil added, use peanut sauce instead.
• For even more crunch, add crunchy chow mein noodles on top.