I love the colors in this refreshing mango, avocado, and arugula salad with a spicy orange vinaigrette. The mix of arugula, mango, avocado, red onions, cilantro, and red chili peppers make it a fun and bright salad. I’ve always enjoyed salads and am fortunate that my kids also love salads. Especially the younger one, on those days that he decides to be a picky eater (and refuses to eat the main dish), he will still eat his salad and ask for more. For some odd reason he really likes the onions and can’t get enough of them, then he goes for the avocado, next the mango and finally the arugula. To make this salad a more complete meal, you can also add grilled shrimp, grilled salmon, or grilled chicken.
Refreshing mango, avocado and arugula salad drizzled with a spicy orange vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 6 cups arugula leaves
- 1 mango, peeled and cut into long slices
- 1 avocado, peeled and sliced
- ½ red onion, sliced
- 1 tbs lime juice
- 1 tbs champagne vinegar, can also use cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 4 tbs orange juice, about ½ orange
- 2 tbs lime juice, about ½ lime
- 4 tbs olive oil
- ½ tsp cumin
- 2 tbs finely chopped cilantro
- 1 red chili or hot pepper, sliced
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients for the salad dressing in a jar, close it tight and shake until the ingredients are well mixed.
- Soak the onion slices in warm water with a dash of salt and 1 tbs lime juice for about 10 minutes.
- Rinse and drain the onions slices.
- Toss the arugula leaves with half of the vinaigrette.
- Add the avocado slices, mango slices and onion slices to the arugula mix, drizzle the remaining vinaigrette on top.
- Serve immediately.
I used a red Fresno chili pepper for this salad to give it spice and color. You can also use a milder hot pepper or a red bell pepper if you find chili peppers too hot. Though once you remove the seeds and membranes they lose a lot of the heat. I debated using some crushed garlic instead, but I feel like I’ve been adding garlic to everything (seriously sometimes I feel like I can’t cook unless I use garlic, cumin or cilantro) so I’m taking a garlic break for this salad.
I like to use a little bit of creativity to keep salads interesting. A salad should be more than just a bowl of greens. Ok, greens are good, and my husband makes an amazing simple salad with a great mustard dressing. However, there are so many other additional ingredients and flavors that can be added to really make a salad stand out and have its own character.
Step by step photos for mango, avocado and arugula salad:
Sofie says
December 23, 2014 at 3:03 amThis is a great recipe! I added shrimps and this made up a wonderful starter!
Cherri says
August 18, 2013 at 4:34 pmMade this today… As awesome!!,
Nina says
June 6, 2013 at 7:24 pmWow! I had a plastic tub of arugula that I wanted to make into a palatable salad, came upon your site and tried your recipe. I cannot believe the awesomeness of the flavors combined that way! So delish and easy to make! I had no cilantro or champagne vinegar so substituted parsley and apple cider vinegar – wonderful! I made my dressing using a whole organic orange and lime, blended in my Vitamix together with the vinegar and parsley and cumin. I added the oil afterwards in a bowl so I could wash the Vitamix much more easily – gotta cut time in the kitchen every way you can :) Thank you for your beautiful photos too! I am bookmarking this site! :)
Love, the Healthnut
Camille L MacLean says
April 8, 2013 at 8:10 pmThis recipe is absolutely amazing. The flavors and colors work so beautifully together. I am absolutely addicted!
Karla @ Foodologie says
February 28, 2013 at 8:17 amI made this salad last night and it was fantastic! I used spinach because that’s what I had on hand. It was tasty. I bet arugula would have made it 48493049 million times better. Thanks for the recipe!
Jill Ireland says
July 14, 2012 at 9:26 pmI was looking for a fun recipe for an arugula salad and the picture of this salad is what drew me in..and that it included my favorite foods- cilantro, avocado and mango! I made it tonight for some friends and the only change I made was adding goat cheese to the salad…it was amazing! Thanks for sharing your talent!
Angelica says
July 6, 2012 at 3:31 pmOh lalalalala! I am so happy that I have found your website, I have passion for cooking, and I’m always in my kitchen having fun being creative and listening to my French music play list while cooking something differing every day. My husband is my number fan :) and today as he was watching me pulling all my ingridients out of the fridge I said to myself, “I have this beautiful mangoe and argula so I am going to mix them together to prepare a delicious summer argula-mango salad” but I still wasn’t sure about the other ingredients so I went in my search engine with just the words “argula salad.” To my delightful surprise this recipe came out with mango and red onions which is also another of my favor ingridients on any salad….Your salad is so genious and simple, it is now my number one favor for this summer and many to come. I added some steelhead fillet and immediately this simple salad became the main course of tonight’s dinner. Thank you!
Barbara C says
June 12, 2012 at 9:04 amThank you! I’m on a self-imposed challenge to make a different salad each day of this week. This comes in handy!
Kat says
June 12, 2012 at 7:18 amLaylita! Amo tu página, constantemente intento preparar tus recetas, pero no se ven asi de deliciosos mis platillos y dudo que sepan igual que los tuyos.
Gracias por la ensaladas de verano :) acabas de salvar mi fin de semana. No tenía idea de que cocinar para el cumpleaños de mi hija el sábado y para el día del padre el domingo.
Barbara says
April 17, 2012 at 2:18 amGreat recipe, thanks for sharing.
Christina says
February 18, 2012 at 7:51 amJust stumbled across your site and am wowed by your recipes! I’m making this salad today and looking forward to making some of the ceviches!
katy says
October 18, 2011 at 3:23 pmHi Laylita !
I was looking on line for a recipe for arugula salad,and I was led to your beautiful creation.I am an artist,so I love the colors ! I can’t wait to make it ! Thank you !
God bless you !
Katy
katysfoodnlove.blogspot
Rita says
September 14, 2011 at 11:17 pmMade this salad tonight for my brother’s 25th birthday dinner-turned out delicious and everyone loved it! Thank you for a great recipe and spectacular photos. Look forward to trying out more of your exquisite concoctions and hope that you will add more amazing creations and gorgeous pictures (which are good enough to eat) to your site!
Many thanks,
~Rita
LA, CA
simon says
August 27, 2011 at 9:19 amWhat do you think about grilling the mangos before adding them to the salad?! :0 This looks so yummy though, I can’t wait to try it.
LL says
April 10, 2011 at 8:01 pmThank you, this was SO good and also beautiful to look at.
beryl says
October 6, 2010 at 8:33 pmbeautiful presentation, really tasty! thanks for sharing.
Rebecca says
May 22, 2010 at 6:09 pmWOW!! I made this tonight for friends and everyone LOVED it!! It looks beautiful on the platter, too!
Sarah says
May 12, 2010 at 9:38 pmThis is really good, particularly the dressing.
Nathalie says
January 18, 2010 at 6:07 pmI just tried this today and it was delicious. I liked the contrast of the fruit and vegetable.
Trina says
July 16, 2009 at 3:34 pmAmazing! How do you get such lovely photos? Yum. This would be perfect for mango season in MIA, where I live. I am going to try it!
Carrie_in_TN says
March 19, 2009 at 10:54 amEvery single one of my favorite flavors in the world is in this salad. I see it as a big part of my verano! Gracias!
Chef Rob says
February 11, 2009 at 8:41 amProbably one of the most beautiful salads I have ever seen. I would use pickled red onions here instead of fresh ones though.
linda shelley says
May 18, 2008 at 4:14 pmDelish! A wonderful salad. I served it with cilantro-tequila grilled chicken (grilled by husband). Thank you for sharing so many wonderful recipes. This is the first of many I hope to try (and make my husband so very happy). Your pictures are beautiful. Thank you so much.
Happy cooking,
Linda
from NJ
jd says
May 9, 2008 at 9:36 amThis is absolutely gorgeous!
Thanks for the recipe. I’ll have to give it a try – even though I’m not a big mango fan – it’s just too pretty to pass up!
P.S. I love how you included “preparation” pictures as well – very cool.
Noble Pig says
May 9, 2008 at 6:31 amLooks beautiful!
My Sweet & Saucy says
May 8, 2008 at 11:17 pmWhat a fresh and tasty looking salad…perfect for summertime!
Anticiplate says
May 8, 2008 at 6:19 pmAnother gorgeous photo spread! This salad looks delicious. I bet the contrast of the mango and avocado are intense. I am in awe.