Oh my. This is fresh and pretty.
How can a salad with soft pinks and light greens and the most cooling, refreshing flavors not make you feel like the most beautiful thing alive?
Apparently avocados, cucumbers, grapefruit (or gorgeously pink pomelo for us here in Asia), smoked almonds, fresh chives and mint, and a honey vinaigrette can make it happen with just one bite. Magic, for sure.
Just to be clear, this is not an I’m-really-hungry dinner salad. I do love those salads (currently reminiscing about the Chopped Thai Chicken Salad) but this is not one of them.
No, this is a refreshing grapefruit salad for Mother’s Day, brunches, tea parties, and hot hot hot summer days. Speaking of Mother’s Day, I can’t believe I’m ahead of schedule and posting a holiday recipe suggestion. This is weird. Usually I find out a week later that it was something like Cinco de Mayo and I should have been making guacamole and taquitos and salsa verde all week. Err, hey. That’s now.
Good thing I have a million avocados sitting in my kitchen right now because there’s still time for guacamole before the clock strikes May 5, right?
Another good thing: paying $1.25 for 7 gorgeous avocados. I have gone for many months without them because they haven’t been in season, but now that they’re back in season, they’re REALLY back in season. Thank you, Philippines.
I’ve made this salad several times and here’s a shot from an earlier version that I made. They didn’t have grapefruit when I was making this one so I just used oranges. Still totally delicious! Even Bjork liked it. I don’t mean to say that I wasn’t expecting him to like a cucumber avocado citrus-y type salad, buuuut, I wasn’t. And he did, and so did I, and we both ate it happily.
I served this pretty orange version on q-q-q-quinoa. Maybe that’s why he liked it, cause he’s into that kinda stuff.
Speaking of quinoa, I feel like I’m the annoying girl who keeps talking about quinoa recipes on social media and never sharing them. I promise you one for Monday and it’s my most beloved quinoa recipe ever. Out of, like, two total quinoa recipes that I like.
You can eat this however you want. With quinoa, without quinoa, on crackers, with pita chips (mmm), or like we did for lunch today: just straight up plain, out of the salad bowl, with extra almonds and mint on mine and extra avocado on his.
This is fresh and yummy and I think your mom would like it for Mother’s Day because it’s pink. I’m just saying.
Have a great weekend, you pretty salad lovers! XO
Avocado Cucumber Grapefruit Salad
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
This avocado cucumber grapefruit salad is delicate, refreshing, and crunchy with smoked almonds and a honey vinaigrette. Perfect lunch!
Ingredients
Scale
Salad
- 2 cucumbers, diced, seeds removed (about 2 cups)
- 3–4 grapefruit or oranges, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)
- 2–3 avocados, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/3 cup almonds, chopped (I used smoked almonds)
- 2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
- 3–4 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
Dressing
- 1 tablespoon vinegar (can also use lime or lemon juice)
- 1 1/2 tablespoon honey
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt to taste
- grapefruit or orange zest to taste
Instructions
- Wash, cut, and gently toss the cucumbers, grapefruit, almonds, mint, and chives.
- Whisk the dressing ingredients together. Taste and adjust to your preferences. Drizzle over the salad ingredients. Chill until ready to serve.
- Just before serving, gently mix the avocado pieces into the salad. Top with additional herbs or almonds.
Notes
The avocado starts to melt pretty quickly into the salad, so be sure to add the avocado right before serving for the best presentation. It’s best to eat this on the same day that you prepared it.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Category: Lunch
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: cucumber grapefruit salad, avocado cucumber salad, grapefruit salad
