This fennel salad is a classic combination – thinly shaved fennel, lemon dressing and shaved parmesan. A fennel recipe that’s quick to make, it’s beautifully refreshing and presents elegantly. It’s the sort of salad you’ll find on the menu of fine dining restaurants!
Fennel Salad
Fennel is so refreshing, I love it raw. Shaving it is a great way to use it in salads because it really tones down the aniseed flavour that many people find off-putting about fennel.
In fact, I’ve served shaved fennel salads to quite a few people who aren’t a fan of fennel and they all loved it!
This fennel salad is a classic combination of flavours that’s an outright copy of salads I’ve had at fine dining restaurants and good bistros. The fresh, softly crunchy shaved fennel pairs beautifully with a fresh lemon dressing. Then a bit of parmesan to give it a special finishing touch and add an extra edge of flavour.
Plus, it presents really nicely in this “carpaccio” style. Very post restauranty! 😂
What you need
And here’s what you need. While we don’t use the stems of the fennel, we do use the fronds! A little sprinkle on the salad to use as the garnish, and also to add subtle extra hint of fresh fennel flavour!
How to make it
And here’s how to make it. It literally takes minutes to make if you have a mandolin to finely shave the fennel!
What fennel salad goes with
This is a great salad to have on the side of rich meat heavy meals like roasts because it is so refreshing. It’s a particularly good pairing with pork and poultry – here are some dishes that I like to serve it with:
Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Fennel Salad with Lemon Dressing and Parmesan
Ingredients
- 1 medium fennel , or 2 baby fennels
- 1/2 red onion , shaved or finely sliced
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil , separated
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese , freshly grated
Instructions
- Cut stalks off fennel (save fronds). Shave the fennel and onion using a mandolin, or slice finely.
- Place in a bowl. Add lemon juice and 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss.
- Spread out on a plate "carpaccio" style. Drizzle with more olive oil, top with freshly grated parmesan then sprinkle with fennel fronds.
- Serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
- Serve immediately after dressing as the dressing draws out a lot of liquid from the fennel quite quickly.
- You only need 1 medium size fennel to serve 4 as a side salad. You'll be surprised how far it goes once shaved!
- Fennel salad is a wonderful refreshing salad that pairs exceptionally well with pork and poultry. Some suggestions: roast pork, whole roast chicken, herb baked chicken with gravy.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published June 2014, updated January 2019.
Life of Dozer
Paralysed with indecision!
This was a refreshing and delicious light salad which my husband made very quickly.
We both loved it!
Delicious, thank you!
Thank you so much for the recipe. It really hit the spot. Served it with your 7hour lamb. Going to make the salad again tonight to serve with the left over lamb. Think it will all work well with some flatbread. Thanks a million!
Hi Nagi,
We love this salad, it’s absolutely delish! Just served it together with lamb chops and baked sweet potatoes.
Thanks and warm greetings from Eindhoven, The Netherlands 🙂
Kees & Joanna & Claire
I made this last night for an impromptu dinner guest. I served it as a salad to accompany a rich Italian sausage pasta dish with a tomato and cream based sauce and a little kick. This salad was easy to make (aside from mandolin fear)! It was beautiful to look at and absolutely delicious. I shaved the Parmesan instead of grating it and I also added thinly sliced celery. Thank you!!
I love fennel salad. I make a version with thinly sliced oranges and mint leaves. Makes a good salad even better!
YUM! Sounds great Barb!
I’m always looking for new ways to serve fennel – and this looks simple but super flavourful. Thanks so much for sharing!
Yes so easy and delicious!
This is awesome Nagi – I served it to fennel haters and they gobbled it down and looked for more!!!!
I had it with a rich pork roast – it was a pairing made in heaven!!!
Fennel and pork is the perfect combo – I’m so happy you converted those haters!
Hi Nagi –
Love fennel – and this looks great! But think you forgot to include the red onion that’s in the pictures in the actual recipe? (There’s also a mention of zucchini in the notes that gives me the impression it was also included somewhere along the line then maybe dropped?)
Anyway – thanks again! – have had great success with all of your recipes and always look forward to new ones 🙂
Yes! Thanks so much for picking this up – will change it!
Thanks for this recipe! I am new to cooking with fresh fennel, but I got some in my CSA. I braised some of it, and it was delicious, but I wanted to try it raw. I have a lemon vinaigrette that I make almost daily, so I used that in this salad. I also subbed nutritional yeast for the Parmesan to make the salad vegan. It was delicious and so quick! I was able to whip it up for a nutritious lunch. Thanks again.
What a great idea Sue, I’m so glad it worked for you!
Hi Nagi, I just wanted to let you know I featured this recipe in my Low Carb Gluten-free Zucchini Recipes roundup. I hope you’ll get some visits coming your way!
Aww, that’s so sweet Maya, thank you!! Could you drop me a pin that you want shared and I’ll share it! 🙂 N x
Thank you so much, Nagi! Here is the pin for the roundup: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/513832638718285609/ I appreciate it! 🙂
scheduled! 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Interesting flavor combo!
Thanks Chelsey!