I’ve craved this specific salad all month and finally caved.
I know we’re supposed to be baking cookies — and I have; so many cookies, I am basically 45% butter and 15% sprinkles by now — and mixing fancy cocktails, and hosting luxurious dinner parties (we, instead, host a Latke-Vodka Party: more here). But the body wants what the body wants and this one wanted a very cold, very crunchy red cabbage salad with just slightly tart mandarin orange segments and salty-spicy-sweet roasted cashews, threaded with fennel, scallions, and a hint of fresh mint with a sumac-specked vinaigrette and it was consistent, persistent, nagging, even about it, until I acceded. I then ate a bowl standing up in the kitchen in a way I haven’t since I first fell in love with broccoli slaw. In total transparency, I’m probably going to do it again in about 5 minutes.
Should you — not me, clearly — be willing to share, it goes phenomenally well with everything else that might be on your holiday table, from latkes to a hearty braise. I’d also enjoy it as a brunch salad. Or maybe it will be something you make for just you in a season where so much of our time and energy is (joyfully!) in the service of others, something weird you do — standing in the kitchen eating salad, watching everyone hurry by, buzzing with the inner joy that only comes with having no reason to budge to for 10 minutes.
Winter Cabbage Salad with Mandarins and Cashews
- 1 cup (115 grams) cashews
- 2 tablespoons (25 grams) dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 pound (455 grams) red cabbage, thinly sliced or shredded (about 4 cups)
- 1 small or half a large fennel bulb, halved and sliced thin (about 1 cup)
- 3 regular or 4 thin scallions, thinly sliced (green and white parts)
- A small handful fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced
- 3 mandarins (clementines and other small oranges work here), divided
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) white wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sumac, plus more for finishing
- Spiced cashews (from above)
Spiced cashews
Assembly
Make the spiced cashews: Heat your oven to 400°F. Place the cashews in a colander and rinse them with water, but no need to shake them off. (This gets them the perfect amount of wet for the spices to stick.) Transfer to a bowl, add the sugar, salt, cayenne, and paprika and stir so that they’re evenly coated. If the mixture seems a little dry, add 1 more teaspoon of water. Spread the cashews out on a small, parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for 8 to 10 minutes, until the nuts are darker and I actually like them with some black spots, so I’ll put them in for up to another 3 to 5 minutes, just watch carefully so that they don’t completely burn. Let the nuts cool completely on the tray. [I stick them outside and let the winter air take care of it.]
Assemble the salad: Combine cabbage, fennel, scallions, and mint in a large bowl. Juice one of your mandarins and pour 2 tablespoons of the juice into a small bowl. (Any extra should be thrown back like an immunity booster shot.) Add white wine vinegar, olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, many grinds of black pepper, and sumac and whisk to combine. Pour over cabbage mixture and taste, adding more seasoning as needed. If you’re making the salad ahead of time, you can keep this mixture marinating for a couple hours; it won’t go to mush.
Peel your remaining two mandarins and separate them into segments. Pile half of your dressed salad mixture on a serving plate, sprinkle with half the mandarin and half of the cashews. It will seem like a lot of cashews but they’re really the star of the show here. Repeat with remaining salad, mandarin, and cashews and dig in.
Previously
6 months ago: Slushy Paper Plane
1 year ago: Invisible Apple Cake
2 years ago: Rolled Spinach Omelet
3 years ago: Baked Brie with Garlic Butter Mushrooms
4 years ago: Short Rib Onion Soup
5 years ago: Gingerbread Yule Log
6 years ago: Unfussy Sugar Cookies
7 years ago: Falafel
8 years ago: Dutch Apple Pie
9 years ago: Union Square Cafe’s Bar Nuts
10 years ago: Pull-Apart Rugelach and Tres Leches Cake + A Taco Party
11 years ago: Decadent Hot Chocolate Mix and Gingerbread Biscotti
12 years ago: Eggnog Florentines
13 years ago: Cashew Butter Balls
14 years ago: Caesar Salad Deviled Eggs
15 years ago: Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms
16 years ago: Coffee Toffee
17 years ago: Zuni Cafe’s Roast Chicken + Bread Salad
18 years ago: Chicken and Dumplings
19 years ago: Pecan Squares
I am guessing that for those of us in the horrifying place of not being able to eat added sugar, that the cashews can just be toasted, plain?
I often use coconut sugar; it has fiber and nutrients and a much lower glycemic rating. Maple syrup is another good option
Maple syrup and coconut sugar are still pure, added sugar. Not healthy and not substantially different than cane sugar.
I live everything except fennel. Any idea for substitutions? Thanks!
Thinly sliced celery might work for the refreshing crunch without the licorice flavor.
Yes, celery is a great idea… also maybe jicama?
A tart green Apple maybe…
Great ideas, thank you
Radish? Baby bok choy? Zucchini?
As a fennel hater myself, I will say the anise/licorice flavor was incredibly mild. just fyi! Maybe I got a weak fennel lol
Absolutely making this tomorrow, I can’t believe I have everything for this already! Just one question, does the vinaigrette really not have any oil? Or am I just not seeing it?
Ah, my bad! Now fixed. There’s ALWAYS a typo but that was a biggie. Anyway, there’s 3 tablespoons olive oil in the dressing; now fixed. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Any particular type of cashew- raw, salted?
My tree is heavy with tart mandarins right now, & they & fennel & sumac are all-time favorite foods of mine, so this sounds bright & perfect for the holidays. We unfortunately don’t love cashews, so any suggestions for potential substitutions (even though they are “the stars of the show”!)?
😬
Almonds or pistachios would probably taste great with these ingredients!
I always find walnuts to be a good match for cabbage salads!
It’s Christmas! I’d go with macadamias. They’re the closest to cashews in buttery richness.
I just found the perfect salad to serve alongside that dreamy sautéed mushrooms & Brie number you posted recently. Tuesday holiday party wowers —check!
I’ve been eating something like this a lot lately. Will try the fennel and sumac additions next time, thanks!
Also good: kalamata olives (goes with the orange), and if it’s a main dish then chilled black lentils works great with the red cabbage. Also raisins if that’s your jam.
Do you have any suggestions for a sub for the cashews? We’re a nut allergy family but everything else about this salad is calling my name!
You could add wonton strips!
I’m going to try with pepitas and maybe some of the wonton strips on top suggested below. I know it says the cashews are the star but besides them killing me this salad sounds ideal!
Should the cashews be raw?
You are roasting them so presumably they should start out raw.
No need. Mine started toasted and salted. The rinse takes the salt off, so it makes no difference. They toast either way, but not so long that already toasted nuts will burn.
I made this and it was delicious. Classic kitchen chaos and subs. Forgot we had no fennel and subbed celery ( and ground a tiny bit of anise and sprinkled over. ) Almonds in the house so they subbed for cashews. No mandarin so subbed orange supremes. Spectacular cabbage from the farmers market amped things up as did the Burlap & Barrel spices on the nuts. All came together well in the spirit of the dish and desire to not do to the store in 35 degree weather. TY!
I just wanted to note how stunning the main picture is. Such vibrant colours, and almost a sort of 17th century still life vibe. Well done!
Made it immediately. We don’t like fennel so we left it out. Used Costco’s roasted and salted cashews, so just omitted the salt on them but still roasted for 10 minutes. They were delicious! Next time will add Kalamata olives, per a commenter’s suggestion, but even without them, this was beautiful, quick, and delicious!
Absolutely delicious! Listen to Deb regarding the Sumac, get a good one, mine was strangely weak (even though it was a fresh jar, seems like the brand is just not to be trusted) and I had to add a LOT more to be even able to taste it at all.
The spiced cashews are truly divine, and a tip for the Europeans who can’t get American brown sugar: white sugar plus sugar beet syrup will give you close-ish results, it works great in chocolate chip cookies and worked great here. I ended up adding only about half of the cashews to the salad because trying a few turned into eating half a cup while cutting up the fennel, so, um, maybe make double the cashews.
Wow! So festive and comes together quickly with a food processor.
Thanks for sharing
Served this last night with roasted chicken. Was a hit. Perfect wintery salad that is fresh and crisp.
Love your recipes, this was so heavenly good, i can not get enough. Only skiped the fennel which my husband refuse. Thank you so much for sharing. Merry greetings from south germany
Seriously good! I substituted pecans, but think any nut will do. Coconut sugar is my go to now, and that worked as well. Made this for a party, and was very popular.
Reading this 12/22/25 and find it irresistible. Making it on the morrow.
I don’t have sumac, but I have dried hibiscus flower (jamaica) and pomegranate molasses. Should I add some molasses to the dressing/as a drizzle? Or grind up the hibiscus for a sprinkle? Not sure what level of sour the sumac is bringing.
Just made this and it is absolutely delicious!
I made this – we made it dinner tonight as a sorta atonement for a blowout big lunch. Love it so much! Colors so pretty and the cabbage and fennel so crunchy – and those cashews! Like candy but savory with the smoked paprika. So good!
I didn’t have mint but I did have some pickled onions in the refer and they were a great addition. I think cooking with Deb has made me into this person – who might have pickled onions on hand and tries them in anything. I like this person.
I’m honored and they sound delicious here.
This was a huge hit with my family! One issue — when I roasted the cashews, some of the sugar-spice mixture slipped off the nuts and formed crispy puddles. They were delicious to snack on later, but what should I do to keep all that flavor ON the nuts next time?
I had a sort of similar issue and I think the key is to use a smaller sheet pan. If you see her photo, the cashews are pretty close together, not spread out.
Delicious. Added some chicken for protein, otherwise made as written.
I am obsessed with this recipe! I usually don’t love cabbage, but I crave this. So glad I tried it. Thank you!
I could not find sumac! Would amchur powder work? Or better to use paprika?
I made this and reviewed it for my Instagram channel (@miriamstestkitchen). Bottom line: this is a very different flavor profile to the usual sweet cabbage salad. It’s quite tart and spicy. Personally I ate the whole salad up but if you’re on team sweet you won’t like this!
I was inspired by the blood orange fennel salad, so I used mandarins and a couple of blood oranges (it was a big salad – for a party!) and it was so colorful and festive looking. More importantly, it was delicious! Because of a severe nut allergy, I had to omit the cashews, and ended up replacing them with raw pumpkin seeds, which did add a really nice crunch but probably weren’t comparable to the butteryness, or the larger size, of a cashew. If anyone has any ideas, I’m all ears! I know peanuts have a different flavor profile but might be better, size wise. Next time, whichever one I use, I will make sure I have time to spice them :)
Oh and I also replaced mint with basil (I’m staying at someone’s place, I didn’t do the shopping!) and found it shockingly delicious. Can’t wait to try it as written lol
This was amazingly delicious. It was colorful and I loved that it could be pretty made a little ahead of time. Unfortunately, no sumac to be found so subbed coriander. Also, added a bit of honey and Dijon mustard to dressing.
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Forget the holiday heaviness! This Winter Cabbage Salad is the perfect, crunchy palate cleanser. The spicy-sweet cashews and tart mandarins make it truly addictive. Time to step away from the cookies and grab a bowl of this fresh joy! 🥗🍊
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