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Shaved Fennel Salad with Pear, Walnuts & Parmesan
Fennel sliced thin enough to be translucent, ripe pear in matchsticks, peppery arugula, toasted walnuts, and curls of Parmesan, all brought together with lemon and good olive oil. The anise edge of the fennel makes the pear taste sweeter than it is. Serve it next to roast chicken or fish and it does the work of both salad and side.
Shaved Fennel Salad with Pear, Walnuts & Parmesan
Recipe Card
Shaved Fennel Salad with Pear, Walnuts & Parmesan
Method: No-Cook·Cuisine: Italian
Cook Time
None (assembly)
Best Season
Fall and winter
Ingredients
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1/2 cup walnut halves
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1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
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2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
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2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
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1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
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1/4 teaspoon fine salt
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Freshly ground black pepper
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2 medium fennel bulbs (about 4 cups shaved), fronds reserved
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2 medium ripe but firm pears (Bosc or Anjou), cored and cut into thin matchsticks, skin on
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5 cups arugula
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1/3 cup shaved Parmesan (use a vegetable peeler on a wedge)
Instructions
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1
Toast the walnuts and pumpkin seeds together in a dry skillet over medium heat, 3 to 4 minutes, shaking often, until the seeds start to pop and the walnuts smell nutty. Tip onto a plate and roughly chop the walnuts once cool.
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2
In the bottom of a large bowl, whisk the lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon, salt, and a few grinds of pepper until the dressing turns opaque and slightly thick.
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3
Trim the fennel stalks and the tough base, halve the bulbs, and slice them as thin as you can — a mandoline helps, but a sharp knife and patience get you there. Add the fennel and pear to the dressing and toss well; let it sit 5 minutes so the fennel softens slightly and the pear stays bright.
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4
Add the arugula and toss gently, just until the leaves are coated. Taste a piece of fennel with pear and a leaf together — it should be sharp first, then sweet. Adjust with lemon or a pinch of salt, not both.
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5
Pile onto a platter or four plates. Scatter the walnuts, pumpkin seeds, Parmesan curls, and a few torn fennel fronds over the top and serve right away.
Tip
This is a serve-now salad: the pear browns and the arugula collapses within an hour of dressing. You can shave the fennel, make the dressing, and toast the nuts up to 2 days ahead; keep the shaved fennel in cold water in the fridge so it stays crisp, and dry it well before tossing.
Make It Yours
Make it a lunch
Add 4 oz sliced grilled chicken or 1/2 cup white beans per plate. Chicken brings protein to about 44 g per serving; beans to about 16 g with 6 g more fiber, which nudges net carbs to about 24 g.
Dairy-free or plant-based
Skip the Parmesan and double the pumpkin seeds. Costs about 3 g of protein per serving; add a pinch more salt to the dressing since the cheese was doing some of the seasoning.
Nut-free
Leave out the walnuts and use 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds total. Fiber dips to about 6 g per serving, so this version just misses the Mediterranean floor — fine as a side, worth knowing.
Lower-carb
Use one pear instead of two and add a second bulb of fennel. Drops net carbs to about 11 g per serving and keeps the texture contrast.
If you don't like fennel
Thinly sliced celery plus a little tarragon gives a similar crunch without the anise. Net carbs fall by about 3 g per serving; the dish is less distinctive but still works.
Nutrition
Per side serving — estimate, salad only.
Calories
310
Net Carbs
17g
Total Carbs
24g
Fiber
7g
Protein
9g
Fat
22g
Saturated Fat
4g
Total Sugars
13g
Added Sugars
0g
Sodium
350mg
Nutrition pending review by our registered dietitian — estimate only. Not medical advice. Total sugars are from fruit and dairy; added sugar is zero.
Keywords
SideMediterraneanNo-CookFennelHealthy FatsHigh Fiber
Besides Sugar
Besides Sugar: Eat the Vegetables First, Then the Fruit
The order you eat things in may affect how much your glucose rises. In several small studies, people who ate vegetables and protein before their carbohydrate tended to see lower post-meal glucose than in reverse order. A fennel salad before the main course puts that on a plate: 7 grams of fiber from fennel, arugula, and nuts reaches your stomach ahead of the pear's sugar and dinner's starch, which may help both absorb more slowly.
About Prediabetes Mastermind
Prediabetes Mastermind builds practical, science-backed tools for reversing and managing prediabetes — meal frameworks, recipes, and plans verified by a registered dietitian. We treat prediabetes as a condition worth taking seriously, and we focus on what you can do, not what to fear.
These recipes and their nutrition figures are pending review by our registered dietitian. Nutritional information is an estimate and not medical advice; consult your healthcare provider about your individual plan, especially if you take glucose-lowering medication.
