Melon and Avocado Salad With Fennel and Chile Recipe (2024)

I may be biased, but I absolutely loved this! Leave your melon out on the counter for a few days and you'll be rewarded with a sweet and creamy and fragrant and spicy dish. I ate nearly the whole thing on my own.

This was spectacular I added some prosciutto for protein to make it a complete meal.

Crazy stupid good.

It’s obvious reading these notes that this is nothing short of excellent. I certainly found it to live up to its reputation- It is truly one of those recipes that are greater than the sum of its parts- in a word, Superb!

Wow! The lemon salt sugar powder on this is like a gourmet version of the Sour Patch Kids coating. I was hoping this would be good but I’m just blown away. I did a happy dance while eating it. Make this now. Run, don’t walk!!!

My husband doesn't like fennel so I replaced the fennel seeds with toasted sesame seeds. Not exactly the same flavor profile, but it was still delicious! Served this as a side to steak for a quick summer meal.

Will be trying this with avocados and Sugar Kiss Melon from Trader Joe’s. Best melon I’ve ever tasted.

This is such a refreshing summer crowd pleaser! I’ve made it exactly like the recipe recommended and I’ve also used a melon baller for the cantaloupe, honey dew, and the avocado put all three on a skewer and sprinkled the seasonings (I add extra red chili flakes). Zero leftovers and an easy bite for co*cktail parties.

This spice mixture is sublime. Sprinkle, or blend up with a little oil to make a paste. Great on fish, chicken, roasted broccoli, roasted sweet potatoes, ratatouille, etc, etc, etc....

I added some cucumber and butter lettuce and it was fantastic.

Did anyone add cucumber to it?

Ali Slagle you're a genius! I would never in a million years have thought of putting these ingredients together, but what a revelation! I served it for dinner with buttered sourdough toast and fried eggs, and it was perfection. Thank you!

This was astonishingly good and astonishingly simple, but then, I always love and look forward to Ali Slagle's recipes and love her cookbook, too. Wonderfully refreshing and imagine would be wonderfully cooling in the summer. Loved the cracked fennel seeds--use them with broccoli rabe all the time.

This is amazing!!!’

Made this with honeydew and added shrimp for some protein- delicious!

Not even sugar can replace that perfect melon sweetness; Be sure to really grind those pesky fennel seeds - as they sometimes disrupt the experience; Toss very gently because the incredible spicing doesn't migrate or expect some of the melon and avacado to be plain.

This was sheer perfection. Unique and elevated.

Inspired by your recipe, I tried this alteration. Not the same, of course, but it was also very good, bright, crisp, colorful. The spicy, sweet-salty topping worked well. I used sesame seeds -- instead of fennel seeds -- (lightly toasted with the red pepper flakes) in the topping, and added thinly sliced fennel bulb, raw (about 1/2 a large bulb for this quantity) to the salad. (No need to smash this seed mixture.)

Not sure I would try this again. Loved the spice mixture, but it just didn’t resonate for me. I think the spices would be great in another dish.

8/10/2022I made this again tonight, using the rest of the orange honeydew from Publix which was very good. I followed the recipe (minus the red pepper flakes) and it was very nice. I didn’t have the full amount of fennel seeds which would have added more crunch and visual interest. This is a nice change from green salads and very easy.

Make this right away. It is just incredibly delicious, with hami melon and fennel pollen instead of the seeds - saved heating up even a frying pan.

Got a really bad cantaloupe and mediocre avodacos esp in regard to ripeness. Still was good and can’t wait to try with top notch produce. Served with sautéed scallops which were really good.

8/22 Good idea. Topping needs a bit of work; perhaps some chopped nuts added & definitely no sugar. Otherwise good idea made with watermelon.

So good! I made a wonderful, simple, summer meal of the recipe by adding the prosciutto suggested in a previous comment. Also had sweet, ripe peaches on hand, so added one of those cut-up. Drizzled with honey instead of using sugar. Will definitely make this again.