Pizzeria Limone Catana Salad with Sugar-Free Orange Vinaigrette

Pizzeria Limone makes one of my absolute favorite restaurant salads: the Catana Salad with orange vinaigrette. It’s full of fresh greens, grilled chicken and corn, salty bacon and cheese, creamy avocado, and fresh oranges.

Pizzeria Limone Salad

Pizzeria Limone is a local fresh Neapolitan pizza restaurant in Utah. They are most well known for their freshly-made pizza that is fired in their authentic pizza oven.

If you’re not local to Salt Lake City, you may be in luck because they recently opened their new location in the Salt Lake City International Airport if you’re ever flying through.

Their salsiccia pizza is my go-to order, but for the last two years, I don’t go to Pizzeria Limone without ordering the Catana Salad.

MY FAVORITE SALAD RECIPES

• Chicken Salad Sandwiches
• Sunomono Japanese Cucumber Salad
• Spinach Pomegranate Salad
• Black Bean and Corn Salad
• Instant Pot Frozen Chicken + Strawberry BBQ Chicken Salad

Catana Salad from Pizzeria Limone

The Catana salad from Pizzeria Limone has the following ingredients:

• Mixed Greens
• Chicken (I like to use my Air Fryer Chicken Breast recipe)
• Red Onions
• Avocado
• Roasted Corn
• Oranges
• Parmigiano Reggiano
• Pecorino Romano
• Asiago
• Bacon (Definitely make my Air Fryer Bacon recipe)
• Pistachios
• Orange Vinaigrette

I finally recreated it at home, and it’s just as amazing as at the restaurant when I want to serve it for a crowd (or just dinner for my family!).

What I love about this salad is that it has all the perfect components. Crunchy lettuce, creamy avocado and cheese, nutty pistachios, salty and savory chicken and bacon, pops of sweetness from the roasted corn and sweet oranges, plus a very simple and healthy orange vinaigrette.

Chicken Orange Salad

The salad ingredients are pretty simple, but I’ll teach you everything you need to know to make the Pizzeria Limone Catana salad at home, starting with some of the ingredients that need to be prepared ahead of time.

This salad has chicken and oranges, but it isn’t an Asian chicken salad. That means you’ll skip the canned mandarin oranges, and use fresh navel oranges instead.

How to cut an Orange for the catana salad

It’s important to use fresh oranges in the Catana salad, and even more important to prepare them correctly. For this salad, I like to prepare the oranges by first cutting off a thin slice from each end where the stem is.

Then, place the orange on one of the cut sides so you have a sturdy base to work from.

Angle your sharpest knife at about a 45 degree angle, then slice off the orange peel, working down and away from you. I like to remove as much of the white pith as possible, because it can taste bitter.

Slice the entire orange in half, then remove the center membrane.

Cut into chunks.

How to roast corn

I have used fresh and frozen corn for the Catana Salad.

Fresh corn is my preference, but it isn’t always available or as affordable. If using frozen corn, I suggest using sweet white corn. It’s a light buttery yellow/white color vs. a bright yellow.

When using fresh corn, I use a grill pan on my gas stove and heat to medium or medium-high heat. I grease the pan, then add the corn cobs. I’ll add about a quarter cup of water, then cover with a lid or foil so it can steam.

Once steamed, I’ll remove the lid and let it char a bit all over to get those beautiful grill marks. Let cool, then cut off the cob (use this fun corn stripper tool).

For frozen corn, heat a heavy bottomed pan or large pot over medium high heat. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil or butter, then let it heat up until shiny. Add the frozen corn to the hot pan. The corn will thaw really quickly and the water from the frozen corn will steam it through.

Stir every couple of minutes until the corn is charred throughout. Let it cool, then use in the salad.

Sugar-Free Orange Vinaigrette Dressing

The Pizzeria Limone salad dressing is incredibly thin and light. It almost feels like you’re just pouring straight orange juice over the salad!

It also doesn’t have a freshly-squeezed orange flavor, so I don’t believe the dressing is made with freshly-squeezed orange juice (that and the cost would be double if it were).

I do recommend purchasing a good quality orange juice, not from concentrate. My favorite is Simply Orange. I also like to get freshly-pressed juice from Harmons grocery store when I want to treat myself. This is much easier and more affordable than freshly squeezing 15 oranges by hand.

For this recipe, I make a simple orange vinaigrette with orange juice, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, and a little dijon mustard to bind it all together.

My orange vinaigrette has no added sugar. If you prefer to have a sweeter dressing, you may add sugar or honey 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired flavor.

DON’T FORGET TO PIN THIS POST FOR PIZZERIA LIMONE CATANA SALAD

Pizzeria Limone Catana Salad

Pizzeria Limone's famous Catana Salad has tender chicken, savory bacon, sweet fresh oranges, and toasty roasted corn kernels. It's the most fabulous summer salad and one of my favorite restaurant salads, now made easier at home!

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 840kcal

Author: Lisa Childs

INGREDIENTS

• 1 small head romaine lettuce heart or a bag of mixed greens of your choice
• 1.5 lb grilled or cooked chicken
• 1 large avocado sliced
• 1 cup roasted corn kernels see notes
• 1/2 small red onion sliced thin
• 2 oranges peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 lb thick cut bacon cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 cup shaved parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup pistachios chopped
• Salt and pepper for serving

Orange vinaigrette

• 1 cup orange juice I used bottled but fresh would also work
• 1 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

• Arrange or toss all salad ingredients together.
• To make the vinaigrette, add all ingredients into a blender or mason jar. Blend or shake all the ingredients together until combined. I also use an immersion blender for this step.
• Serve the salad immediately with the vinaigrette. I find this salad tastes best with a generous serving of the dressing, then topped with salt and pepper.

PRODUCTS WE LOVE

• Mueller Ultra-Stick 500 Watt 9-Speed Immersion Multi-Purpose Hand Blender Heavy Duty Copper Motor Brushed 304 Stainless Steel With Whisk, Milk Frother Attachments
• Otis Classic Swing Top Glass Bottles – Set of 6, 16oz w/ Marker & Labels – Clear Bottle with Caps for Juice, Water, Kombucha, Wine, Beer Brewing, Kefir Milk or Eggnog
• Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Reversible Grill/Griddle, 16.75 Inch, Black

NOTES

1. For the corn, I suggest using sweet white corn. This can be made using fresh ears of corn that have been grilled, cooled, then cut off the cob, or by using frozen corn. For frozen corn, I heat a cast iron pan on medium high heat and add the frozen corn directly to the pan. The heat of the pan will defrost the corn and steam it through. Then, I add about 2 teaspoons of oil, then let it cooked until charred. I do not recommend using canned corn for this recipe.
2. For the chicken, I used two large chicken breasts, butterflied in half. I then seasoned each piece with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and grilled them for about 6 minutes a side, or until the chicken registered an internal temperature of 165º with my Thermapen One. Let the chicken cool before serving on the salad. Another great idea would be to use pre-cooked rotisserie chicken. It would be easy to make using my Air Fryer Chicken Breast recipe.
3. Pizzeria Limone serves each serving of their salad with 1/2 an avocado. If you'd like more avocado in your salad, you may.
4. The oranges are best with as much of the white pith cut off as possible. I like to supreme the oranges to remove any of the membranes and pith.
5. The parmesan cheese is best when you can get the large, shaved pieces. You can purchase this cheese usually in the specialty cheese section of most grocery stores. I find mine at Harmons Grocery in Utah.
6. The orange vinaigrette is very thin. Pizzeria Limone's dressing almost feels like straight juice with very little oil. I add a little mustard to emulsify the dressing, but note that it will not be a thick dressing.
7. I do not add sweetener or sugar to my vinaigrette. If you prefer a sweeter vinaigrette, you may add honey or sugar to taste.
8. To make this salad dairy free, omit the parmesan cheese.
9. I like to make my Air Fryer Bacon for this recipe.

NUTRITION

Serving: 1g | Calories: 840kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 59g | Fat: 59g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 38g | Cholesterol: 191mg | Sodium: 1654mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 7g

Tried this recipe?Mention @triedtestedandtrue!