Chicories - Endives, Escarole & Radicchio

Belgian endive, escarole, and radicchio are all chicories. They are related to lettuces, but have sturdier leaves and a more assertive flavor famous for its bitter edge. They are cool weather crops (heat makes them bolt and turn unpleasantly bitter) typically planted in late summer and harvested in late fall and early winter. Mild climates extend the harvest through the winter and into early spring. Use chicories to add a bright, bracing element to salads or cook them to mellow their flavors in one of these simple, tasty recipes.

Types of Chicories
Chicories are closely related to lettuces, but heartier and with a bitter edge. Cool weather crops that come into season in late fall (and last in temperate climates through early spring), chicories provide a lot of flavor to seasonal fall and winter meals. They include Belgian endive, curly endive, escarole, and radicchio. See the differences...

How to Make a Winter Salad

Chicories, salty cheese, and crunchy nuts are the secret weapons to how to make winter salads delicious.

All About Radicchio
Radicchio is bitter and bright. Find great ways to use this versatile vegetable in salads, pastas, and more.

Arugula Radicchio Salad
Arugula and radicchio make a snappy, crisp salad.

Braised Belgian Endives
Slowly cooking endives in a bit of butter and lemon juice yields tender, luscious, almost sweet result in this easy recipe.

Creamy Endive Soup
Cream of Belgian Endive Soup is wonderfully easy to make.

Curly Endive (Frisee) Salad With Poached Egg
This classic French bistro offering is easy to make and a perfect light and quick supper when served with crusty bread. The rich creaminess of the egg provides the perfect foil for the crunchy, bitter greens.

Endive Salad With Walnuts
This Endive Salad With Walnuts is crisp, easy, and as delicious as it is nutritious.

Radicchio Hazelnut Blue Cheese Salad
This Radicchio Hazelnut Blue Cheese Salad is crisp and flavorful – easy enough to throw together any night of the week and tasty enough to impress guests.

Endive Kumquat Salad
This Endive Kumquat Salad is the perfect end-of-winter salad - it's just bright enough to give you hope for spring.

Escarole & Chickpea Stew
Loosely based on leblebi, a Tunisian breakfast soup, this chickpeas and escarole stew is a quick and easy one-dish dinner.

Escarole & Roasted Beet Salad
Toss crisp escarole and sweet beets to create an easy, delicious salads perfect with warming fall and winter meals.

Radicchio Arugula Date Salad
Dates and hazelnuts add sweetness and crunch to radicchio and arugula.

Kheema-Stuffed Radicchio
A spicy, colorful appetizer for cold nights.

Simple Radicchio Salad
Crunchy, slightly bitter radicchio leaves coated in a lightly sweet dressing are an easy and refreshing salad.

Grilled Radicchio
Radicchio gets its bitter edge tamed by the flame and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar in this crazy recipe.

Grilled Treviso
Treviso – a longer, thinner, looser version of tight-headed radicchio – gets its bitter edge tamed by the flame and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar in this beyond-easy recipe.

Sauteed Radicchio
Sauteeing is a great way to cook radicchio and it mellows the famously sharp flavor of this bright red chicory.

Radicchio Risotto
The bitter edge of radicchio is cooked off a bit in this risotto, but the primary flavor does involve the sophisticated slightly bitter flavor one expects in chicories, endives, and radicchio.

Red Endive Salad
Red Belgian Endive Salad is crisp and beautiful.

Sautéed Escarole
Escarole is nicely softened with a bit of heat by sauteing it.

Radicchio Salad With Green Olive Dressing
Crunchy, slightly bitter radicchio leaves make a beautiful, colorful salad to liven up any winter table with coated with a rich green olive dressing

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