Step into the healthy world of leafy greens, colorful produce, and crisp freshness with these 25 salad recipes that promise to redefine your idea of salads.
From refreshing summer mixes to hearty and filling potato and pasta salads. Enjoy the art of salad making and healthy eating!
1. Best Simple Tossed Green Salad
Made from a few ingredients including lettuce, cucumbers, onions, and bacon, this is the easiest tossed green salad around that’s the perfect accompaniment for any party or meal. Drizzle homemade dressing made with honey, oil, and Dijon mustard for a flavorful bite.
2. Everyday Salad
This crisp, fresh salad is the perfect go-to lunch any day of the week. You can customize it, but it’s best with spring greens, red onions, cucumbers, and walnuts. Toss with a sweet homemade lemon dressing for the perfect bite.
3. The Best Easy Pasta Salad
This pasta salad recipe is not only easy to make, but it tastes great, too! Made with your choice of pasta, red onions, tomatoes, salami, and mozzarella cheese, there’s flavor packed into every bite. Drizzle Italian dressing and you’re done.
4. Creamy Cucumber Salad
Looking for the perfect salad for your next BBQ? This is it. Fresh cucumbers are slathered with mayonnaise, dill, sour cream, vinegar, and red onion for a cool, refreshing bite that will have you feeling as cool as a cucumber.
5. Cobb Salad with the Best Dressing
The perfect blend of fresh lettuce, eggs, onions, chicken, and avocados. This salad is amazing, and the star of this recipe is the balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing. Don’t be shy; customize your Cobb salad by swapping out chicken for turkey and avocado for creamy hummus.
6. Italian Chopped Salad
Inspired by the Italian chopped salad from California Pizza Kitchen, this zesty recipe contains lettuce, salami, chickpeas, and basil. This easy salad can be customized too, with some mandarin oranges. Top it off with lemon juice for a refreshing meal.
7. Caprese Pasta Salad
Featuring fresh mozzarella, grape tomatoes, basil, and your choice of pasta, this Caprese pasta salad works as a side dish and main course. Feel free to use any type of pasta, but orecchiette works best. Drizzle with sweet balsamic vinaigrette.
8. Soba Noodle Salad
This Japanese-inspired soba noodle salad puts a refreshing spin on the traditional salad. It contains rich soba noodles in a honey-soy-based dressing, tossed around with cilantro and scallions. It’s hearty, warm, bright, tasty, and only takes 20 minutes to make!
9. Orzo Pasta Salad
Mover over rotini, because this orzo pasta salad is one to delight everyone who eats it. The pasta is mixed with cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, chickpeas, feta cheese, cucumbers, peppers, and corn. For extra crunch, add walnuts or sliced almonds.
10. Rainbow Veggie Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
Filled with kale, sweet potatoes, cashews, red cabbage, and brussels sprouts, this colorful salad combines the best of salty, sweet, and savory flavors. It’s the perfect addition to any dinner party. If you want, swap the cashews for sliced almonds.
11. Orzo Salad with Spinach and Feta
This orzo salad with spinach and feta is the perfect addition to any chicken dinner. Chock full of Mediterranean flavors, this salad is not only easy to make but easy to customize to your liking, like swapping feta for mozzarella.
12. Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad
For something cool but with a little kick, look no further than this spicy Asian cucumber salad. Scallions and cucumbers are covered with garlic, sesame oil, and soy sauce for this easy-to-make side dish. Serve as an appetizer or side.
13. Classic Wedge Salad
Wedge salads make a statement. Iceberg lettuce heads are cut into quarters and then covered with flavorful toppings like bacon bits, blue cheese dressing, and tomatoes. Make sure you keep your toppings small so as not to overwhelm the bite.
14. Little Gem Salad with Dilly Ranch Dressing
This salad is a hidden gem among all the salads you could make. Little gem lettuce is tossed into a bowl along with avocado, cucumbers, and radishes that make for an amazing meal and the best part is, it’s topped with savory Dilly Ranch dressing.
15. Loaded Broccoli Salad
This loaded broccoli salad is low-carb and full of flavor – and it doesn’t even have lettuce! Instead, this salad features cucumbers, broccoli, purple onions, your favorite type of cheese, and bacon bits smothered in a mix of honey and vinaigrette.
16. The Best Potato Salad Recipe
Move over lettuce, this salad is all about potatoes. Somehow both soft and slightly crunchy, these cooked potato bites are tossed with eggs, radishes, bacon, and a creamy mayonnaise dressing. Chill for two hours, then serve this fan favorite!
17. Simple Italian Salad
Nothing beats a simple Italian salad with dinner. Easy to make and customize, you can add anything to this salad including chicken, fish, and even pasta. All you need is a bed of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and Greek peperoncini.
18. Greek Salad
You won’t be able to get enough of this tasty and quick Greek salad. Tomatoes and cucumbers work as the base and are topped with feta cheese crumbles, red onions, olives, and zesty red wine vinegar dressing for a kick!
19. Vietnamese Chicken Salad Recipe
Looking for a gluten-free salad? This Vietnamese chicken salad is what you’re looking for. Full of fresh flavors, this recipe includes shredded chicken and cabbage, roasted peanuts, carrots, and mint for a bold, but unexpected bite. Add chili garlic sauce for zest and kick!
20. Cucumber Salad
Though there are other cucumber salad recipes on this list, this one is straightforward: just cucumbers, red onions, chickpeas, fresh mint, parsley, feta, and tomatoes. It’s flavorful, colorful, crunchy, and fresh – aka the perfect side dish for any summer get-together.
21. Tomato Salad Recipe
This salad takes 10 minutes to make. Juicy tomatoes are cut into quarters and mixed with fresh mozzarella, basil, and red onions before being covered in a garlic and red wine vinegar dressing. Add chicken to make it a full meal.
There you have it – 22 tasty salad recipes that are the perfect accompaniment to any family dinner or summer barbeque. Whether you want something with a lettuce base or an interesting twist on the classic salad, these recipes always serve up something delicious.