So Many Salads
The salad recipes you’ll find below are a mix of things that I enjoy because salad is more than just a bowl of lettuce. Some of these salads involve grilling, or air frying, or cooking some pasta, but the end result is worth it. Whether you’re looking for a side dish to go alongside a grilled chicken thigh, tender steak, juicy pork chop or fillet of fish, or a main meal to keep you satisfied, you’ll find something you want below. Grab your knife and your tongs. You’re about to get busy!
1. Grilled Shrimp and Citrus Salad
Fire up the grill for this delicious summer hit. This grilled shrimp and citrus salad could be an elegant starter course for 6 to 8 people, or a main meal salad for 4. It is a perfect summer meal, although it’s not relegated to just the summer.
2. Sesame Chicken Tortellini Salad
This tasty salad with cheese tortellini, snow peas, bell pepper, water chestnuts and an Asian sesame dressing is a nice twist on a pasta salad. It’s also super easy to make ahead to take to a lunch or dinner.
3. Tomato Cucumber Salad
This is a super simple salad that can be thrown together at the drop of a hat. The mozzarella gives it that satisfying and filling quality. You could leave it out for a vegan salad, adding white beans instead. You can also add some black olives to this salad for more interest, but back off a little on the salt if you do.
4. Summer Orzo Salad
This recipe for summer orzo salad is quick and easy to prepare, and make a perfect side dish next to some grilled chicken or steak, or light meal in the summertime. It’s so easily adaptable too – add whatever vegetables you like!
5. Grilled Steak Salad
This grilled skirt steak salad is a delicious combination of grilled vegetables, fresh greens, avocado and tomato with steak, making it anything from a hearty lunch to a healthy dinner.
6. Cool Cucumber Slaw
This cool cucumber slaw is a nice salad on its own, but it’s really delicious included in sandwiches or topping off a burger. Don’t stop there though! Make it a side dish or one of several salads on your picnic table.
7. Turkey Couscous Salad
This turkey couscous salad is a great way to use up any leftover turkey that you have in the fridge, but it’s also worth roasting a little turkey breast. It’s quick and easy and is just like a Greek salad, but with couscous instead of the Romaine lettuce.
8. Beet and Orange Salad
This beet salad is a light and delicious combination of roasted beets, oranges, feta cheese and fresh mint leaves. The orange vineagrette is simple to make and a perfect dressing for this salad. It’s nice to serve as a starter to any meal or a delightful side dish.
9. Greek Pasta Salad
This Greek Pasta Salad recipe is perfect for entertaining in the summertime – you can make it ahead of time and serve it room temperature AND you can make a whole lot to feed a crowd.
10. Farro Salad
This farro salad is a hearty side dish or meal all unto itself. The farro is easy to make and the apples, arugula, chopped dates, radicchio, sunflower seeds and Parmesan cheese bring lots of lively flavors to the plate. Don’t let the word “farro” stop you from trying this one. Farro is a delicious ancient grain that is really easy to cook.
11. Chinese Five Spice Chicken Salad
This light and colorful Chinese Five Spice Chicken Salad makes a delicious lunch or light dinner. You can use the air fryer or a skillet on the stovetop or your grill to cook the chicken and then just toss all the colorful vegetables together and you’re in for a treat.
12. Peach Caprese Salad
Adding peaches to a traditional Caprese salad gives it a delightful sweet twist. All these flavors of fruit and herbs that come into season at the same time are delicious together. It makes for a really nice light lunch or starter for dinner.
13. Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes
This delicious vegetarian salad can be a main meal for four people or a side salad for 6. With the creamy feta vinaigrette, it’s light and bright, but the chickpeas make it filling too.
14. Grilled Panzanella Salad
Panzanella salad is one of my favorite summer salads. You can make this any time of the year with bread that has been toasted in the oven, but when it’s summer and you can grill the bread it adds flavor and grill marks for added beauty points.
15. Classic Potato Salad
Potato salad is one of those recipes that comes in two different versions – the classic mayonnaise-based salad or the vinaigrette salad. It’s fun to play around with these recipes and add creative touches, but I always find myself yearning for the classic version.
16. Tuna Greek Salad
This refreshing tuna Greek salad puts an added dose of protein into your traditional greek salad. Make a quick and easy Greek dressing to toss this salad, or use your favorite store-bought dressing. Either way, this salad comes together in just a few minutes.
17. Avocado Tomato Salad
This salad is tasty and refreshing, and also packs some protein with the inclusion of black beans. It is a nice accompaniment to grilled meats or could be served alone as a hearty salad.
18. Chicken Caesar Salad
Adding chicken to a Caesar Salad really makes a main meal out of this popular salad. Cooking that chicken quickly in the air fryer makes it a super quick main meal and the chicken is delicious.
19. Wild Rice Salad
This wild rice salad is bright and fresh. The bitter greens added to the earthy wild rice are complemented with a sweet maple vinaigrette and together it makes a really nice light meal. Next to some grilled fish – even better!
20. Chicken Macaroni Salad
If you’re looking for a pasta salad that travels well, can be one of several side dishes or is hearty enough to take center stage at mealtime, here it is. This chicken macaroni salad is as tasty as it is versatile.
21. Watermelon Feta Salad with Blueberries
This red, white and blue salad is perfect for the Fourth of July, but frankly it’s delicious any day of the summer. The sweet fruit paired with the salty feta cheese is lightly dressed with a mint vinaigrette for the ultimate refreshing salad.
22. Asian Slaw
This quick and easy salad gives coleslaw an Asian flavor with garlic, ginger, Napa cabbage and edamame beans. I’d serve this with some quick seared ahi tuna or some teriyaki salmon off the grill, but with the protein provided with the edamame, it’s quite filling all by itself too.
23. Grilled Parmesan Corn and Zucchini
This grilled Parmesan corn and zucchini is a perfect summer side dish and one of my all time favorites. It’s delicious warm straight off the grill, or re-heated the next day.
24. Basic Coleslaw
Here are two recipes for a basic coleslaw – one with a creamy dressing and the other with a vinaigrette. Both of these recipes use red and green cabbage, along with carrots, but you could use just one color for a more dramatic salad.
25. Grilled Chicken Salad with Mango
This grilled chicken salad with mixed greens and mango is a filling and satisfying main meal salad good for any night of the week. The tangy dressing is like French dressing and goes perfectly with the tropical flavors.
26. Turkey Tex Mex Salad
If you have some leftover turkey breast, here’s a recipe for a delicious and fun turkey tex mex salad to help use it up. Making your own tortilla bowl in your air fryer is fun too and very easy to do, but a plate will work just as well!
27. Creamy Pesto Pasta Salad
Pesto is great with pasta whether it’s warm OR cold. This creamy pesto pasta salad is a great make-ahead side dish to feed a crowd, or a great dinner all on its own.
28. Arugula Parmesan Prosciutto Salad
This very simple arugula Parmesan prosciutto salad is one that I enjoy often. It’s the quickest salad to put together because the dressing is made à la minute – right on top of the greens instead of being mixed in a bowl.
29. Instant Potato Salad with Lemon Mayo
It’s hard to believe that the potatoes for this Instant Potato Salad cook in just one minute, but that’s all it takes for baby potatoes in a pressure cooker. You’ll barely have time to mix the dressing together!
30. Niçoise Salad
A Niçoise salad is the ultimate composed salad – where all the ingredients are kept in separate components rather than tossed together. I can’t help but feel sophisticated and spoiled when I take the time to make this salad for myself, especially in the summer with a glass of rosé.
31. Quinoa Salad with Artichokes and more!
Once you know how to make quinoa properly, it’s a good idea to have some on hand all the time to make a delicious quinoa salad like this one. Being full of protein, quinoa is a great way to have a main meal salad that will keep you satisfied and full for longer.
32. Dill Cauliflower Salad
This Dill Cauliflower Salad recipe is a great low carb option to replace potato salad for any outdoor BBQ. The tangy dill dressing pairs so nicely with the cauliflower and the bacon is an optional topping at the end, so you can please your meat-eating friends and vegetarian friends at the same time.
33. Endive Radicchio and Apple Salad
Endive and radicchio are both bitter greens that make for a very refreshing salad. It’s nice sometimes to have a salad that is different from the traditional mixed green salad. Combined with the sweet apple and salty cheese, this makes a tasty salad starter that is elegant enough for any dinner party.
34. Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad
I like a traditional pasta salad, but I love a pasta salad more it when it incorporates flavors beyond the classic mayonnaise-based pasta salads. Why is this a great summer side? Because you can make it ahead of time leaving you free to BBQ or better yet, watch someone else do the grilling!
35. Salmon Salad
Salmon salad is a light and delicious salad made with flaky salmon, fresh dill, chives and Greek yogurt. It’s simple to put together whether you cook salmon from scratch or use up some leftover cooked salmon. Serve this salad with sliced cucumbers or on a bed of fresh greens.
