While most meals are improved by the addition of a fresh, crisp green salad, these 30 salad recipes prove that it can be so much more than just a healthy side dish. Salad can be a thing of beauty—a colorful, bountiful platter of seasonal produce, tossed with a homemade salad dressing, maybe a protein added to transform your salad into dinner. From hearty cobb salad recipes to easy summer salad recipes, light and healthy salad recipes to wintery salads loaded with root veggies, we’ve rounded up all of our very best salad recipes, and—while we were at it—we’ve included our salad dressing recipes, too! Nutritious and delicious, we can say with confidence that there’s a salad recipe (or two, or three) that you’ll love in this mix.
Our 6 Best Salad Recipes for Dinner
Easy Niçoise Salad. Our healthy, easy Niçoise salad recipe is just begging to be paired with long, lazy summer evenings and plenty of chilled rosé.
Grilled Steak Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing. Seared skirt steak, grilled romaine, and onions meet bright cherry tomatoes, avocado, and creamy homemade blue cheese dressing for a grilled steak salad recipe that really hits the spot.
Vegan Roasted Sweet Potato Salad. A hearty mountain of roasted sweet potatoes, avocado, black beans and raw kale are tossed in a creamy lime-cashew-cilantro dressing in this brightly flavorful, vegan sweet potato salad recipe.
Baked Salmon with Grapefruit Salad. Avocado, grapefruit and a sweet-tart honey mustard salad dressing makes a colorful bed for fresh baked salmon.
Curried Cauliflower Quinoa Salad. This curried cauliflower quinoa salad recipe is made even heartier and more protein-packed thanks to the addition of a creamy tahini dressing. It's the perfect vegetarian salad recipe!
Best Kale Salad Recipes
Kale Caesar Salad. Caesar salad isn’t something we eat for its health-consciousness or nutrition-density. Unless, of course, we’re eating this kale Caesar salad recipe, which is Whole30 compliant and full of nutrients.
Kale Salad with Apples and Pumpkin Seed Clusters. A colorful, healthy kale salad recipe that’s loaded with crisp apples, goat cheese and pumpkin seeds, then tossed with creamy apple cider vinegar dressing.
Tropical Kale Salad. Piled high with crunchy veggies, sweet mangos, macadamia nuts and tossed with the creamiest coconut curry dressing, this kale salad recipe is a cheery rainbow of a meal.
3 Delicious Cobb Salad Recipes
Classic Cobb Salad with Buttermilk Dressing. Crispy chicken, crumbled bacon, creamy avocado, jammy eggs and sharp blue cheese all on a bed of Romaine topped with a pour of homemade buttermilk dressing. Meet the ultimate, official TMP Cobb salad recipe.
Southwest Style Cobb Salad with Smoky Chipotle Dressing. A smoky chipotle mayo and a little time on the grill transform classic cobb salad ingredients into our new favorite summertime dinner—a hearty Southwest-style Cobb salad.
Spring Cobb Salad. Organic lettuce, peas, radishes, asparagus and everything else that spring has to offer makes this riff on Cobb salad absolutely light and delicious.
Our Favorite Salad Recipes with Chicken
Grilled Curry Chicken Salad with Herb Vinaigrette. A big green salad topped with a curry-spiced grilled chicken, goat cheese and a delicious punchy herb-filled vinaigrette is basically heaven on a platter, and makes a terrific dinner salad.
Chicken Waldorf Salad. For our chicken Waldorf salad recipe, we combine the sweet and savory flavor combo that we all know and love with a few “grown-up” substitutions that make it even better than the original.
Curried Chicken Salad Salad. Dotted with just-sweet-enough golden raisins, tender chicken pieces and crisp celery are coated in a vibrant yellow, curry powder-spiked dressing. We love it in a sandwich, and straight out of the bowl, but our favorite way to eat it is on top of a big green salad.
Classic Green Salad Recipes
Simple Butter Lettuce Salad (cover photo). Composed of tender butter lettuce leaves, briny green olives and salty slivers of aged manchego, our butter lettuce salad is a feast for the eyes and the palate.
Mediterranean Wedge Salad. Iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and pickled onions make this Mediterranean-inspired riff on a classic wedge salad recipe fresh and delicious.
Butter Lettuce Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette. In this simple butter lettuce salad, vibrant lettuce leaves live their best lives, dressed in a tangy homemade vinaigrette and accompanied by creamy avocado and crisp radishes.
Simple Italian Salad. If you’re just discovering this classic Italian salad recipe for the first time, congratulations! Meet the perfect side salad to accompany all your Italian pasta, chicken or fish dinners!
Summer Salad Recipes
Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad. This summer salad recipe is perfect for when blackberries are dripping off their stems. Pistachios, chèvre and honey-mustard vinaigrette pair perfectly with peppery arugula and sweet vine-ripe fruit.
Tomato Salad. When fresh tomatoes are in season, we eat them at almost every meal, and this juicy, simple marinated tomato salad recipe is one of our favorite ways to enjoy the bounty!
Cucumber Salad. Topped with light and herb-filled creamy vinaigrette, this easy cucumber salad recipe is flavored with za’atar and mint, and loaded with chickpeas for a protein-rich spin on a summer classic.
Grilled Romaine Caesar. Grilled lettuce? It’s totally a thing—we swear. And if you haven’t tried it, our grilled romaine salad recipe will be the one that convinces you.
Watermelon Cucumber Salad. Salt and watermelon are a classic pairing—the salt gives sweetness and juiciness of watermelon an extra vibrancy—and this salad recipe plays that up by pairing ripe watermelon with the sharp umami goodness of crumbly feta cheese.
Fall & Winter Salads (Yes, That’s a Thing!)
Maple Roasted Squash Salad. We’ve taken advantage of the sweet, starchy richness of acorn squash to give this squash salad recipe lots of heartiness and depth, and to provide contrast to the sharp, goat cheese-based salad dressing.
Celery Pear and Hazelnut Salad. Crisp celery, hazelnuts, fresh pear and shaved fennel bulb are tossed in a sweet, tart pear vinaigrette to make for a healthy, easy salad recipe that’s packed with seasonal flavors.
Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad with Creamy Maple Dressing. Shaved Brussels sprouts make an elegant, refreshing fall salad when dressed with a simple, creamy maple vinaigrette dressing and tossed with crisp apple slices.
Roasted Beet Salad with Chèvre Green Goddess Dressing. We never get tired of roasting beets and tossing them with greens to make a simple salad, but this roasted beet salad recipe takes that concept to the next level—while we do toss the roasted beets and carrots with a few microgreens and spicy watercress, this hearty salad is mostly composed of the root veggies themselves.
Red Cabbage and Apple Slaw. Red cabbage, tart granny smith apples, the slight heat of a jalapeño, and the bright flavors of mint and cilantro—this cabbage salad recipe simply cannot be beat.
Asian Slaw With Sriracha Dressing. Salty fish sauce, zingy lime, a touch of creamy mayo, a drizzle of honey. Add some bright, vibrant veggies and voila! A simple, beautiful Asian slaw that perks up just about any meal.
4 Springy, Easy Salad Recipes
- Radish Salad with Yogurt Dill Dressing. Blushing radishes, cool cucumber and smoky roasted chickpeas make this gorgeous butter lettuce and radish salad with yogurt-dill dressing an absolute celebration of all things crispy-crunchy.
- Spring Salad With Barley and Lemon Chive Vinaigrette. Dressed with a chive vinaigrette, crunchy sunflower seeds and tart cranberries, this barley salad is an edible celebration of the cusp of spring, and makes a wonderful, hearty vegetarian dinner, too.
- Easy Fennel Salad. This sophisticated raw fennel salad is dressed simply with bright citrus, good olive oil, a sprinkling of parmesan and fresh mint to let the lightly anise-like flavor of the shaved fennel shine.
- Chopped Salad With Herb Yogurt Dressing. This fresh, crunchy chopped salad recipe is studded with bacon, dates and feta then doused in a yogurty, herby salad dressing. If you make it you might have a hard time not eating the whole bowl yourself.
Our 5 Favorite, Go-On-Everything Salad Dressing Recipes
- Blue Cheese Dressing. delightfully chunky with crumbles of tangy blue cheese, our easy homemade blue cheese dressing recipe transforms a simple green salad into a total indulgence, and (bonus!) doubles as a dip.
- Honey-Mustard Dressing. A little sweet and a little spicy, this easy, healthy honey-mustard dressing recipe will have you swearing off the store-bought stuff for good.
- Homemade Ranch Dressing. A triple threat of tangy, creamy dairy—buttermilk, mayo and sour cream—makes the luxurious base for our parsley-speckled, oniony, easy homemade ranch dressing recipe.
- Creamy Maple Dressing. Slightly sweet, this autumnal maple vinaigrette dressing recipe will make a year-round salad eater out of just about anyone.
- Thai Salad Dressing. Peanut butter makes a creamy base for this deeply flavorful Thai salad dressing recipe. With tangy lime juice, fish sauce and a pinch of brown sugar, this Asian vinaigrette is surprisingly versatile.
