Up Your Summer Salad Game With These Super Recipes
In winter, you crave warmth. Whether you're curled up under the thickest throw you can find or plunging your spoon into the heartiest stew you can make, you want coziness, and you want it all the time.
Summer's a different story, though. Fresh air helps cultivate delicious produce, and the simple yet robust flavors of fruits and vegetables are inspiration enough for your seasonal menu. The only problem is, you're getting a bit tired of the classic green salad. Sure, that chilled, crisp fare tastes extra delicious when it's hot out, but it's time to diversify.
You're in luck — the following eight recipes will help you to seriously up your summer salad game. They're fresh, innovative and they taste pretty darn good, too. Get your forks ready and read on to find the one(s) for you:
You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who didn't like a Caprese salad. The fresh, juicy tomatoes bring out an even more flavorful side of buffalo mozzarella slices. You could just stop there and have yourself a grand summer salad, or you could add a bit of summer flavor to a classic.
This recipe incorporates not only peaches or nectarines, but also fresh corn, arugula and a dash of sweet onion. The end result is a savory, sweet and fresh rendition of the Caprese.
Cornbread is the perfect summer carb: It's light, and it has just the right amount of texture to up your salad ante. Of course, it'll only be the crown on your fresh mix of dandelion greens and cranberry beans. This recipe will have you whipping up your own dressing, too, a sweet combination of honey, red-wine vinegar, garlic and olive oil. Cubes of your homemade — or store-bought, we won't tell — cornbread finish it all off.
Summer is the best time to mix seemingly separate flavors to make a cohesive dish. That's why so many of the salads on this list bring together fruits and veggies — and they do so seamlessly. This salad incorporates flavors of Mexican cuisine: avocado and jicama, of course, as well as lime juice and a bit of avocado oil for richness. The secret ingredient here is feta, which will give your finished salad a kick.
Your summer barbecues will feel incomplete without a potato salad on the table. Switch things up with this spicy recipe, which incorporates a bit of East Coast flavor with an unexpected crunch from kettle chips. Of course, there are plenty of fresh ingredients to make this potato salad summer-appropriate: chopped parsley and chives bring a bit of green. A homemade vinaigrette tops it off with just the right amount of tanginess.
Watermelon might just be the fruit of summer. Whether you're chomping into triangular slices or giving your all to a seed-spitting contest, the extra-large melon is a huge part of barbecues across the country. This iteration brings together the juiciness of watermelon with cool cucumber and tropical mango. There's also a Thai-inspired twist to this salad that comes from a crunchy peanut topping, spicy pepper, cilantro and soy sauce.
The last recipe brought the heat, but this one is very cool. The basis of its dressing is Greek yogurt with a dash of lemon juice. On top of that, you'll chop and fold in fresh sprigs of dill for an abundance of flavor. Then come the veggies: slices of cucumber and red onion. Mix it all together and then pop it in the fridge — a half-hour to chill brings all the flavors out and makes it the perfect side dish on the hottest day.
There comes a moment every summer when you walk into the grocery store or farmers market and you can instantly smell them — the fresh strawberries are so perfect and ripe that they're wafting their fruity scent. That's when it's time to make this salad.
Along with the ruby red fruit, you'll want to pick up two ripe avocados, a red onion, and a bag of baby spinach. The dressing is DIY, too, so make sure you have apple cider vinegar, oil, honey and poppy seeds on hand before you start piecing this one together.
Let's finish with a Southern favorite: black-eyed peas. Although this recipe calls for chicken stock, you can easily make it a vegetarian side or main with veggie stock instead. Mix the peas with spicy jalapeño, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, scallions, olive oil and apple cider vinegar in another bowl. Pop the finished product into the fridge at least four hours before you'll eat it so all the flavors blend to create spicy, summery goodness.
Grab Your Tongs
Which summer salad caught your eye? It's up to you to make that tasty recipe a reality. Grab your salad bowl and your tongs — it's time to eat fresh, summer style.